Having Two Legs: Eucharistic Meditations

Showing posts with label Eucharistic Meditations. Show all posts

Showing posts with label Eucharistic Meditations. Show all posts

Monday, March 21, 2011

How God Responds to our Sin

We have considered this morning how the good news of Jesus is the declaration that God is light, and that this Light has begun to shine in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and continues to shine in our life in the church for the world. And this light is getting brighter. This table is central to our declaration of this light and life. At this table, we hear the words of Life as we speak them to one another, we see this Word of Life in one another as we partake together, our hands handle this Life as we pass bread and wine to one another. This meal is a central way that God continues to manifest this Life in this world, and as we partake together, we are that fellowship, that joy, that Light for the world. But there countless churches that celebrate this sacrament who effectively cover the light by the inconsistency in their lives. And this is not the inconsistency of sin, this is the refusal to believe the gospel about that sin. One way to run a litmus test on this is to ask how you respond to sin. What do you do when the three year old throws a fit? What do you do when your wife makes a biting comment? What do you do when your husband is late coming home from work and the kids have run you ragged? What do you do when your coworker insults you in front of everyone? How do you respond when you are passed over for a promotion? Or you don’t get the bid? How do you respond to sin, to friction, to correction, to hardship? How do you respond? Walking in the light means refusing to freak out, refusing to be frazzled, refusing to be shaken, refusing to think that the world is crashing down. Walking in the light means remembering that Jesus is King, you are His beloved son or daughter, and there is absolutely nothing that can change that. But in that context, we can offer the other cheek, we can forgive again, we can let love cover it, we are free not to respond with evil. God knows our weakness and failures, and He is not worried. He invites us to dinner. We sin against Him, and He says, I love you. My life for yours. Go and do likewise.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Bread before Fire

Peter Enns points out that Jethro eats bread with Moses just before Yahweh speaks with Moses in the burning bush at Mt. Sinai (Ex. 2:20, ch. 3), and later, Jethro shows up to eat bread with Moses and the elders just before Yahweh speaks with Moses and Israel at Mt. Sinai (18:12). And whereas only a bush was on fire the first time, the second time the whole mountain is in flames (Ex. 19:18).

Seems to me that this is a preview of the New Covenant Meal. First comes the bread, then comes the fire-wine. First comes the Bread of Life, then comes the Fire of the Spirit.

Monday, January 17, 2011

This Is Who You Are

We share this meal every week because Jesus told us to. But Jesus told us to share this meal because it was meant to define us and redefine us. This meal is who we are on many levels. We are disciples of Jesus, we are witnesses of His resurrection. This is the feast of the new covenant, the Kingdom of God, the new world order in King Jesus. This meal insists upon forgiveness in the blood of the new covenant. It proclaims the gospel, the death of Christ until He comes. This meal looks forward, it anticipates a bigger banquet at the coming of the King. This meal means that your Father in heaven feeds you and cares for you, and you must not worry or fear. This meal means that you are part of a new family, brothers and sisters and mother. This meal is a love feast, a marriage feast an expression of God’s love for His people in the gift of His son, His love in the gift of the Spirit poured out upon the Church, the bride of Christ. This meal means that God loves sinners, and failures, and outcasts because you have been welcomed to His table. This is the table that the Lord your Shepherd prepares in the presence of your enemies. And we could go on and on, but the point is that this is who you are. You are God’s people, you are a forgiven people, you are a loved people, you are a reconciled people, you are a people cared for and provided for, you are an evangelistic people, people with a mission, a calling, witnesses of the resurrection, friends of God, full citizens of the kingdom of heaven, and so on. And therefore, you must put down all of the other identifications that haunt you. You must reject all of the sins and powers that claim authority over you. You are not a failure of a husband, you are a beloved son of God. You are not a bitter, nagging wife, you are a forgiven child of God. You are not a disobedient son or daughter. You are not a liar. You are not a cheater. You are not thief. You are not an alcoholic. You are not a porn addict. You are not a homosexual. You are not an adulterer. You are not a whore. You are none of those things. You are not damaged goods. You are not broken merchandise. Maybe you used to be, but not anymore. Now you are forgiven saints. You are washed and clean and there is no one who can bring a charge against you. Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. But you may be thinking, but I still struggle with some of these sins. They still haunt me and trouble me. Yes, but the question is, whose word do you believe? Whose power do you trust? God says you are justified. You are innocent. You are forgiven. This meal is who you are. So come, eat, drink, and rejoice, and then go and sin no more.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Now That Your Mouth Is On Fire...

