Today is Holy Thursday (a.k.a. Maundy Thursday). It is the anniversary of the Lord’s Supper that Jesus Christ instituted on the night he was betrayed by Judas in the middle of the passover celebration. For the Christian Church, this is our passover celebration. Having said that, I might add that I have often enjoyed celebrating a Passover Meal with friends, especially my messianic Jewish friends, as a teaching moment and as a time to celebrate God’s faithfulness to his people. The point is that the Eucharist is what Jesus gave his disciples to celebrate when they came together in his memory.
In the church that I pastor we celebrate Holy Communion every Sunday, and at other times as well, as a normal part of our worship. Prior to the Reformation the Eucharist was a normal part of regular celebration in the church but the evangelical church sought to break the hold that the mystery of the mass had over the church, and moved the pulpit to center-stage making the sermon the high point of protestant worship. Over the years a number of “restoration” movements have attempted to put the Eucharist back at the center of protestant worship but with little success. The reason I put the Eucharist back into every Sunday morning worship celebration has nothing to do with restorationism and nothing to do with my Roman Catholic upbringing. It has everything to do with thanksgiving, my great love of Jesus, my grateful appreciation of his sacrifice and obedience, my deep desire for communion with him and with the larger body of Christ, to proclaim my faith in Christ, and because, just like you, I need a constant reminder of God’s goodness. Those are the very same reasons Jesus Christ instituted the supper. It is a concrete reminder of what Jesus did and why. I say all of this to clarify that while I see the normal practice of the early church being a weekly celebration of the Lord’s Supper, I do not think that Jesus’ mandate to, “Do memory of me . . .” came with a specific directive to do this every week, once a month, or once a year. So I in no way want to sit in judgment of any church that celebrates holy communion less frequently than we do.
So back to this anniversary, the mandate was to do this remembrance of Jesus and that is the point of every anniversary and every memorial, to remember. Don’t forget what happened, don’t forget what Jesus did, don’t forget his sacrifice, don’t forget that he is coming back for us. This whole point of not forgetting is driven home by the situation in Corinth. The Corinthian church had turned the Passover Meal and the Eucharist into a big party, and along the way, it became about something other than giving thanks, and remembering what Jesus did. They forgot that the point of the Lord’s Supper is to remember what Jesus Christ did for them and they forgot about what Jesus Christ did for their brothers and sisters in Christ. To this end, the Apostle Paul wrote them and said, “. . . your meetings do more harm than good . . .” (1 Corinthians 11.17). For this reason he wrote them to stop making the meal about food and drink, and to partake of the meal in a worthy manner (1 Corinthians 11.27). This is important because many people here miss the point and then start to think that examining themselves and partaking in a worthy manner has to do with being worthy to partake of holy communion. That of course misses the point of the meal all together. This memorial is not really about you and it certainly isn’t about you being worthy of it. If anything it is a reminder that I am not worthy. I partake of this meal to remember the only one who is worthy, Jesus Christ. My partaking in a worthy manner is that I not make the meal about feasting or drinking or my personal failure, or even about me, as much as I put my focus on Jesus Christ and his work. I remember him, and anything less than that, is an unworthy manner. Any other focus that takes my attention off of Jesus Christ is an unworthy manner.
So how should I partake of the Lord’s Supper? I should remember, and give thanks, and commune with Jesus Christ and his body, the church in a holy way. So if you find your self at the Vineyard Christian Church celebrating holy communion with us, let me invite you to do that with us. This is the Lord’s table and anyone who belongs to him is invited to partake in it with us and with him.
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