Friday, August 3, 2018

Communion

Friday, August 3, 2018
So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.  That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup.  For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself.  That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died.  But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way.  Yet when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world.  1 Corinthians 11:27-32(NLT)
Preparation is the word that comes to mind for each worship service.  There are the questions of detail, such as:  are the bulletins printed; are the soloist and readers practiced; will the communion steward have it all in place?  But these questions pale in comparison to the one about which Paul was concerned: 

Have we taken time to be holy?

A normal response might be that it’s only Friday…Sunday is still a few days away.  And that would be a reasonable statement if the ritual of Eucharist, the actual consuming of the bread and cup, were the main issue; but that is hardly the case. 
Paul brings into the foreground that which is the meat of this meal – self-examination.  To self-examine is to ruminate on our lives, the substance of which is to be honoring to Jesus.  If we are in-Christ people, our living is to be consistent with the character of He who died for us.  It is the same way we think (and behave) when we take seriously honoring our father and mother.  Mom and Dad used to caution us to remember who we are…and Whose we are.  The family name is at stake when we are out in public, so behaving with respectability becomes Job #1.  When the family name of Jesus is at stake we do well to remember it is not only our behavior, but our attitude that can bring fame or shame to the entire family; it becomes an inside-out job!
Self-examination should not begin when the time of holy communion appears in the bulletin.  It is more an on-going, daily, never-ending attitude of watching-over the stuff of our lives; it is holding every action and thought up to the light of Christ’s love.
For a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it matters what others think; I am responsible to all to not only preach with my words, but to preach with my life.  And you are no different if you call Him Lord.
Some people see the “ritual” of giving a great thanks to God for those little wafers or chunks of bread, and the grape juice or wine as perfunctory, a tedious segment of time on Sunday to be endured.  We want everything packaged professionally and quickly these days.  But that is so in error…and we pay a penalty I learned on a diet.
Several years ago I participated in a clergy health study that included all phases of well-being, diet, monitored medical stats, emotional health, and professional habits.  In the diet deliberations I found out I had been blowing-it, not just with what I consumed, but how I consumed it.  I’ve always been a gulp-it-down eater, blaming it on my time in the U.S. Army when they gave you eight-minutes to grab your tray, wolf down the meal, and vacate the Mess Hall to make room for the next eight-minute victim.  The dietician leading us made a big thing of helping us slow down and chew every bite slowly.  This was important because your brain is about 20 minutes behind your stomach in getting the message as to how full you really are.  If you stuff food quickly down the pipe, you’ll overdo every time.  When I tried slowing down I discovered something I’d been missing for a lot of years…taste!  When you chew long, and concentrate on the aroma, texture, flavor, and “finish” each bite creates in your meal, you can truly enjoy the time as a dining experience, rather than a check-off on the to-do list (or even your wanna-do list).
There is that about self-examination and holy communion; slow-down, look-deep, savor what the cross has done, and how your life reflects what the cross has done.  Put it in perspective, and then come, eat…sinners, there is grace at that table!
For You Today
If your church schedule is like ours, communion will appear in this Sunday morning’s bulletin.  But that’s just a printed piece of paper; the real thing happens (or not) every moment of your life in-Christ.
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day. 

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com

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