Every Lord’s Day we confess that as we gather together in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, this Triune God ushers us into His presence. We confess that we are gathered at this very moment in the Most Holy presence of the King of the Universe, and as Pastor Leithart has reminded us, that is why having entered this presence we sing “holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts…” We join the choirs of angels, the seraphim shouting praises in this new temple of the Church, and our prayers arise like smoke and incense before the throne. And the King thunders His Word through the Scriptures and by the mighty working of His Spirit. Our worship participates in and enters into the heavenly worship that is always occurring. In this sense, our worship is always an Advent of the Lord, a coming of the King. When we gather together in His name, He comes as the great and high King, as the storm of His presence to commune with us. And just as Isaiah was cleansed and commissioned by the coal from the altar so too we are cleansed and commissioned by the burning life of God from this altar. Only now, our altar is the cross of Jesus, and He gives us His Spirit-filled life through these gifts of bread and wine as we share them together in faith. The Spirit-fire of God inhabits this meal, and as we eat this bread and drink this wine, our lips are cleansed and we are commissioned to be His servants in the world. And this means at least two things: first, this meal means that you are forgiven, you are cleansed, you are purged. Your sins are covered through the blood of the Lamb. But God is never satisfied with merely forgiving. As soon as He cleanses, He sends. As soon as He forgives, He commissions. And so as you take up these coals upon your lips believe the word of God: you are forgiven. And then search your hearts, who have you been called to speak to? Who must you take the word of God to? Your wife? Your children? Your neighbors? Your coworkers? To strangers in another land? At Pentecost the altar in heaven tipped over, and the Spirit-fire poured down on the Church, coals for every believer. And this means as you take this bread and wine upon your lips, the Lord is asking once again, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ As you eat and drink, the response of faith is always, ‘Here am I. Send me.’

Monday, December 13, 2010

The Wisdom of Love

Jesus our King is both an exalted, mighty Judge and the Lamb that was slain. And it is this Christ in both of these realities that loves His people. This is a wedding feast, a love feast in which this Christ as both sacrificial victim and righteous judge offers Himself to His people. This is your husband, your God, your King. And this means that both of these realities are offered in the love of Christ. As we grow in the love of Christ, we ought to grow up into both slaves who die and kings who reign. We have been made priests and kings to God our Father. And we really must hold both of these together. The temptation is always to veer in one direction or the other. In our flesh everyone wants authority and power and judgment, but without the cross, we quickly turn authority into oppression and tyranny. When God gave Israel the wine of His love, they repeatedly abused it. Rather than receiving His love and loving Him in return, they got drunk and worshiped other gods and made themselves into gods who oppressed the poor and the needy. The other temptation is to see the human tendency to mess this up, and veer off into defeatists. We are poor, homely slaves who screw everything up, and we wallow around in our weakness and inability. But Jesus didn’t become a servant so that He could lose. He humbled Himself so that He might be exalted. He died so that He might be raised. He became a slave so that He might become the King. And so the point is that if we would judge rightly, if we would execute justice for the orphan and the widow. If we would discipline our children in righteousness and love our spouses rightly, we must hold these two realities together. But how can we do that? The answer is love. And that can sound trite and shallow and canned. Everybody says all you need is love. But God says that the single greatest thing that we can do is love Him with all that we are and love our neighbors as ourselves. Faith and hope are really important but the greatest of these is love. Not touchy-feely fuzzies, whatever-makes-me-feel-good love, but death and resurrection love. The love for our Savior crucified for our sins. The love that dies for the ungodly, the weak, the poor, the undeserving. Love that becomes a servant of all for the glory of the Lord of all. Love as fierce as death. In that love, which we celebrate here, Christ is manifested as both servant and king, slave and lord, and when we embrace that love, when we respond to that love, that love teaches us wisdom, and we grow up into priests and kings. But that’s the key, putting down all your excuses, all your distractions, all your theological categories, all your virtues, all your sins, everything, and crying out with the psalmist: "You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you." And so here you are, and your Lord gives Himself to you. He loves you, and welcomes you now.

