Do This In Remembrance of Me

I remember those words inscribed on the communion tables at the front of the churches my dad used to pastor.  I can't say I always understood it as a child or really gave it much thought.  I remember loving doing communion at church because we would get to drink grape juice from tiny little cups, and if I was really lucky, I would get to help clean up after church which meant drinking the rest of the unused portions.  As Christians, we learn that communion means a whole lot more than drinking grape juice and eating little crackers.  Christ told His disciples to break and eat the bread to remember Him and His body which was bruised and broken for our sins and iniquities.  He told them to drink the red wine as a remembrance of His blood that was shed for our transgressions.  When I think of all that He endured for mankind who hated and despised Him, I just feel so humbled.

Today, we debated whether we would even attend church.  Our children were tired from a busy week and weekend and suffering from colds that had left them drained.  They hadn't really had much time to rest.  Storms had come through early this morning too.  We decided that although we were running late, we would still go knowing we would get something out of being at the service and hearing the sermon.  Being late, we sat in the family viewing room and kept Evan and Brody with us instead of letting them go to their classes.  We didn't even realize it was a communion Sunday.  After a sermon was preached on God's desire for us to be generous and giving, the preacher talked about the gift of communion.  Communion means an intimate relationship.  By sharing in this special remembrance tradition, we are participating in something that Christ specifically asked His followers to partake of and that He did with them.  The Last Supper was the last time of communion and fellowship between Jesus and His followers on the earth.  When we follow in their footsteps, we are also saying that we want that relationship with Jesus.

Since Evan was in the service with us, I picked him up and sat him on my lap.  I explained about the special communion service and why it was so special.  I explained that we did this to remember what Jesus had done for us.  I asked him what Jesus did on the cross, and he said "He saved us."  I explained that yes he saved us so that we could go to heaven and be with him one day and so that we could be forgiven when we do bad things.  I explained what the bread and juice represented.  Our church follows the more traditional procedure of breaking pieces of bread and dipping it into the goblet of juice.  He said, "Can I have some bread?"  I explained that he could only have some if he understood why he was taking the bread.  He said he understood and wanted to participate.  We stood in the line to receive communion, and when we got to the server, he listened as she said those special words about the bread representing Jesus' body and the juice representing His blood.  She told him he could select a piece of bread, and he sweetly and carefully selected a piece.  He, of course, selected a bigger piece, and I attribute that to him wanting a bigger piece of Jesus' blessing.  It was a very special memory for us to share.