Lord's supper

Yesterday I was asked to give the Lord's Supper talk. At our church we have someone getup and give a brief devotion thought and then communion is passed. I know it works a little differently elsewhere but for the most part every C of C does this I think.

Normally I like a couple of weeks notice that I am doing t so it give me plenty of time to let the brain cells percolate a bit. This being the first Sunday of the month I just found out about it last week but by the end of services I already knew what I wanted to talk about.

Normally I get up, say what I have to say and then sit back down. In the past no one has really said much about what I say but I guess that since they keep asking me to do it they must like what I say. Maybe because a lot of times what I say is confessional and also a bit confrontational. This time was different. I think I had 7 or 8 people tell me they had really liked what I said and one Elder told me that it was maybe the best he had ever heard. To say I was surprised is an understatement. I guess I just set the bar awfully high for myself. It is posted below, I made a couple of wording changes that I am not going to bother updating. Let me know what you think.

Chad

11/4/05

Growing up I was always told during services to face forward and not look behind me. I usually obeyed but occasionally I would sneak a look around, to see what was going on. But for the most part I just saw the back of the heads of the people in the row or two in front of me. For the last year or so I have spent Sunday morning services back by the sound closet. From that location I can see the backs of everyone here. When you look at the backs of people’s heads it is easier to distance yourself from them. After all there is no expression to be read in the way their hair is combed. You cannot see their eyes or mouth or anything else that might give you a clue as to what they are feeling.

Last week I sat in the front row. When you sit in the front row there are no heads to look at. Instead I found myself going against what I have been told all my life and looked behind me. As the Lord’s Supper was being passed around I watched as people took it. Suddenly this was more than just the faceless masses taking part, this was people that I had known most of my life taking part in the commemoration of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. I watched as husbands and wives took it together, I watched as children passed the bread and juice down when there was a gap, I watched widows hold the trays for each other and as I watched it occurred to me that usually when we take the Lord’s Supper we accentuate the individual; Christ died for my sins, I am taking part in the Lord’s Supper, I am mediating on what it means to me.

But the overwhelming thought I had last week as I watched all this take place was that it was taking place in community. We as a body are having communion together and showing a true community ideal. We all have this in common, we fall short of God’s desire for our lives and we all need the grace that he extended us to overcome the sin in our lives.

This morning as we share in this I invite you to look around. To see faces instead of heads, to see brothers and sisters instead of faceless individuals and to revel in this community that God has provided for us.