Monday, December 06, 2010

The God of No Shortages

As we have meditated this morning on Isaiah’s prophecy, we have noted the sacrificial and priestly themes in the text. When God strips Zion bare, He removes her skin, washes her, sprinkles blood, and then lights her on fire with the glory of the Spirit. These are the actions of the priest in offering a sacrifice. God is promising to turn Israel into a living sacrifice, and as we have just noted, this is what happens at Pentecost. In Romans 12, Paul famously says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” And I want to point out two things: First, notice that Paul beseeches the Romans by the mercies of God. The word here for mercies is “oiktirmos” which means compassion, mercy, or pity, but the “oik” prefix is usually found on words that have to do with a house or a household. The word for house is “oikos.” Perhaps another way to translate this would be “provision” or “storehouse.” Paul exhorts the Romans to offer their bodies as a living sacrifice because of, or on the basis of God’s great provisions for them. He will go on to exhort them to love one another, to use their various gifts in the body, to show hospitality, to bless those who persecute them, and to feed their enemies when they are hungry. The basis for living sacrificially is the provision of God, the storehouse of God’s mercy. In God’s house, there are no shortages. But secondly, notice that Paul urges them to offer their bodies (plural) as a living sacrifice (singular). And it is evident that this is on purpose since Paul goes on to say that although there are many members in the one body, we being many are one body, and individually members of one another. And this begins to explain how it is not insane to live with sacrificial abandon. It is because we are part of a family, a house over which God rules, in which the Spirit works His gifts and mercies according to His wisdom. And the source of this grace and mercy, the one sacrifice in which all are made one, is this meal, our crucified King, our Savior, our Lord, our Husband. This meal means not only that your sins are forgiven, but that you are part of a family, a house, and the Lord of this house is the King of the world and all that we need is ours through Him. So as you offer the bread and wine to one another, consider the bread and the wine our salvation in Christ, but also consider how that salvation is mediated through the Church, through the body of Christ. Consider these gifts of bread and wine to prefigure the gifts that you are going to give one another at Christmas, the bills you might help one another pay when things are hard, the countless ways we must give to one another in this family, in this house, so that we can be the provisions of God to and for another, so that we might all together and with all the saints become that one living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God in Christ. And this means joyful generosity overflowing in love. So come to the feast.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

The Lord Fights for You

“Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” (Ex. 14:13-14)

This meal is a weekly reminder that God fights for you, but God not only fights for you. He wants you to let Him fight for you. Now of course God is sovereign and omnipotent, and He is not really bound by our stubborn resistance to His will. But there is a vast difference between the stiff necks of Israel in the wilderness and David, the Psalmist who learns to wait on the Lord. There is a difference between Peter lashing out wildly with a sword, cutting of the ear of the High Priest’s servant in complete panic and the simple, confident answers of our Lord while insults and lies are flying through the air like so many missiles. What is going on here? You are being fed with bread from heaven. You are being fed with heavenly food. God has prepared a table for you, in the midst of your enemies, in the wilderness, wherever. God has led you to this point. You are not here by accident. You are here because God has summonsed you here. And God calls you here as your King, and you are His armies, His hosts. This means that you are called to go out of here in a few minutes as God’s conquering army. This means evangelism, this means missions, this means carrying out your vocations with excellence and joy. This means loving your wife and doing everything you can to serve her. This means loving your husband and doing all that you can to serve him. This means loving your children, spending time with, playing with them, reading to them, wrestling with them. This means inviting your neighbors over for dinner. This means giving sacrificially of your time and resources. This means living like this world belongs to King Jesus. Because it does. That may all sound daunting. That may seem impossible. You may look up and only see enemies charging down at you, but the Word of the Lord is to stand still and hold your peace. This doesn’t mean stand still and be useless. This means relax and do your job. Quit panicking and acting like everything is going to fall apart any minute. You are at the table of the King of the Universe, and when He commissions His servants, He knows what He’s doing. He says hold your peace, trust Me. And in minute you’re going to taste His peace and swallow His peace, His shalom. And then you are called to walk in that peace. Because His peace is your shield, your high tower, your chariot, and He fights for you.

