BHM Our Church Speaks | Absalom Jones in Philly, "Free"

Absalom Jones, 1st African American Priest

"Above all things,

let us instruct our children

in the principles of 

the Gospel of Jesus Christ

whereby they may become

wise to salvation."

+ Absalom Jones

1746-1818 A.D.

During the beginning of Black History Month, this post features an excerpt from Our Church Speaks so that you might discover with us how the Light of the world shines through our brothers and sisters of color.

Absalom Jones in Our Church Speaks

Absalom Jones 

What Is Freedom For?

Since before the founding of the United States, the African American church has been a prophetic voice in American culture. Absalom Jones was an eminent founding father of this Christian tradition. He was born enslaved in Delaware and, in his youth, witnessed his family sold away. As an adult, he purchased freedom for his wife and children and, eventually, for himself. Jones befriended Richard Allen, also a freed slave. The two became lay ministers at St. George Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, a church with both white and black congregants, where black ministers were allowed to preach. Together, they founded the Free African Society in 1787, an organization that championed the rights of free black citizens.

In the late eighteenth century, segregationists took control at St. George and forced African Americans to sit together in the balcony, separate from the white congregants. This change came abruptly. In the middle of a service, Jones was kneeling in prayer when he was approached by an usher and told to sit in the segregated section of the church. When Jones did not immediately comply, he was pulled to his feet by the usher, who was unwilling to wait until the prayer was over. Jones and Allen led a historic church walkout in response to this mistreatment.

Soon after,

the city of Philadelphia was hit

 by a devastating plague of yellow fever.

Ten percent of the city died.

Jones, Allen, and the members

of the Free African Society

courageously ministered to

the sick and dying,

including those segregationists

who had oppressed them.

Jones rose to prominence as an influential Christian leader in the city of Philadelphia. He established the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, a church with a mission "to arise out of the dust and shake ourselves, and throw off that servile fear, that the habit of oppression and bondage trained us up in. And in meekness and fear, we would desire to walk in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free." Richard Allen, likewise, established the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church (known as Mother Bethel AME), the first independent black church in the Methodist tradition. St. Thomas and Bethel became two of the most significant congregations in Philadelphia, and Jones and Allen became two of the first officially ordained African American pastors of any church in the United States. Jones preached antislavery sermons ever New Year's Day, a tradition he faithfully continued until his death in 1818.

Scripture

"Thus says the LORD, 

the God of Israel, 

'Let My people go,

that they may hold a feast

to Me in the wilderness'."

+ Exodus 5:1

Meditation: 

What is Freedom For?

There is a lot of talk about freedom these days. Most people use the word to mean unconstrained, unlimited, uninhibited, able to do as we please, to follow our desires, so long as they do not harm someone else. Within this construct, bondage is anything or anyone who keeps us from living the kind of life we would like to live, and freedom is simply the removal of the bonds of oppression. 

Exodus is the original liberation story, if there ever was one. All freedom fighters are riffing off Moses. What is interesting is that this original freedom story is not only concerned with freedom from bondage, but freedom to something entirely new and different. "Let my people go" is a famous phrase, but the second half of that sentence "that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness" is far less well known. God (not Moses) set His people free from slavery not so that they could do as they please, but so that they might celebrate His provision, even in the midst of desolation. After plagues, parting of the Red Sea, Mount Sinai, the golden calf, the Ten Commandments, and more, that is exactly what they did. 

The manna that fell from heaven 

became the feast of God's provision 

even in their forty years 

of wandering the wilderness.

This feast points forward 

to the new Moses, Jesus,

who not only sets us free

from enslavement to sin

but also provides a new feast

in the wilderness,

the Lord's Supper,

also called the Eucharist.

This simple meal reminds us not only

what we have been set free from,

but what we have been set free to.

Our freedom in Christ is purposeful — 

that we may worship Him,

be nurtured by Him, and

continually draw our life from Him.

Absalom Jones not only knew this,

but he lived it.

He not only sought freedom

from slavery for himself,

but he used his freedom

to serve as a pastor,

administering the bread and wine

of the Eucharist

(the feast in the wilderness).

