Sunday, October 7, 2012

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.    

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12 comments:

  1. That is precious! And brought tears to my eyes! Yesterday my sweet niece wanted to go to the alter and pray for all her family. She is only 3. These babies listen. Love it! Thanks for sharing!

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    1. They really do, Lauren! And they just trust and believe without the doubts we adults often have. Oh that childlike faith!

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  2. Times of sharing Jesus with our little blessings are priceless. Thank you for sharing your story. Much love from a sister in Christ. Xoxo

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  3. A beautiful memory preserved for Evan. He will love reading this when he is older.

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  4. This is a very precious memory.

    I am curious how communion works at your church though. In my denomination you don't get baptised until you are an adult (around 18) and you can't take communion until you are baptised. For the kids and people who aren't baptised, even though they can't take communion, they get a grape as a symbol of God's love for them. Please don't be offended by my question because I am just curious about how different denominations deal with baptism and communion. I am Mennonite, by the way, but not one who believes in separation from the world in a drastic way.

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    1. I'm not offended at all Natasha. I have actually enjoyed reading about other church's ways of interpreting the doctrine of communion. Wikipedia actually explains the basic "Christian" doctrine of communion. It seems that lots of Christian denominations interpret and have developed different "procedures." I was raised in a pentecostal church (my dad was a pastor) so I grew up witnessing the full baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. While I think that is a special gift from God, I don't believe it is the only evidence of experiencing God's love and His spirit. In my experience, I feel the closest to God when I am alone in my prayers or through singing and worshipping. Anyway, we don't restrict communion to a certain few. I attend a non-denominational church that I just love because our preachers and doctrine isn't restricted by any denominational oversight and is afraid of "offending" anyone by preaching the full Word of God from the Bible. We believe that we take communion because Jesus expressly asked His followers to "do this in remembrance of me." So by following his instructions, we are saying "we believe in you, we want to follow you, and we want to have communion with you." In that respect, we don't believe in precluding children in this because who has a better communion with Jesus than little children. I am sure you've noticed this in your children...how they seem to have a special way of understanding God's love for them. I want to teach my children from a young age that they can have a special relationship with their savior. No, Evan has reached an age yet where he has made his own free choice to accept Jesus into his heart, but I can only hope that when that time comes, he can fully appreciate all that Jesus did for him. :-)

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    2. Correction: "isn't afraid" :-)

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    3. In old pentecostal churches, they also perform the practice of "feet washing." Remember in the Bible when Jesus washed his disciples feet like a servant at the Last Supper? He was showing that as Christians, we should be loving servants to one another. Not slaves, mind you. We should serve one another in love and help one another just as Christ did. Communion is the same...about striving to follow Christ's perfect example in every way.

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    4. Thanks for explaining. I now need to go find why my denomination "restricts" communion to baptised believers because I honestly don't know.

      I do agree that a lot of times children are closer to Jesus and God than us adults so having them take communion makes sense in that way. As Jesus said, "You must be like a little child to enter the Kingdom of Heaven" (that's not a direct, direct quote!).

      And our church does footwashing but usually only on Maundy Thursday, not a lot throughout the rest of the year. I have participated in a few footwashing services and have always found them very powerful.

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    5. Here is the link to our church's confession of faith regarding communion (http://www.mennonitechurch.ca/about/cof/art.12.htm), although it doesn't explain why it's open to baptised members only. I also read the previous article on baptism and the following article on footwashing. It's all a little (a lot?) confusing :)

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