Monday, October 04, 2010

Grace That's Still Amazing

We’ve seen this morning that God’s power and presence are ultimately aimed at the goal of love and mercy which ought to cause us to erupt in thankful praise and worship. Our liturgy, our worship service, understood rightly is meant to walk us through something of the same theology. We begin our service with an exhortation which is meant to call us to confession of sin. While we greet one another with cheerfulness and we go into the house of the Lord with singing, there is a regular weekly reminder that grace is still grace. It’s not as though Jesus undoes grace, such that in Christ, we now deserve the grace of God. Forgiveness in the blood of Christ and union with Christ are nothing but grace, but we do not begin by grace through faith and then proceed by some kind of score keeping. Nor is it as though salvation is just a ticket you get at the beginning of the Christian life, a free pass to heaven. No, salvation is the entire recreation of the world; salvation is the healing of all brokenness, the undoing of every wrong. And this is why we confess our sins as a congregation at the beginning of every Lord’s Day service. We still need grace. It is as much a confession of faith, that we are here because of grace, and that grace is still grace. We are still here by a miracle. If you’ve come to Church for 20 or 30 or 50 or 90 years it doesn’t matter. It’s still grace. And that’s why cry out for mercy and grace even after the absolution, not because we worry or fear that our sins might still be sticking to us, but because we know that we are just people, little people, very small. And we are frail and weak, and we still need more grace. God speaks to us in His mercy and lovingkindness, as a Father to His own children through the Word read and preached. We mill about like giddy little children hugging and kissing one another in thankfulness for the love that our Father has lavished on us, and then we respond in offering up our tithes and offerings and prayers, all that we are to God in Christ. And then we sit down here at this table as welcome and beloved sons. But this is all still impossible grace, overwhelming grace. Here God insists that He loves you, and that He sent His Son for you. As you take this bread and drink this cup, God gives Himself to you and for you specifically in all your weakness, in all your doubts, in all your brokenness. And He promises to be God for you still. Amazing grace is the only kind of grace there is. The kind of grace and love that we don’t deserve, that we have not earned, that we should not have. And therefore, all that we can do is worship. All that we can do is give thanks. All that we can do is praise the name of the Lord. So receive these gifts as nothing less than God’s infinite and amazing grace for you and for the world, and revel in them until you are amazed.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Tasting the Glory of God

“For the day of the Lord of hosts shall come upon everything proud and lofty, upon everything lifted up – and it shall be brought low – upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up…” (Is. 2:12-13)

On the Lord’s Day those things which are proud and lofty are brought low. In particular, Isaiah points to the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up. Those cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up are the cedars that were used to build Solomon’s temple. In other words, God says that His people have a mistaken understanding of God’s glory. As Pastor Leithart has pointed out, Israel has filled their land with gold and silver, horses and chariots, and has been led into idolatry by her alliances with foreign wives. All of these sins were specific warnings given in Deuteronomy to kings in Israel. He was not to multiply gold, horses and chariots, or wives that would turn his heart away from the Lord. Of course Israel ended up asking for a king in a great act of treason. Rejecting God as their king, they wanted to be instead a nation like all of the other nations. Israel wanted a glory like the other nations, and here in Isaiah, they have even turned even the gift of the temple into the glory of other nations. But God says they have turned His glory into shame, and He will come on the Lord’s Day and shake it down. He will even shake down the temple, even those things they think they have right. And this is fulfilled in the New Covenant in at least a couple of ways. First, it isn’t an accident that grammatically, there is a connection between the “Lord’s Day” and the “Lord’s Supper.” In Revelation, John is in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day and sees heaven open. The only other place this form of “Lord’s” is used is in 1 Corinthians 11 where Paul warns against abuses of the Lord’s Supper. He says that the Corinthian abuses are significant enough to cancel out their practice. He says that they are not celebrating the Lord’s Supper whatever they may think they are doing, and this does not render the meal benign, it rather makes it all the more dangerous. Paul says that some of the Corinthians are dead because of their arrogant abuses. Putting this all together, we need to be reminded that this meal has no automatic blessings and neither does our liturgy for that matter. Pride and arrogance in having the right liturgy, celebrating the sacraments rightly, having the best theology, warmest fellowship, best preaching, whatever, is all a sure way to have God come and bring us low. God does bless, and He does bestow His glory on His people, but it is not the glory of other nations. It isn’t respectable academic pomp and circumstance. It isn’t reasonable economic principles. It isn’t a place at the table in the political sphere. This is not a “religious ceremony” as though it fits along side of a Jewish Seder or Muslim Prayers. The glory of God is a crucified man on a Roman cross for the salvation of the world. The glory of God is grace and mercy and forgiveness for the world in a shared meal of bread and wine. So come with thankful hearts. Come taste the glory of the Lord.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Peace for the World

“He shall judge between the nations and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” (Is. 2:4)

