The Body of Christ...for you.
It is the time for Communion.
Of stopping and remembering.
Of confession and celebration.
I have always had an affinity for communion. As a child it was the only ceremonial thing my church participated in – the passing of the gold trays with the broken crackers and the little plastic cups of grape juice.
As an adult it’s a time to pause amid all the doing and remember why I do what I do. To remember that my service comes from love because of the love that flowed freely for me from the Cross.
Only recently have I experienced communion by intinction – that is to say when you come forward and take the bread and dip it in the juice. The first time I participated in communion this way, the pastor holding the cup looked into my eyes and said, “The blood of Christ shed for you.” I heard those words as if they were the first time.
Sunday I found myself holding the plate with the bread, and saying to each one that came, “The body of Christ broken for you”.
I have sung for congregations, and taught small groups but this was different, this was not a message to many, this was an invitation to an individual, and another invitation given specifically to another individual.
For each one that took the bread is in a different place in their relationship with their God; some seeking, some hardened, some just beginning, some wandering, some wondering, some going deeper and farther than before.
Yet to each one the invitation was the same. It is the same as it was when His body was first sacrificed, first broken, by nails that ripped into hands willingly placed on that crude cross.
The body of Christ, broken for you
As it was thousands of years ago.
As it is remembered in tens of thousands of churches across the world.
As this invitation comes specifically to you today, as if you were the only one in the world.
Behold, the body of Christ, broken for you.
Of stopping and remembering.
Of confession and celebration.
I have always had an affinity for communion. As a child it was the only ceremonial thing my church participated in – the passing of the gold trays with the broken crackers and the little plastic cups of grape juice.
As an adult it’s a time to pause amid all the doing and remember why I do what I do. To remember that my service comes from love because of the love that flowed freely for me from the Cross.
Only recently have I experienced communion by intinction – that is to say when you come forward and take the bread and dip it in the juice. The first time I participated in communion this way, the pastor holding the cup looked into my eyes and said, “The blood of Christ shed for you.” I heard those words as if they were the first time.
Sunday I found myself holding the plate with the bread, and saying to each one that came, “The body of Christ broken for you”.
I have sung for congregations, and taught small groups but this was different, this was not a message to many, this was an invitation to an individual, and another invitation given specifically to another individual.
For each one that took the bread is in a different place in their relationship with their God; some seeking, some hardened, some just beginning, some wandering, some wondering, some going deeper and farther than before.
Yet to each one the invitation was the same. It is the same as it was when His body was first sacrificed, first broken, by nails that ripped into hands willingly placed on that crude cross.
The body of Christ, broken for you
As it was thousands of years ago.
As it is remembered in tens of thousands of churches across the world.
As this invitation comes specifically to you today, as if you were the only one in the world.
Behold, the body of Christ, broken for you.
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