Sunday, April 12, 2020

John 20 (NLT)

A lot has been written about Friday. A great deal has been written about Sunday: i.e., Easter Sunday. How much thought have we given to Saturday?

Of course, Jesus had been crucified Friday before noon when darkness fell across the land (Matthew 27:45). He died around 3 pm (Matthew 27:46). Shortly afterwards His body was taken down and hurriedly buried in the tomb before 6 pm (John 19:31, 38-40), the beginning of the Sabbath day of rest.

EASTER

Looking back through the eyes of faith, the hope of Christians is anchored in the fact that Jesus arose from the dead. In fact, the apostle Paul makes the assertion that if it is not true, Christians should be among the most pitied (1 Corinthians 15:12-19).

SATURDAY

To come closer to realizing how important Jesus’ resurrection was to His followers, it is worth considering the darkness of Saturday. In fact, it is John who tells us that when Jesus appeared to His disciples after His passion they were in a room with locked doors (John 20:19, 26).

This makes perfect sense. Likely they were afraid of suffering the same fate of their Master. Indeed, Cleopas and his friend on the road to Emmaus admits, “we had hoped” to the disguised, resurrected Jesus (Luke 24:21).

COVED-19 AND SATURDAY

The truth is that we know how they were feeling on that Saturday between despair and rejoicing. At some point in life everyone has their Saturdays when it is hard to fight off the cratering feeling of hopelessness and hold onto the last strands of hope.

These type of Saturdays include those late night phone calls, doctor visits, pink slips and stay-in-place orders that lead us to wonder about the future. Just listen closely to the present debate between those who promote enduring the isolation for multiple months and those who are ready to get back to work. No doubt it will be a life-and-death decision for some. Others fear that going much longer will risk jumping off of the cliff of economic disaster. In the meantime…it’s Saturday.

SUNDAY’S COMING

A great thing about the Saturdays of life is that we know that Sunday is coming. Had the disciples truly believed that Friday’s tragedy was going to result in Sunday’s exuberance they might have been less afraid. Just as they were certain that Jesus was dead and buried, so also their excited anticipation of Sunday may have led them to live differently on Saturday. Me? I’d have been camping out in front of the tomb, waiting to see how Jesus was going to do it!

And so, we endure our Saturdays with hope because we know that resurrection day is coming one day. How is this realization of a wondrous future is leading us to live differently today?

COMMUNION

We continue to encourage everyone to practice communion around the dinner table as a part of a meal. But, if you would prefer our more traditional order of worship we will continue to post our YouTube communion. You may follow our link by clicking HERE or on the image below.

Sunday, April 5, 2020

Matthew 22:26-30 (NLT) and 1 Corinthians 11:25 (NLT)

Jesus instituted ‘The Lord’s Supper’ with His disciples around the dinner table. This meal was familiar to them all at this specific time of the year. It was a family meal in every Jewish household to which every member of the family was invited to participate. Indeed, the Passover meal tapped into a tradition that reached all of the way back to Moses and the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt (Exodus 12).

COME TO THE TABLE

So, the Lord’s Supper, as instituted by Jesus, was part of a family meal around a table. Here, the entire Jewish family was welcome (Exodus 12:47).

Today, however, when we gather around ‘the Lord’s Table’ we may think of a wooden table with “Do This In Remembrance of Me” engraved across the front. We may also think of communion trays for the bread and trays for thimble-sized cups for the grape juice. In many congregations we may also have collection trays beside them, making the point that this part of the service is not a part of the Lord’s Supper; it is a separate act of worship.

These are not the kind of tables that a person would find in an average home. These are almost exclusively found in church buildings. Neither would we likely find the ‘utensils’ in any of our homes. These would only be found in church supply catalogues for these special tables in these special buildings with special rooms that we sometimes call, “sanctuaries”. *

SO WHAT HAPPENED?

Throughout the first century the church enjoyed these “Agape Feasts” or, as we might say, “Love Pot Lucks”. Over time, however, the Lord’s Supper became more formal and ceremonial. It continued to be about sharing in the body and blood of Christ. What was different is that it evolved into a ritual that each person did without regard to the person sitting next to them or the people around them. Somewhere along the way, the social aspect of the meal was lost.

This is not to say, necessarily, that there is a right and a wrong way to remember Christ’s sacrifice except for the example Paul gives us of what was happening in the church in Corinth. There, some were gorging themselves during the meal without regard to others who would have to walk away from the meal hungry because the food was gone. The very idea of excluding anyone from the table was horrifying to Paul! Instead, it would be better for them to eat at home, he would tell them, rather than eat and drink God’s judgement upon themselves (1 Corinthians 11:17-34)!

COVID-19 AND COMMUNION?

