We serve the living God. We are a people who have been ushered into new life. We have heard the word of life declared. This is the bread of life; this is living wine.
Life is a mystery, and only the dead think they understand it. Life is glory; life is movement; life is joy; life is growth; life is grace, from beginning to end. You who have been made alive, consider this. Jesus Christ died in order that you might die. He lives in order that you might live. He gives in order that you might receive, and, following that, that you might give in imitation of Him.
One of your central duties in this Supper is to discern the Lord’s body in one another. You are the body of Christ, and when you quarrel and fight with one another, you are not discerning the fact that you are trying to set Christ at war with Christ. But He will not do that, despite your sinful attempts to get Him to, and He summons you to this Table.
When you arrive here, He tells you that you must discern the body. One loaf, one people, one body. Do not separate yourself from the body in this Supper; do not curl up into a private introspective, self-condemning cocoon. Partake of this meal as you do all others—with your eyes open. Look around, look up and down your row, look ahead of you, and behind. These are your people; you are one with them in Christ.
Are you quarreling with anyone here? Then drop it—charge it to Christ’s account. Do not set one piece of this bread at war with a different piece of it. Are you at odds with your family? Drop it; a right understanding of this meal demands that you drop it.
Be at peace: you are the bread. You are the wine.