We are blessing to partake in this meal weekly, and as we approach it with a careful biblical understanding, we realize that there is a profound Christian mysticism here. “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the …
The Friendliness of God
We come to this Table as summoned, but we often need to be reminded of the purpose of the summoning. This Table represents and enacts the favor of God. We come to this sacrament to receive God’s grace, God’s favor. This is the place where we are intended to experience the friendliness of God. Does …
Communion of Light
As we confess weekly, we believe in the communion of saints. This is enacted and embodied in what we do here in the Supper, but what does it mean? What does it entail? We are gathered together in a particular congregation, and we are celebrating the Supper as we believe the Scripture instructs us to. …
Counting and Dancing
Whenever a people regularly gather, they will fall into certain customs. Those customs, what they do or don’t do, what they say or do not say, what they enact or do not enact, will become something they get accustomed to. And once they are accustomed to it, it becomes possible for their minds to drift …
Hors d’Oeuvres of the Eschaton.
At the end of human history, at the end of time as we know it, the Lord Jesus teaches us to anticipate the great marriage Supper. God has chosen and identified the bride that He desires for His Son, the engagement has been sealed, and the preparations are well underway. Messengers have been sent out …
All the Promises of God
This meal is a ritual that was established by the Lord Jesus the night He was betrayed. We observe it as a ritual—which is not the same thing as an attempted reenactment. In a reenactment, everything is essential. In a ritual, only the essential things are essential. But what are those? How much sand can …
Grace to Expend
One of the indicators that God is truly at work is the vitality of His people. But that vitality, the kind the world can see, is the second thing. The first thing is communion with God. Either we are brought into communion as we are first born again, or we are renewed in communion as …
Communion is the Point
Those who are lost in this world are characterized by a bewilderment concerning whether or not there is any point to life. If they knew there was one, and if they knew what it was, they wouldn’t be lost. But here they are, and lost is the best word we might use to describe them. …
Holiness, Humility, Help
We do not come here to grovel, but rather to glory. We are instructed as Christians, when we glory, to glory in another, to glory in the Lord, but we do in fact glory. This is done on the basis of the Lord’s free gift of justification. Without that gift, we can do nothing. With …
Costly Preparation
The feasts of the Old Testament are full of gospel. The promised feasts that were coming were overflowing with gospel (Is. 25:6). The Lord’s Supper, now before us, is gospel. Scripture invites us to think of the Lord’s Table in the category of a feast. Now a feast has many characteristics, but one of them …