Communion

On Sunday morning we shared communion as a Church.

We do this on the first Sunday of the month.

There is something quite moving about seeing people gather in small groups around the main hall, breaking bread and praying together.

Then in our midweek group this week I was asked to lead a time of communion as part of our worship. It really struck me preparing that when Paul asserts we should test ourselves before receiving communion that is not as onerous or negative as is sometimes implied.

We don't just confess our sins before communion because we HAVE to, like in some ceremonial cleansing before approaching the table. It is not a religious rite to be enacted before we dare approach God.

Rather we confess our sins before communion because we CAN. Because it is finished. A way has been made. Our sin has gone. And therefore to remember Christ's death until He comes without first ensuring we are living in the fullness of it is not true remembrance.

Then today in our Newfrontiers regional meeting we shared communion together as we worshipped and prayed for God to work in and through us as Churches in this area. We were exhorted to remember our own story of salvation, and to never let the awe of that first encounter with Christ to ebb away.

Three times, three situations, three different emphasis. What a remarkably simple and yet profound gift Jesus gave to the Church when he gave us such a disarmingly simple and yet brutally public and clear way of remembering Him with one another?