Pentecostal scholar, Simon Chan notes the following about the Wesleys’ theology of communion and the divine presence.
“Clearly, communion was no mere ritual for the Wesleys, but an occasion of heightened expectation of a deep spiritual encounter, as another of the Wesleys’ communion hymns shows.
Ye faithful souls, who thus record
The passion of that Lamb divine,
Is the memorial of your Lord
A useless form, an empty sign?
Or doth he here his life impart?
What saith the witness in your heart?
Is it the dying Master’s will
That we should this persist to do?
Then let him here himself reveal,
The token of his presence show,
Descend in blessings from above,
And answer by the fire of love.
Who thee remember in thy ways,
Come, Lord, and meet and bless us here;
In confidence we ask the grace;
Faithful and True, appear, appear,
Let all perceive thy blood applied,
Let all discern the Crucified.
*Tis done; the Lord sets to his seal,
The prayer is heard, the grace is given
With joy unspeakable we feel
The Holy Ghost sent down from heaven;
The altar streams with sacred blood,
And all the temple with God!
Chan then shares the following testimony applies some principles to Pentecostalism:
”John Wesley in his journal recorded some rather extraordinary happenings during communion: ‘Many were cut to the heart, and at the Lord’s Supper many were wounded and many healed.’6 A certain Richard Jeffs was contemplating to join the Quakers but decided to come ‘once more to the Lord’s Table’. No sooner had he ‘received than he dropped down, and cried with a loud voice, “I have sinned; I have sinned against God”. At that instant many were pierced to the heart’
Pentecostals could learn from their Methodist forebears to appropriate the experiential reality from eucharistic observances. But perhaps more important than just having a repeatable personal ‘refreshing’, holy communion is also the occasion for the believers corporately to be given a fresh infusion of the Spirit, making them grow more and more into the one charismatic Body of Christ. This body is a community of reconciliation and healing, and so, in the midst of the celebration the Pentecostals also anoint the sick with oil and pray for divine healing according to James 5. The church is the context in which the charisms are exercised. A church that depends on the healing prowess of some travelling evangelist has failed to take seriously the spiritual resources that are available to them by virtue of their being incorporated into the Body of Christ. What this shows is the importance of a Pentecostal ecclesiology for the Pentecostal way of life. The Pentecostal reality cannot be effectively traditioned without grounding it in ecclesiology.
Simon Chan, Pentecostal Theology and the Christian Spiritual Tradition, p95-6.
Rev John James 