Ella and I are hosting communion tomorrow morning.
We come from a church background (the Church of Christ) where we had communion every Sunday and only on Sundays. We liked it and enjoyed the taking of the Lord’s Supper from the time we came to Jesus as children. In fact, every Sunday, when I was a little boy, I would watch the bread and the juice go by and pretend to take it.
I would always enjoy it when my parents’ turn came to clean the communion ware. Then my little brother and I could drink the left-over juice and eat the left-over bread. The Church of Christ used large matzoh crackers (they felt each had to break the bread individually) and threw them away after using them. They didn’t taste particularly good, but they were such a part of church life.
It was surprising to see the little tiny pieces of tasteless paper looking crackers when we came into the Christian Church. We still took communion every Sunday like in the Church of Christ and I liked that.
The Assembly of God was like Foursquare in the way they do it, generally whenever the Pastor calls for it.
That was different to us. We expanded our taking to other times besides Sundays: Bible class, special meeting times, when we just wanted to bind ourselves together.
And that is why I like communion. It is a binding of the people of God around the Lord’s table. Just like a family is brought together by meals around a common table, so is the family of God brought together by meals around a common table.
That is why I think that Jesus set it up that way. It was designed to bring us together. It is a shame that so many use it to pull apart. Limited communion, closed communion, certain elements mandatory or God will be angry, treating it lightly, as if it were nothing.
The apostle Paul said that we need to treat it as terribly important, yet remember that it was designed to bring us together
It is so terribly important to our well-being as Christians. Without it we can no longer live lives as a family than an earthly family that only eats solely on TV trays and never eats together. It is so easy to just grow apart that way.
Join with us tomorrow morning at the table of the Lord and reaffirm your place in the family and in his kingdom.
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