Celebrating the Lord's Supper

Can I make a little observation? As a preacher's kid (and now a preacher) I’ve noticed a lot of congregations I've attended treat the Lord’s Supper as a kind of funeral. They take the word "memorial" to mean "memorial service." Enter the long faces and sour looks. Rather than being the high point of the worship service, the Lord's supper comes across as something of a downer.

Don’t get me wrong, we should solemnly reflect upon heavy price that sin demanded and the extreme price that Christ paid to redeem us from an eternity of darkness. And yet, we know that Jesus did not stay on the cross, nor did he stay in the tomb. Hallelujah, Christ Arose! We also need to reflect upon the outcome of that great sacrifice as well as the sacrifice itself. And that was freedom--total and utter liberation from the power and penalty of sin. Freedom to be who we were always meant to be, new creations in Christ. That’s cause for a celebration, is it not? It is not inappropriate to think of the Lord’s supper in that way. Quite to the contrary, communion is a celebration of the wonderful, matchless, grace of Jesus. Greater far than all our sin and shame. No wonder Paul refers to it as "the cup of thanksgiving" in 1 Corinthians 10:16. No wonder that the early church of the 2nd century referred to the Lord's supper as the Eucharist (from the Greek word eucharisteo or "thanksgiving").

This Sunday come to the Lord's Table with joy in your heart, knowing that you are partaking as a full-fledged participant in the body and blood of Jesus (1 Cor. 10:16-17).

-BJS-