When God comes for His people He comes not only to restore right worship but to restore their entire society, the whole world. And one of the principle affects of the gospel going forth in the world is peace. The phenomena of nations studying war and going to war is part of the old world, part of the old way of life. When God’s justice comes into a land, the military industrial complex begins to recede, and in place of guns and tanks, ploughs and pruning sheers become the culture’s norm. But this is not a call to agrarianism; God isn’t promising that everyone will become farmers. The plough and pruning sheers are particularly used for the production of grain and grapes. In other words, in place of swords and spears there will be bread and wine. In the place of coercion and violence, there will feasting and gladness. In place of oppression and injustice, there will be mercy and community. When God comes to bring His justice, He does not come as a great war general, He comes like a slave, like beggar who offers bread and wine, his own body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. This is justice. This is the judgment of the nations. Here, we share bread and wine, and in so doing we testify to the fact that Jesus brought justice into this world by the cross, and the cross is the only way of justice. This is the way of love and mercy and grace. But this also implies that these are far more powerful weapons. So take up this bread and wine with joy and thanksgiving. Here we share the peace of Christ with one another. Here is the peace of Christ for the world. Here we share the power of God to reconcile all things to Himself. Here, God promises to heal all brokenness. So come with faith, believing the promises of God.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Eating the Good of the Land

“If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Is. 1:19-20)

The invitation to follow Jesus, to submit to Him, to obey Him, is an invitation to eat the good of the land. It may not always seem like that, but God’s way is always the way of blessings and life. Honor your father and mother that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you. Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you. Jesus even says, Assuredly I say to you, that there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake and the gospel’s sake who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time – houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions – and in the age to come eternal life. Jesus invites us to His table, and His table is a feast of torn flesh and shed blood. Jesus calls us to partake of His sacrifice, to take up His cross and to follow Him. But He calls us to see this cross as the way to victory; He calls us to taste this cup which was wrath for Him and may be suffering for us, but if follow Him, we will eat the good of the land. The great irony is that if we do not partake of this feast, if we do not partake of the good land in faith, the warning is that we will be devoured, eaten by the sword of judgment. Obedience to Jesus means embracing His cross, and eating the good of the land. Disobedience and rebellion means being struck down. Of course the world offers their rival feasts: the communion and fellowship meals of popularity, respectability, beauty, or wealth. Those meals go down sweet; they pretend to offer the good of the land. But they are lies, and at the end of those paths is sadness and pain. Jesus doesn’t promise us a painless and easy life; but He promises resurrection life. He promises that as we give our lives away, as we follow Him, He will share His Resurrection Life with us in this life, and in the life to come Resurrection Life in absolute fullness. If you obey, you shall eat the good of the land. So come in faith, not fearing or worrying but believing.

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Sharing Blood in the Body

“The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.” (1 Cor. 10:16-17)

“And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.” (1 Cor. 12:26)

In this latter verse, Paul is primarily exhorting the Corinthians to act like they really are members of the same body. He has previously told them not to say they don’t need one another. The eye needs the foot, and the hand needs the eye. But if we really are members of one body and Christ’s blood runs through all of us, then whether we want to or not, it is simply a fact that we do effect one another. We may not feel that we are that closely related to one another, but Paul says that as we gather at this meal week by week, we are communing together in the body and blood of Christ. Just as nutrients flow through the blood throughout the body, so toxins and viruses can travel through the blood and infect the body. This means that suffering for one another may not only be something we consciously choose to do; rather, it may also be the result of being bound together as one body here at this table. In other words, a particular hardship or difficulty in your life may be in part suffering for and with someone else in the body. Of course this also implies a warning about unconfessed sin. It is not possible to isolate a cancer or a virus in one part of the body. When you partake of this bread and cup, you are sharing your life with your neighbors. Sometimes people object to the idea of a common loaf or a common cup in communion because of all the germs that might be shared and spread. But Paul teaches here that there is an even more significant sharing going on. We are being knit together, grafted together into one body, and this means that we share blood. This means that we suffer with and for one another whether or not we realize it, and as members of the body are honored, God bestows great joy whether or not we realize the connection. But this might be terrifying. The thought that I might be infected by your sin or suffering, or that my pain and suffering might be passed on to you is scary. But this really shouldn’t be scary or terrifying because this is the blood of Christ, the blood of cleansing. But this is the blood of the new covenant for the remission of sins. This is the blood of Jesus. This means that we are united, bound together by the Spirit, and we do share in one another’s suffering. But as we partake in faith, as we look to Jesus for our full forgiveness, we can confidently pass the bread and the wine to one another, trusting the goodness of God and the wisdom of the Spirit and the healing power of the blood of Jesus to knit us together in perfect holiness and love, granting us grace to be grace for and to one another, until we come to the Perfect Man, until this world is full of that grace. So come with thankful hearts.

