It is a familiar site to the
business traveler: the airport flight lounge. Look around and see
the people who will soon be on board your flight. Some are going away;
the others going home. Some have emotional reasons for the flight—the joy
of marriage, the grief of a funeral. Others fly only for business.
Some might even think this the flight to a new life. Some are going home
to the same life. You can’t tell by looking, but they are there.
Watching the congregation prepare
for Communion is like that. Behind the sober faces there are many reasons
for coming to the Lord’s Supper. Some genuinely hunger and thirst for
righteousness, and here they are filled with the righteousness of Christ, our
atoning sacrifice. Some are sick, in mind or body or heart, and seek the
Healer of all. Some are alone, even desolate, and seek the only
Comforter.
Others see it more
routinely. He is the Master; I am His servant—where else would I be found
than at His table? He is the Creator, I am the creature—and in my Creator
I find purpose and joy. But no matter what our reasons, it is a risky
business to be at the Lord’s Supper.
Risky? The God who weighs
the hearts of men knows the fraud from the true. Paul tells us that there
are those who are sick or even dead because they slighted the Lord’s
Supper. It is not wise to try to deceive the Living God.
The question of Communion is
this: while I can see many reasons why I would come to Him at His table,
why does He come to me? It certainly is not for my own virtue or
worthiness; even the best of us are sinners. No, it is not my holiness
that calls Him to us. It is not our virtue and righteousness that calls
Him, it is His love and mercy. Communion is for my benefit:
· First,
that I might know the mercy of God. I do not deserve it, yet still He
bids me come.
· Next,
that I might know the love of God—and grow in it.
· Finally,
that I might know who He truly is—to the increase of my humility.
I cannot earn or deserve this;
but I can reverence it. How?
· I
will acknowledge Him for Who He is. I will praise His greatness and give
thanks for His love and mercy so freely given at the Cross.
· I
will confess who I am as well; who I am and what I have done—and then recognize
that I cannot deserve His mercy.
· Indeed,
like the tax collector of old, I will ask, “Lord, be merciful to me, the
sinner.”
Communion in the church is like
that waiting lounge. Some are here in joy; some in admiration; some in
pain; some, not really sure of anything but that they need to be here.
Communion is the flight lounge of the church; we remember His death until He
comes again. On that day the church, His people, will take flight—for
what is hoped for will have arrived.