How often should disciples take the Lord’s Supper?

We have several passages of Scripture that address this question, but none do so absolutely or exhaustively. Nonetheless, if we patiently work with these texts, we will end up with a more than satisfactory answer to our question.

Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians is a good place to start. In chapter 16:1-2 we read:

          Now about the collection for the Lord's people: Do what I told the Galatian churches              to do. On the first day of every week. each one of you should set aside a sum of                    money in keeping with your income, saving it up. so that when I come no collections              will have to be made.  

Paul was gathering a contribution from the churches of Macedonia and Achaia for the church at Jerusalem (Romans 15:25-28). He instructs the Corinthians to set aside some money "on the first day of the week" for this offering. Why the first day of the week? That's when they assembled together.

In 1 Corinthians 11:17ff, Paul talks about:

• "your meetings" (v. 17),
• "when you come together as a church" (v. 18),   
• "when you gather together to eat" (v. 33).   

We already know from 16:1-2 these meetings took place on the first day of the week. We know from 11:33 they gathered "to eat." What were they eating? It wasn't a common meal because Paul tells them in v. 34, "Anyone who is hungry should eat something at home." No, it was the Lord's Supper they were eating. This is brought home in a rebuking way by Paul in v. 20 when he says, "So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper that you eat." One of their purposes in coming together was to eat the Lord's Supper (v. 33), but their mistreatment of each other was defeating that purpose. After all, how could they celebrate the unselfish giving of Jesus' sacrifice when they were displaying the selfish attitudes and behaviors they were? Paul says they couldn't. They might be eating the bread and drinking the juice, but they weren't memorializing the sacrifice of Jesus in a way that honored God or helped them (v. 30-31).