What kind of person 

would use their freedom to serve

in such a way?

Only someone with 

the mind of Christ.

Prayer

Our God, in whom we trust, who empowered Your servant Absalom Jones to become a beacon amid the darkness of prejudice and fear, strengthen us not to regard overmuch who is for us or who is against us, but to see to it that we be with You in everything we do. Amen.

+ Our Church Speaks,

pgs. 30-32

The Celebrity & The Saint

The celebrity demands,

"Look at me!"

The saint whispers,

"Look at God."

The celebrity says,

"Try to be like me,

but you'll never be like me."

The saint says,

"Why would anyone want to be like me?

Who has God made you?"

The celebrity is ever ascending,

climbing the tower of Babel

to the double-platinum throne.

The saint is ever descending,

saying, "Please have my seat, I insist."

The celebrity offers you everything

you want but can never have.

The saint offers you the thing you fear

but will redeem your soul.

The celebrity is a Ferrari

screaming down the highway

with music blaring.

The saint is the freshwater creek

beside the highway

that almost nobody ever notices

and is nearly impossible to hear

over the roar of traffic.

Yet the water murmurs

as it wanders over stones

and around oak roots.

It is not silent.

+ Ben Lansing & D.J. Marotta,
Our Church Speaks

Bonus Song

Bethesda by Sho Baraka on Talented 10th Album

Bethesda

Sho Baraka

2015 A.D.

Clouds will come, the rain will fall.

Sometimes the sun won’t shine at all.

From pain inside, cries will soar.

But I’m hoping that You 

Hold all things together.

(I'm on my)

Son of Adam, 

I’m just lookin for the pardon.

A vegan avoidin' the beef 

That started in the garden.

(I'm on my)

Oscar Grant and invisible children, 

Jena Six, Rakeem Boyd, 

I am Bobby Tillman.

(I’m on my) 

Thief on the cross, 

The prodigal son, 

I was the sheep that was lost.

(I’m on my) 

Mover and shakers, 

A student of the panthers,

Also learned in the quakers.

(I’m on my) 

Zora Neale, 

Absalom Jones, 

Harlem Renaissance 

With a Paul Robeson poem.

(I’m on my) 

George Washington Carver, 

A humble servant 

Who gave all glory to the Father.

(I’m on my) 

Rembrandt with a fitted cap, 

C.S. Lewis if he would ever rap.

(I’m on my) 

Lord touch down, 

I love life 

But You can come back now.

(I’m on my) 

Son of a king, a fresh prince, 

Diverse being, the talented 10th.

Wade in the water,

Wade in the water, children,

Wade in the water,

God's gonna trouble the water.

Bonus Podcast: 

Our Church Speaks: Absalom Jones

Bonus BHM OCS Post:

Harriet Tubman

Many blessings of peace and presence,

Rev. Mike “Sully” Sullivan

Email Pastor Mike | Website | Visit Us | Support Us

Bonus Deep Down Faith | Beholding God in The Lord's Supper

 

The Last Supper by Dave LaChapelle, 2023 A.D.

The Eucharist

challenges our notion

of what God does 

and does not touch

and what He does

or does not fill.

+ Strahan Coleman,

Beholding

Along with The Deep Down Things by Amber and Seth Haines and The Ache for Meaning by Tommy Brown, I continue to return to Beholding by Strahan Coleman during this season (along with some regular meals of Deep Down Faith by Cornelius Planting Jr. with the teens connected to Emmaus City Church I get to spend time with). "Beholding" has been a theme in my life that I think Jesus wants to regularly invite me back to. 

There is wonder in beholding. 

There is artistry in beholding.

And there is mystery in beholding.

Where I have learned this posture of embracing mystery as a way of life the most in recent years has been at the The Lord's Supper. Jesus continues to serve us at His Communion Table, a humble and eternal Giver providing us generous nourishment from His humble and eternal meal of the Eucharist.

Even more so, I think here is where we find the answer to Samuel Rutherford's powerful quote:

When I am in the cellar of affliction,

I look for the Lord's choicest wines.