Monday, August 30, 2010

This Meal Means You Are Needed

One of the glorious transitions from the Old to New Covenant is the pouring out of the Spirit on all of God’s people, anointing all of God’s people as priests and kings and prophets in Jesus Christ. While access to the presence of God was strictly guarded in the Old Covenant and only certain people had limited access on various occasions, in the New Covenant, all those who have been anointed in the waters of baptism and walk in obedience to the call of Jesus, all of you are called into the presence of God. And here you are welcome to sit in His presence to hear His Word to you, to respond in thankful hymns as well as petitions and prayers, and finally to sit here to share a meal in His presence.

But this means that by sharing in this meal week after week, we are confessing to God and one another that all of us are ministers in this house. All of us are priests in this temple. Paul uses the image of a body: we are all members of the same body, and the body needs all of the members to function properly. By sharing this meal every Lord’s Day, we confess that we are all in this together and that we need one another. The Spirit has been poured on all of you with particular gifts, strengths, talents, and this meal is regular reminder to use them. And this means that if you have particular interests, gifts, concerns, in so far as they are for the edification and building up of the body, you are called upon to use them, do them. Pastors and Elders and Deacons are a few of many of the gifts in the body, but the Body doesn’t run on just those three gifts.

The wonderful thing is that many of you are constantly seeing opportunities for hospitality, service, and ministry, and you jump in faithfully, and so this is just an encouragement to do so more and more. And this meal is not only your authorization to use your gifts in the body of Christ, but here Christ promises to nourish you by the working of the Spirit, perfecting your gifts, strengthening you for ministry, equipping you to love your little ones, honor and bless one another, and look for those who are hurting and needy to befriend and care for. This meal is for the kings and priests and prophets of the Triune God; you are those kings and priests and prophets. You belong here. You are loved, and you are needed. So come and give thanks.

Monday, August 02, 2010

The God Who Remembers

Why do we celebrate this meal week after week? First of all, we celebrate this meal in obedience to Jesus who told us to celebrate this meal. But Jesus also told us why we are to celebrate this meal. Jesus said that this meal is the new covenant in His blood, and we are to celebrate this meal as a memorial. What is frequently translated, “Do this in remembrance of Me” is really better translated, “Do this as My Memorial.” A memorial is something bigger than merely a reminder for us. It is a reminder for us, but this meal is a reminder also to the world around us and most importantly, a reminder to God Himself. Of course God does not forget like we do, but God loves to be reminded of His promises. The rainbow was placed in the sky to remind God never to flood the earth again. The blood of the Passover was a reminder to the Angel of Death not to strike the firstborn of that particular Hebrew house. The sacrifices of Israel served as memorials ascending to God, reminding of His promises of fellowship, forgiveness, and blessing.

Some of the most glorious words in Scripture, are the words that God remembered His people. When God remembers His people wonderful things happen. When God remembers His people, sins are forgiven, slaves go free, battles are won, the sick are healed, the barren give birth, leaders are born, the proud and haughty are cast down, and the humble and meek inherit the earth. When God remembers us, we have no reason to fear. When God remembers us, the only fitting response is something like glad and relieved laughter and tears. It’s all going to be alright. And that’s what this meal is. It is a reminder, a memorial, that God Himself has sworn He will never miss. He will never overlook this. When we celebrate this meal in faith and joy, God remembers. And as you eat and drink in faith and serve your neighbor with a glad heart, God remembers you. So come in faith, believing and giving thanks.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Feast of Forgiveness

Every week we celebrate this meal as a ministry of forgiveness. Specifically, Jesus gave this cup to his disciples and told them that is was for the remission of sins. I just want to take this meditation to emphasize this point. Consider this an extended, underlined absolution and assurance of pardon. When you take this bread into your mouth and taste this wine, the word you need to hear and believe is ‘forgiven.’ Guilt is a tyrant. Guilt is a pharaoh that exacts quotas of good deeds and moralistic hypocrisy. Forgiven is a word that gives life and health and blessing. Forgiveness is water that flows down like a summer storm and the thirsty fields drink their full. Guilt just shoots up weeds trying to blend in with grass. Forgiveness is something that God loves to do. Jesus went to the cross so that God’s mercy might flood this world. His blood was shed for short tempers, his blood was shed for porn problems, his blood was shed for liars, his blood was shed for parents who fail their children, his blood was shed for children who have rebelled against their parents, his blood was shed for hard, bitter hearts, his blood was shed for addicts and abusers and cowards. His blood was shed for women who have had abortions. His blood was shed for husbands and fathers and boyfriends who encouraged and facilitated abortions. No one comes to this table apart from grace. No one comes to this table who is not first covered in blood. But make sure that it is Christ’s blood covering you; guilt cries out for blood and people exact the price from themselves or others close to them. But there is no freedom in the Egypt of Guilt. There is only freedom in Christ, there is only forgiveness in the blood of Jesus. And it’s free. I know we don’t usually give altar calls; and I’m not going to start now. But if you are struggling with guilt, and you hear me talking about forgiveness and you’re not sure if you have that, please talk to me. Talk to one of the elders or deacons. Talk to your parents. But the short answer is right here: Jesus knows your sins and He says, come lay them down and eat with Me. This bread and wine is for you; it’s my body and blood for you. Come eat, drink, and rejoice.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Passover Warfare

