Today we celebrate the Lord’ Table. In other words, we get to come to
Jesus’ table and commune with him.
As 1 Corinthians 10.16 states:
Is not the cup of blessing which
we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a
sharing in the body of Christ?
This language of “sharing” is the language of fellowship or
communion. Jesus Christ gave us
this meal to strengthen his people in communion with himself. In light of this think about the flow
of our worship service as it leads up to the Lord’s Table.
First we are called
to worship. This is a summons
from the God of grace to enter into his presence to worship him. There is, next, a confession of sin from us and then an assurance of pardon from God based in his word. We then seek God in prayer through the pastoral prayer and the Lord’s Prayer. We are then to hear from God’s
word. We do this through the scripture readings and the sermon. Interspersed throughout all these activities is the singing of God’s people in worship and
praise. From the word we come to
the Table of the Lord to commune
with him. This should be a time of
joyous fellowship with Jesus Christ and his people. Having been fed at the Lord’s Table we end the service with
a charge to go forth in faithfulness and benediction
to bless us as we go. There is a
natural movement in the service from call
to confession to pardon, to prayer, to Word to Supper, to benediction.
Why is this important?
Session recently approved the weekly observance of the Lord’s
Supper. This means that every week
will be following this trajectory of worship which also includes the Lord’s
Supper. Over the next few weeks I
will be writing here in the Pastor’s Pen about the biblical, theological, and
historical reasons why weekly communion is a good practice. I hope to also address some potential
concerns, such as: “If we do the Lord’s Table every week won’t it be less
special?”
Keeping our eyes on the flow of the service will help us see
the journey we are on each Sunday.
The elements of the service are not disjointed pieces thrown together.
Rather, they are steps on a journey into the presence of God. Our journey ends up at the table of the
Lord Jesus and then he sends us out into the world with his blessing. Since the Lord’s Table so clearly
speaks of the gospel our participation in this Christ given practice is simply
one more way we manifest our love for the gospel message.