At the Lord's Supper,
Jesus offers us the choicest wine
from His own cellar,
where He plunged into hellish depths
to swallow up death in His death
so He could raise us
and renew us with life eternal.
We can come to His table 

and drink freely.

And in honor of a friend who was recently wondering about how such a miniscule meal could be a life-changing gift, here are some excerpts from Strahan Coleman's Beholding.

 | 1 | Real Presence

Christ is mysteriously yet

substantially present in the Eucharist

in a real and true way

The Eucharist is the name we give to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. On the night before Jesus was crucified, He broke bread and poured wine, saying it was His body and blood. He told His disciples that whenever they gathered like they did that night, they should do the same in remembrance of Him. Since the earliest moments of Jesus' Church, believers have done this together every Sunday, teaching that it is one of the unique ways that God meets, loves, and empowers His Church with grace.

This genuinely humble sacrament

of eating bread and drinking wine

helps us to see, feel, and touch,

literally, what life looks like

when God fills it.

It's the place where imaginary

spirituality becomes earthed

spirituality, and through some

of the most widely shared

and commonly held elements

humanity has at her disposal.

Of all the ways Jesus might have

commanded us to celebrate the 

mystery of His God-humanness, 

of what it looked like when God 

walked the earth as one of us, 

He chose this.

It challenges our notion of

what God does and does not touch

and what He does or does not fill.

In the incarnation of Jesus, we experience God as someone who is unafraid of not only human flesh but human nature as well. We discover that the world and all its mundane responsibilities and necessities are no barrier for the miracle of divine life. In Jesus we ourselves are invited to be unafraid to be human and, even more shockingly, to see it as the home of God. In the Eucharist, we eat and drink of that very same reality.

As I was awakening to what it meant to bring all my humanity to God, I felt drawn to understand the Eucharist and what it had to teach me even more.

 | 2 | Holy Mysteries

Continuing the spiritual practice

of receiving in faith, not sight

The word sacrament itself being derived from the Greek mustérion, which is where we get our word mystery, and as we've already seen, a great mystery it is.

The bread and wine

look the same, 

taste the same,

and smell the same,

but in the Eucharist

they've become enchanted

by the Spirit.

It's a mystery in the same sense that we are born again of God. Externally we look exactly how we used to, though with a little more life in the eyes. But in reality we are a "new creation." And it's also in the same manner that somehow Jesus could be totally God and totally man simultaneously without tension, issue, or compromise.

It's a miracle that demands to be embraced, not sense-made, to fully appreciate its beauty. Or as my friend and mentor Bishop Bruce Gilberd put it, 

"In the Eucharist 

reality and mystery are fused; 

there is no either-or."

Wasn't it the same with Jesus?

The living God Himself lived

among humanity for decades

unknown as such 

by those around Him.

Think about that:

God lived, spoke, made tables,

and laughed and cried amidst

humanity in such an ordinary way

that He lived undetected 

most of His life.

Even when He did "go public,"

He was still so much made up

of normal stuff that

He wasn't believed!

In His form, Jesus looked

sublimely ordinary.

In His nature, He was

shockingly divine.

And so it may also be

with the Eucharist.

Jesus lived, died, resurrected and ascended 2,000 years ago. We could be forgiven for forgetting how ordinary and natural He must have seemed to the world around Him; we weren't there! But the Eucharist lives this truth out again and again in our present lives.

 | 3 | Supernaturally Natural

Walking with God,

and Heaving invading our world,

is more natural than you think

Whilst we often spend so much of our lives seeking the spiritually extraordinary, God came to us embodied in our mundane ordinary and said, "Look! This is what divine life looks like!" To live fully alive, in obedience to, and in pleasure with Me is to be more human, not less!"

So often we're participating in God's activities without knowing it. Because as it turns out, just as with Jesus, God's divine purposes are ordinary too. For thirty quiet years Jesus went about eating, cleaning, building, being a friend, being a son, being a participant in community. He lived this way because these are all good things God has made. And so is every aspect of our lives.

That's what the Eucharist does for us. It lands our experience of God in our lives. Then we're invited to see the rest of our lives in the same Spirit-enlivened way. If humans experienced Jesus and passed Him off as just an ordinary person, we're likely to make the same mistake in our lives.