Every time we gather at this table we are celebrating the great and glorious Passover of Jesus Christ. We lift up the blood and body of Christ, reminding God that we are covered in the blood of Christ. And as we do this, proclaiming our Lord’s death, the Angel of Death passes over us and does battle on our behalf. God is at war with all our enemies.

Therefore, this is our Exodus meal. And every week we prepare once again to enter the Promised Land, to take dominion, to follow God’s law, and to plunder the Egyptians. But we do not rule by might or by power. We rule in the power of the Spirit. And that does not mean that we do not rule. It means that we believe that the most powerful force in the history of the world is resurrection, and we will not settle for anything less.

In battles, great generals have sometimes made their troops wait until nearly the last minute before firing, making sure that the first volley gets the greatest effect. In the gospel we proclaim the death of Christ as the death of death. Therefore our General bids us lay our lives all the way down, to become servants and slaves of all. For the last shall be first. The least shall be greatest. He who gives his life up will find it. This takes great faith in our general. But we do not serve a King who has not gone before us. Our King has already gone ahead into this fight, laying His life down for us, so that we might be given the power and courage to do the same.

This is the power of the resurrection, the glory of Passover, and the authority of the Spirit of God who does battle on our behalf. Some come and rejoice.

Monday, July 05, 2010

The Sign is a Promise

“And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain” (3:12).
We noted earlier that the striking thing about this statement is that the sign is a promise. And this almost seems like cheating. Of course later, God will give Moses signs for Pharaoh and Israel, but this sign is for Moses so that he knows that God has sent him. This requires Moses to simply believe the word of God and obey. When Moses has any doubt in Egypt, he must simply remember and believe the promise of God. It is common to refer to the sacraments as signs, and sometimes this is explained poorly, but it can be helpful in this respect. Sometimes signs are extraordinary and miraculous: rainbows, healing, etc. But fundamentally signs are promises of what God is doing and what God promises He will do. This meal in one sense is very ordinary. We have bread and wine, some of the most basic sorts of food in the world made from grain and grapes. But the sign is in the promises of God. God promises that our sins are forgiven, that the death of Jesus reconciled us to Himself and one another, that He is feeding us with His life through this meal, that this forgiveness and life are for the world, and that Jesus will reign until His Kingdom fills the earth. And we have been called to believe all of this and to live in a way that is consistent with that belief. And this is the point: Moses saw a burning bush at the foot of a mountain, and the sign that Moses had been commissioned to go to Egypt was a promise that he would return and worship there. But we have something even better than this. Every week we gather here at this table and then God sends us out into the world. And this shall be the sign that you have been sent by the Lord into the world: you will return and serve God here on this mountain. And we do. Week after week, we return and we worship the Lord here at this mountain and then He sends us out again. He sends us to our jobs, our families, our neighborhoods, our enemies to live and proclaim the freedom and forgiveness found in Christ. And if we should have any doubt during the week, we are called to remember and believe the promise of God. We will return and serve God on this mountain. So come and worship.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Baptized into Moses, Baptized into Christ

In 1 Cor. 10:2, Paul says that all of Israel was baptized “into Moses.” Paul explains that it was “in the cloud and in the sea.” At least one way of understanding this is that Israel followed in the steps of Moses. Moses passed through the water and reeds of the Nile and was delivered from his enemies as Israel was later delivered from her enemies through the waters of the Sea of Reeds. Moses spent 40 years in the wilderness and Yahweh spoke to him at Mt. Sinai as Israel would later do. In other words, if Israel had looked closely in faith, they would have seen how Moses’ early life was all a down payment and a preview of what God planned to do for them. Moses went through an Exodus before God brought Israel through theirs.

And this is why Paul can say that Israel was baptized into Moses. To be baptized is to be joined to a head, to be married to a leader. Israel followed Moses, the savior Yahweh raised up for her, and we are called to do the same. Our baptism is into King Jesus. His baptism was a literal death, and therefore we have been baptized into his death (Rom. 6:3-4). We have been called to follow him to the Promised Land. Throughout Scripture God points his people to what he has already done in history. This is how we know that God will deliver us now and in the future. God has been faithful in Jesus, our great Moses, and therefore he will be faithful to all who are in Him.

