Come to the Table: A Communion Meditation

Come to the Table: A Communion Meditation
 Romans 3:22; John 14:15-18; Romans 7:15


Themes: The Lord's Supper is not only an expression of worship for believers, but by its very nature it is evangelistic. In the Supper the work of Christ is held up as an invitation for people to trust in the Lord. For believers, the Lord's Supper is an occasion for spiritual renewal and refocusing of kingdom priorities.

Introduction: It's hard for us 2000 years plus removed from Jesus on earth to realize just how powerful His words and actions were when he took some unleavened bread used for the Jewish Passover and distributed it to his disciples, gave thanks and said, ''This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.'' Jesus was essentially replacing the Jewish Passover. The Passover celebration that called the Jewish people to remember God's mighty power in freeing God's people from slavery was being replaced with a celebration of Jesus who by His death and resurrection would set those who were captive to sin free. What Jesus did could only be seen as either blasphemy, because he was setting himself up to be worshiped as the living Savior, God Himself, or as God's establishment of the New Covenant, the fulfillment of God's plan from the beginning.

Communion As an Anti-Worldy Expression of Worship
Jesus could not have chosen a more anti-worldly expression of worship than the observance of what we call the Lord's Supper or Communion, a practice that honors Jesus as crucified and risen, a ceremony where the participants (us) symbolically eat flesh and drink blood. Think about it, that's pretty bizarre stuff if you're not on the inside and in the know. The Lord's Supper is the most anti-wordly expression of worship that we do. Positively, the Lord's Supper is the most Christian expression of worship that we do. You can sing and not be a Christian and get something out of it. You can listen to a message and not be a Christian and get something helpf ...

Come to the Table - a Communion Meditation

Below is a short Communion mediation I wrote recently. Imagine as you read it a huge table filled with wonderful food + the communion elements.

Come to the Table
The prophet Isaiah writes,

“Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink— even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk—it’s all free! ² Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength?  Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food. ³ “Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life. I will make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David… (My dear brothers and sisters) Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near.”

A table filled with great food and drink is always a beautiful symbol for me.  As a matter of fact, it is a symbol of two things.
One is that of anticipation.  I don’t know if you are like me, but the lead up to a beautiful meal is like waiting for Christmas morning for a kid.  You know the feeling.  Kind of a vibration in your stomach because you know that something hoped for is about to happen. I literally can’t help myself from nibbling, kind of like shaking the presents under the tree. Actually, growing up in a family of 5 men, nibbling is probably more liken to a huge bird of prey swooping down on its unknowing victim…there goes an olive, now for those chips, and then back to the olives.  And it’s ok.  It is completely appropriate to long for the meal.  It is something that lines up as “right” in the universe.  I believe that this longing is something that God put in us so that we would at moments crave Him.
Anticipation!
Secondly, for me, it is a sign of welcome.  Open chairs, waiting food, flickering candles all say, come and feast.  Come and be filled!  Come and be with.  And it is not just the food, although there is something magnetic and unifying about the meal.  It is those we gather to eat with.  It has, for me, always meant conversation.  Sometimes pedestrian and silly, other times though, stirring and even unsettling, but always conversation, connection.  It is the lifeblood of relationship. It has been said that the wine and the bread are social lubricants. I agree.
Welcome!
This morning, we have the metaphor of table…the table of Christ before us and we, if we allow ourselves, can come.  We can put aside our worries, our concerns for a moment and feast…feast on the body and blood of Christ.  We can slide the chair up and enjoy community the way it was ordained, together with the triune God, partaking with Him in his holy dance of life.  There is embrace, connection, forgiveness if you need it, the gift of re-membering.
There are literally scores of reasons you can come up with to not come.

I’m been hurt by the church…
I don’t like singing…
I doubt that God exists…
I don’t know anyone here well enough to feel comfortable…
I’m tired…
I am carrying with me a secret sin that if everyone knew about, I would certainly be excluded from the table.

Brothers and sisters don’t let this opportunity go by without encountering the sheer life that is found in Jesus this morning.  As Jesus said through John the Revelator to his church:

“The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.”

I’d like to invite you to come to the table now…with a friend.  If you aren’t here with someone else, come with a new friend.  I know, it’s risky, but come.  Stop and linger, pray, maybe even eat a grape, but come as a community in the name of the Eastered Jesus who lived…and died…and rose from the grave, alive…and will come back for us.

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