Great Communion
Originally scheduled for May 20
Take a short flight of fancy with me, will you?
Let us suppose that you have been tasked with providing the greatest
communion service ever known. No effort, no expense is too great;
you have all the time you need to get it ready. Think about the
materials:
·
Would gold be sufficient for your
communion trays and communion cups? Perhaps you would prefer
platinum or some other precious metal.
·
What about the wine (or, as you
prefer, grape juice). What type of wine? How rare is it? What
vintage is it? What is the ideal taste for it?
·
And the bread? What type should it
be? Made of what flour? Where was it grown?
Of course, you will need the right people to
carry these trays with the bread and the wine. They certainly will
have to have a pair of white gloves. Do you want weightlifters or
waiters? Perhaps it would be your preference to engage a military
drill team with their precise movements. This, obviously, might
involve a large band or orchestra. Of course one primary concern
would be who would deliver the communion meditation. He or she would
have to be a speaker beyond compare.
There is a reason that no one has ever done
this. Communion is a humble meal. The ingredients are very plain and
very affordable even to the least.
·
Its purpose is to remember Christ,
not to celebrate our own wealth and reputation.
·
In partaking of communion, we
proclaim the Lord’s death. It is a somber and serious occasion.
·
One feature of communion is
self-examination; looking for our own sins and causing our
repentance. This is a very serious moment indeed.
In communion we tell the world that we are one
body; each of us different yet each of us related to Christ. We are
not a random collection of super saints. The value of communion does
not come from those who organize the ceremony, nor those who
partake. Its value comes from Christ, not us. We are not to be the
proud who offer communion, but the humble will gather together to
eat his body and drink his blood so that we may stay united in Him.
