Heart Tracks - Come To The Table

"And when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'This is My Body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me." I Corinthians 11:24

In most organized denominations, congregations are encouraged to celebrate the sacrament of communion at least once a quarter, and oftentimes, every week. It's a sacrament that is to be very carefully, and reverently observed. Jesus meant it to be a very spiritual experience of communion with Him, a foretaste of the fullness that would one day be ours in eternity. I have to ask the question; is such a purpose being realized in our fellowships, and more, is it being realized in you and me?

I wrote down in my prayer journal some time ago, "Do we consume wafers and juice, but do not consume Him, and He us? Do we miss the heart of God?" Do we, are we, missing the heart of God? I remember when I first came into the church being part of the congregation as it received communion. I remember my pastor admonishing the fellowship that this was a reverent time, a truly worshipful time, and that they were to do more than just participate. They were to truly partake of Him. Yet how often is this the reality seen and experienced in these times?

Just this past Christmas Eve I attended a service where communion was served at its conclusion. One by one, rows were invited to line up before the elders and receive communion. As they stood in line, I saw people laughing with one another, sharing animated conversation, right up until they came before the elders. They took the wafer and the juice, and then they moved on. Some time ago, a much respected pastor told me of his experience in a fellowship where communion was served each week. At the end of the service, people were invited to receive communion in designated areas of the sanctuary. At the same time that people were being served, a brother was on the platform reading out special announcements and news for the rest of the fellowship. It appeared to be something that regularly took place.

I don't write these things because I'm some stodgy old guy who laments the loss of what the church "used to be," because, well, I'm not sure that we have ever truly been. I think we, for the most part as a church, as His people, have never really grasped the wonder and beauty of this sacrament. Of what the Lord Jesus was and is inviting us into when we partake of it. We're to partake of Him. We are to draw into Him, and He into us. It is to be a rich taste of the intimacy we have in and with Him. It is to be a foretaste of the fullness we will have of Him in eternity, but also a rich blessing of the fullness we can have in Him now. It is not a ritual. It is mystical, powerful, and even life changing if we are really partaking of it as He means for us to. Yet for how many has it ever been that? Will it ever be that?

I think I mentioned before of a pastor friend who remarked on meeting a former congregant he'd not seen in some time. The brother remarked on how the pastor had once baptized him. He told the him, "You've been baptized, now live baptized." What would be the result in our lives if we didn't just "get baptized," but lived baptized? What would happen if we didn't just "take communion," but lived communion? What kind of fellowships would we see? How many lives would be affected? It would shake the church, and in turn, shake the world. His Presence would be so real that all superficiality would cease. So captivated would we be by Him. Taking place would be a spiritual transaction; we bringing all we are to Him, and receiving all of Him in return.

There's a beautiful song called "Come To The Table," which simply invites us to come to His Table of mercy, with all of our needs, wounds, and pain, giving them all to Him in trust, and receiving all of Him in return. This is Holy Communion. We come, and we partake of His Body, broken for us that we might be whole in Him. We partake of His blood, shed for us who had been lost in sin and death, that we might have forgiveness and life by that blood. This is what we are called to, made for. We are invited to come to His Table. If we come, just how do we come?

Blessings,
Pastor O