A means of Grace.
One thing I really love about our new church is that we have weekly communion. The church I grew up in did communion quarterly, and several other churches I have been a part of have also done it like that. I never thought too much about communion until hearing a more reformed view of it at RUF and at seminary where we spent several classes talking about it.
I came to understand better how God has given us communion as a means of grace; that our participation in communion is a blessing he gives us to understand our redemption better. I guess when I did it so rarely, I was never able to fully appreciate it. I remember my theology professor talking about how God is spiritually present at communion in a unique way. He also told us an anecdote about how he had a friend who came to faith one Sunday as he watched the elements pass him by.
So I'm happy to be at a church with weekly communion, but I realize I especially love it with kids. I often feel like a failure when I try to talk to Judah about Jesus. Of course, we read the bible and talk about bible stories. When I am disciplining him, I always talk about God's grace and Jesus dying for our sins. But I have to admit that I frequently feel so clumsy that I wonder if he understands any of it. Now that we have weekly communion at church, things feel much easier. He sits on my lap and hears his Daddy talk about Jesus' broken body, the body that was broken for me; about his blood poured out as an offering for the forgiveness of sins. He sees me take the piece of bread and the cup of wine and I can whisper in his ear that Jesus died to give us life, that the sins that need to be forgiven are mine. That I eat and drink to remember and celebrate, and that one day when he understands it all, he can eat and drink with me.
I pray for that day.
I came to understand better how God has given us communion as a means of grace; that our participation in communion is a blessing he gives us to understand our redemption better. I guess when I did it so rarely, I was never able to fully appreciate it. I remember my theology professor talking about how God is spiritually present at communion in a unique way. He also told us an anecdote about how he had a friend who came to faith one Sunday as he watched the elements pass him by.
So I'm happy to be at a church with weekly communion, but I realize I especially love it with kids. I often feel like a failure when I try to talk to Judah about Jesus. Of course, we read the bible and talk about bible stories. When I am disciplining him, I always talk about God's grace and Jesus dying for our sins. But I have to admit that I frequently feel so clumsy that I wonder if he understands any of it. Now that we have weekly communion at church, things feel much easier. He sits on my lap and hears his Daddy talk about Jesus' broken body, the body that was broken for me; about his blood poured out as an offering for the forgiveness of sins. He sees me take the piece of bread and the cup of wine and I can whisper in his ear that Jesus died to give us life, that the sins that need to be forgiven are mine. That I eat and drink to remember and celebrate, and that one day when he understands it all, he can eat and drink with me.
I pray for that day.
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