Now this meal is another memorial of the death of Christ. We partake of that death and resurrection, that Great Exodus in faith believing that our lives, our stories, are in the process of being turned into the story of Christ. Just as Israel’s story came to resemble the story of Moses, their spiritual head, so too we believe that as we trust and obey, our lives and stories are being conformed to the image of Christ. So come, eat, drink, and rejoice in the Exodus of Jesus.

Monday, June 21, 2010

The Table of Reunion

In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul says that in Christ all things are being reconciled. The Spirit has been poured out as the guarantee of this, the down payment of this reconciliation. Paul says that having the Spirit means that he and the other apostles are ambassadors for Christ pleading with all men to be reconciled to God. This table is the enactment of this word of reconciliation. At this table, God invites all of his people to eat together, to fellowship in the communion of the body and blood of Christ by the working of the Spirit. And it’s important to point out that the Passing of the Peace is not this sacrament of reconciliation. The Scriptures urge us to greet one another in the peace of the Lord, and the Church has wisely kept a custom of sharing that peace before coming to this table and it may be an important part of reconciliation, but the point is that this table is the act of reconciliation. Just as an engaged couple may hug or kiss before the wedding day, that does not mean they are married before the wedding ceremony. It is the ceremony that affects the marriage. Of course a ceremony doesn’t guarantee faithfulness; the Spirit is the guarantee. It’s possible to lie at this table. But that doesn’t change what this meal is. This meal is an act of communion, an act of fellowship. And in that sense, every week it is an act of re-union, renewed fellowship, reconciliation. This body was pierced for the reunion of all things in Christ; this blood was shed for the reconciliation of all men to God. You are eating reunion. You are drinking reconciliation. And for those who eat and drink reconciliation while harboring bitterness and unfaithfulness, this table is poison. But for those who in brokenness and weakness know that what they need most of all is forgiveness and healing and reunion, this meal is grace and healing and reconciliation. So come, eat and drink in faith, and rejoice in the goodness of God.

Monday, May 24, 2010

This Way is Better

“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.” (Jn. 16:7)

We have just celebrated the Ascension of Jesus ten days ago, and today we celebrate the pouring out of the Spirit. But I think it’s easy for these parts of the gospel to be overlooked, even sort of resented by us. How can we celebrate Jesus leaving? And sure, the Spirit is great and all, but we can’t really see the Spirit. We can’t talk to the Spirit quite so directly as the disciples could speak with Jesus. Christmas is wonderful because that is when God appeared to us in human flesh, and Easter is even more wonderful because God overcame death and sin and evil and came back to us in the flesh. And if we had it our way, we would want the story to just stop there. Why couldn’t Jesus just stay here on earth, all resurrected and glorious?

Once when my son and I were talking, he pointed out that it was rather strange that we serve a King that we can’t see. And this is true. It’s true that we can’t see Jesus, and it’s true that this is strange. This is underlined even more starkly at this table. Maybe we don’t think about it consciously, but this is the Lord’s table, the table of the Lord Jesus, and we can’t see Him. He invites us to eat with Him every week, and the dinner host is invisible. If we think about too much, it could be rather depressing or upsetting. It could even cast doubts in our mind about what we’re doing, what we believe. But Jesus says that it is better for Him to go away. It’s better for Jesus to leave so that the Spirit will come. Jesus tells his disciples that this is one of the reasons why He is leaving them. He is departing so that he can send the Spirit to them. Jesus is not here so that the Spirit can be. That almost seems more strange. Why can’t Jesus and the Spirit both be here? The Spirit came down on Jesus at His baptism. They were both here then. Why is it better for Jesus to be in heaven while the Spirit is here with us on earth?

Part of the point seems to be that Jesus wants us to be like Him. When Jesus walked this earth, He had to walk in the power of the Spirit and obey His Father. The Spirit led Jesus, and Jesus learned obedience through the things that He suffered. Likewise, we must learn to walk in the Spirit obey the Father so we might learn obedience as sons in the Son.

But if this setup is better, this means that it is better at least for the present for us to gather around this table in faith than for Jesus to appear bodily in front of us. It is better for us to be fed with Jesus through this bread and wine than to have Jesus sitting here with us in His human flesh. And this really is comforting. This way is better. So come eat, drink, and rejoice in the Spirit who knits us together through the body and blood of our risen King.

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