Daily Communion was a song written out of a critical heart towards the ritual of communion. A little bit of background about me…. my father was a Baptist minister and church planter from 2003 to 2015. I was raised in the church and grew up pretty critical of it. And one of the observations I often had growing up was that the activity of communion just seemed like a really dry and lifeless exercise exuded by a ritualistic prayer and complemented with dry paper wafers and shots of Welch’s grape juice. I never really understood this community exercise. My personal experience in the church had led me to believe this was often more a drab ritual rather than an act of true genuine intimacy, especially when we see Jesus at the last Supper sharing a meal with his closest friends and even calling out someone’s betrayal.
So this song is a counterpoint to what I’ve experienced and a reclamation that daily communion with one another — with our lovers, with our family, and with God is such a tender and personal and intimate exercise where we can become vulnerable and have ultimate liberation in that vulnerability. As I was writing this song, the imagery of the parable of the Lost Sheep connected with me the most — that we can rest in the arms of a lover that in reckless abandon, takes care of us without judgment or fear and celebrates when we are gathered back together.
Music-wise, I finished writing Blue Ridge State around that same timeframe and in this weird guitar tuning (EADGAD), and Daily Communion was written centered around the chorus – a declaration of my desire to be with God and to participate communing with him.
Nathan Vincent