The Lord's Table

This past Sunday, as is our custom here at FAC on the first Sunday of each month, we observed Communion. It’s one of the few times in which we’re still and quiet together. The pastor begins the familiar “On the night Jesus was betrayed...,” and the music plays and each of us is (hopefully) preoccupied in his or her soul.

But what exactly are we to be doing while the bread and the cup is passed? I’ve assumed we were basically to remember His agonizing death on the cross, but maybe that’s a little narrow. The apostle Paul’s instructions to the Corinthian believers urge them (and us) to use those moments...

• to seriously consider our spiritual condition and our lives.“A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup” (11:28 NIV). Are we living in fellowship with God and other people? Like a red flag or a stop sign, we’re not to proceed before all is clear. Instead of feeling threatened by the checkpoint, though, we can welcome it as an opportunity to realign with God and know that all is well with our souls.

• to think lovingly of Jesus. “This cup is the new covenant in My blood... Do this, as often as you drink [it], to call Me [affectionately] to remembrance” (1 Corinthians 11:25, Amplified Bible). Sometimes the chaos of life pushes Jesus to the back of our minds. At the Lord’s Table we can contemplate a Savior Who is, as Pastor Rick said Sunday, “a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” We can think about how wonderful He is and what amazing things He’s done for us.

• to celebrate the gift of atonement! Certainly there is a place at the Lord’s Supper to enter into Christ’s suffering, but it is also appropriate to joyfully celebrate the “It is finished!” Redemption’s plan is completed and what a difference it has made in our lives!

• to anticipate His return. By our observance of Communion we “proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (11:26 NIV). Through Jesus’ death we’ve been invited into God’s eternal presence, and one great Day He will return for His own. “Maranatha,” we can say at the Lord’s Table, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”

I think Paul gave us quite a bit to think about – what about you? Any thoughts to add?