The Eucharist invites us to accept

how ordinary divine life can be,

and when it comes to beholding,

this is liberating.

Sometimes when we pray

and look out to God,

all we see is nature,

ourselves,

quiet,

or the day-to-day feelings

of malaise and struggle

we feel — 

the bread and wine.

But with a Eucharistic mind,

we can see too that those things

aren't separated from God,

but the places, people, and things

His divine life is filling.

We can see Him there.

To look at the world

is to see Christ hidden amidst it,

and though it may not always

feel ecstatic or outer body,

it's as valid as sharing a meal

with Jesus in Cana,

where before He transformed 

water into wine,

He was just another 

ordinary guest.

The Eucharist demands

that we see the world

enchanted.

The miracle of God filling

ordinary stuff is 

that ordinary stuff

suddenly becomes sacred

and otherworldly again.

To say that God fills our 

mundane lives is the same

as saying once we see

the world Eucharistically,

there is no such thing

as the mundane.

Jesus' disciples probably

didn't really understand

much of the weight of what

was going on that first night

Jesus led through the

Lord's Supper,

but that wasn't the point.

Because the table isn't 

mental assent but about

receiving Christ and

letting Him be enough.

When we eat and drink

together with the intention

of celebrating Christ's life,

death, resurrection, and return,

we're embarking on

the highest form of theology

in the most practical

and ordinary way.

If it's the ordinary stuff

of grains and grapes

that God visits in

communion to make it

Christ,

then it's the ordinary stuff

of my day-to-day life that I can

trust He'll do the same with.

+ Strahan Coleman

in Beholding*,

pgs. 116-126, 139-140

*If you are intrigued or excited by what you read, purchase Beholding: Deepening Our Experience in God by Strahan Coleman as there is more to be enchanted by in Chapter 6: The Importance of Eating God and Chapter 7: Sharing the Table then what I can include in this one post.

Bonus Deep Down Faith Goods

Q. What does it mean to eat

the crucified body of Christ and

to drink His poured-out blood?

A. It means to accept

with a believing heart the

entire suffering and death of Christ

and thereby to receive forgiveness

of sins and eternal life.

But it means more.

Through the Holy Spirit,

who lives both in Christ and in us,

we are united more and more

to Christ's blessed body.

And so, although He is in heaven

and we are on earth,

we are flesh of His flesh

and bone of His bone.

And we forever live on and

are governed by one Spirit,

as the members of our body are 

by one soul.

+ Catechism Q&A 76

Eating and drinking not only nourish us, however; they also nourish others. When we share a meal with others, we are saying we don't want them to die. We want them to flourish and thrive and be alive with us to nourish them too.

The Lord's Supper is a meal of this kind. In this meal we act out the death of our Lord by spilling wine or juice into a cup and breaking a loaf into pieces. Then, by eating and drinking, we identify ourselves as people of the cross and all that this means. And by taking nourishing bread and refreshing drink into the center of our bodies, we sign and seal our union with Christ.

In the Lord's Supper, 

we are also doing something else.

We are nourishing the body of the Lord,

Jesus' Church.

We are sharing the gifts of His food and drink

as a way of building up

our fellowship together.

As believers lift the cup

and take in a piece of broken bread,

they also serve and offer and pass

these good things to other Christians.

They are saying, 

"We don't want your faith to die.

We want you to flourish and thrive

and be alive to Jesus Christ with us.

Here, take and eat.

Here, take and drink this cup."

For Reflection

If you currently participate 

in the Lord's Supper,

how does taking communion benefit you

and help you as a follower of Jesus?

If you don't currently participate

in communion, how do you think doing so

would benefit your faith?

Prayer Starter

Say a prayer of thanks to Jesus 

for His Supper,

for reminding us of His death 

for our sins,

and for binding us close to Him

and to each other.

When we consume the Eucharist,
we become what we eat:
a body given to others,
and blood poured out for others.
Your Christianity is not for you;
it’s for the world.