This time of self-isolation and social distancing during the Covid-19 crisis means that almost all of what we do in public is now only allowed at home. What a perfect time to return to the night Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, duplicating the practice of the early church! Here is a simple outline of how we can ‘return to our roots’ of our Christ-centered faith:

• Gather the entire family around the dinner table for a meal.
• The head of the family takes a loaf of bread or cracker or unleavened bread and prays a blessing over it as a reminder of the body of Christ–the bread of life–that was broken for us.
• The bread is then passed around the table for everyone else to ‘break’ for themselves. This includes everyone, not just baptized believers. And there is no rule about the size of the portion except to make sure that everyone is able to take what they wish.
• At this point the meal begins. While eating the meal it would be a great time to ask everyone to share what Jesus means to them and how He has changed their lives. To talk about the hope that Jesus’ sacrifice has planted in their hearts and how important God’s forgiveness, grace and mercy is to them. Reading portions of Psalms 115-118 may be a great way to relive that Passover meal.
• As the meal concludes and everyone is satisfied, now pray a blessing over ‘the fruit of the vine’ as a symbol of the blood of Christ that was poured out for everyone. Pour the grape juice into each individual’s glasses. As everyone drinks, have each person share the importance of forgiveness and cleansing.
• Close the meal with a prayer that God will empower His Holy Spirit in our lives to help us live like God’s kingdom people, holy and acceptable before His throne.

CONCLUSION

And so, we realize that the entire process of the Lord’s Supper is a social one that brings people together as the body of Christ. This happens at so many levels. Our lesson today is broken into three parts.

Part 1 is our welcome and focus upon today’s emphasis as we consider The Lord’s Supper.

Part 2 is a sharpening of our focus upon the importance of the social aspect as we gather around the table. We conclude with a commission to all to take this time to integrate the Lord’s Supper with a table meal of the day.

Part 3 is a simple communion service that is similarly conducted every Sunday morning in our worship assemblies.

May God bless us as we realize new and different ways to worship our Savior and our God by revisiting the core of our example: Jesus Christ.

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* Much research has been done on the evolution of the Lord’s Supper meal transitioning to the formal ritual we now do in our church buildings. Among Churches of Christ a recent author is John Mark Hicks who wrote a book entitled Come To The Table. Click HERE for a Biblical Archaeology article that summarizes the discussion and offers other references for further study.

Sunday, March 1, 2020

Matthew 4:1-11 (NLT)

LENT

40 days before Easter Sunday, many churches celebrate Lent. It usually begins with Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday and ends on Maundy Thursday, the day when Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, or on Easter Sunday when Jesus rose from the dead. 

Sometimes the season of Lent is associated with the idea of the wilderness in Scripture. Understanding the principle of brokenness is another important value to all followers of Christ. 

Many congregations do not normally observe Lent as a religious tradition. Nonetheless, the ideals of service, sacrifice, fasting, penitence and prayer are worthy practices of every follower of Christ.

BAPTISM, LENT & EASTER SUNDAY

The Lent tradition seems to have emerged from the sudden influx of people who wanted to become Christians once the legal penalties were removed by Constantine around 315 A.D. The early church’s practice of baptisms on Easter Sunday gradually expanded to include the 40 days preceding Easter and more. This was to allow time to disciple people from largely pagan background, teaching them the core doctrines of Christ and the church as a prerequisite to baptism. In its earliest years, its essence was an evangelistic desire that strongly connected baptism with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.

With the advent of infant baptism in the early centuries after Christ, however, the connection between baptismal service and Easter Sunday had largely disappeared by the time of the Reformation. * 

THE WILDERNESS

The concept of 40 days and nights marked moments of significance in God’s dealing with fallen mankind. Consider the life and times of these great leaders and their role in the history of God’s people: Noah (Genesis 7), Moses (Exodus 24, 34), The Spies (Numbers 13), Israel (Numbers 14) and Elijah (1 Kings 14).

Of course, our prime example of the importance of the wilderness is Jesus Christ Himself, Who, immediately after his baptism by John, is led by the Spirit into the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11). He did not resist the Spirit’s lead. Rather, Luke tells us that in spite of the crowds that were gathering around Him–perhaps, in part, because of them–Jesus would often retire to the wilderness to pray (Luke 5:15-16). In other words, Jesus would embrace the wilderness as a means of connecting to his Father.

OUR WILDERNESSES

And so, the parallels between the ideals of the season of Lent, our Christian walk and Jesus’ time in the wilderness convict us. All of these describe the all-day, every-day lifestyles of followers of Christ that go beyond 40 days and nights. And isn’t that the purpose of Lent, after all? It reminds us all of the importance of the consecrated life lived before an Everlasting God by the grace of His Son, Jesus Christ! These are every-day yet eternal truths that cannot be moved!

Sometimes it seems that happiness itself is the goal, meaning and purpose for so many lives. Still, there are special people in this world who have become accustomed to the wilderness periods of life, learning to embrace them as opportunities to know God more intimately.

Perhaps the achievement of happiness is pursuing goals, meanings and purposes in life that–though littered with wilderness wanderings–are anchored in Someone Greater than ourselves!

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* For further reading about the genesis of Lent and the traditions that surround it, these references may be helpful:

For analysis of the early development of the church’s assimilation of new converts and Abrose’s (340-397 A.D.) influence on the teaching of those early ‘new convert’ classes:

“Ambrose and Catechetical Instruction” in the Online Library of Liberty.

Ambrose: “On The Mysteries”

For an interesting discussion of Lent as understood by the Reformed tradition, check out:

“Yes and No: Lent and the Reformed Faith Today” in The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.