+ Fr. Robert Barron

Where Else Can I Go by Anchor Hymns, 2024 A.D.

Bonus Eucharist Song

Where Else Can I Go

Anchor Hymns, 2024 A.D.

Oh, oh, oh, oh

You are the Living Word 

Come down from heaven 

And anyone who eats this bread 

Is gonna live forever. (Repeat)

Blessed are the desperate ones

Who knows where their help comes from.

Oh Lord, my Lord, 

Where else can I go? 

(Repeat)

Oh, oh, oh, oh

You are the blood poured out on the altar

And anyone who drinks this wine 

Is one with the Father. (Repeat)

Blessed are the desperate ones

Who knows where their help comes from.

Oh, oh, oh, oh

I’m gonna follow Jesus the Holy One.

I have decided to follow Jesus.

No turning back. No turning back.

Next post 

"Jesus, I Have My Doubts"

More Eucharist posts:

+ Table of Hope | Beauty of Communion 

+ Celebrating the Presence of Christ

May God's Kingdom come, His will be done.

Que le Royaume de Dieu vienne,
que sa volonté soit faite.
愿神的国降临，愿神的旨意成就。
Nguyện xin Nước Chúa đến, ý Ngài được nên.
Jesús nuestra Rey, venga Tu reino!
🙏💗🍞🍷👑🌅🌇

With anticipation and joy,

Rev. Mike “Sully” Sullivan

Email Pastor Mike | Website | Visit Us | Support Us | Facebook Us

Table of Hope | The Beauty and Power of Communion

Hapag ng Pag-asa, "Table of Hope" by Joey Velasco

An invitation for the hungry who are skeptical, seeking, or wondering about the life-transforming mystery of encountering Jesus at the Table

One of the most powerful ways Jesus invited us to remember Him and His beautiful sacrifice and service for us is by coming together hungry to be with Him, encountering His presence, receiving from Him at the Communion table with others, and then living life like this table is always before us for others and the life of the world. 

Holy Communion, Eucharist, or the Lord's Supper is the meal Jesus joined with His disciples in eating and drinking before His crucifixion (Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25). It's the meal His first followers across culture and society joined together in the "breaking of bread" to enjoy together (Luke 24:35, Acts 2:42). It's the meal Paul passed along to people across ethnicities and socio-economic status to share and declare Jesus' Kingdom together by remembering His death and resurrection as the beautiful means for reconciliation until He comes again to make all things new (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). 

And it's the meal of the Story of God. I love how Presbyterian pastor and theologian Peter Leithart puts it in his book, Blessed are the Hungry:

What happens in holy communion? I wish to say: “We, as children of Adam and Eve, are offered the trees of the garden; as sons and daughters of Abraham and Sarah, we celebrate a victory feast in the King’s Valley; as holy ones, we receive holy food; as Israel, we feed on the land of milk and honey; as exiles returned to Zion, we eat marrow and fat, and drink wine on the lees; we who are many are made one loaf, and commune with the body and blood of Christ; we are the bride celebrating the marriage supper of the Lamb ... at the Lord’s table we commit ourselves to shun the table of evil.” The Lord’s Supper is the world in miniature; it has cosmic significance. Within it we find clues to the meaning of all creation and all history, to the nature of God and the nature of man, to the mystery of the world, which is Christ. It is not confined to the first day, for its power fills seven. Though the table stands at the center, its effects stretch out to the four corners of the earth. + pgs. 11-13 

The Names for the Meal Jesus Gave Us

Anglican theologian N.T. Wright in The Meal Jesus Gave Us provides background for the multiple names for this meal in Chapter 7: Putting the Story Together Today:

(1) The first was simply "the breadbreaking." The early Christians in Acts 2:42 met together to "break bread," and presumably this doesn't mean simply "to eat together." This was the breadbreaking which spoke of Jesus and his death.

(2) The second phrase was "the sharing (i.e. Communion)," which is the English translation of a Greek word you may have heard, koinonia. Another translation of that same word is "communion," which means that we are communing, or sharing, in the death and risen life of Jesus (as well as communing with one another as we do so) like it is used in Philippians 2:1-2 (i.e. having the same love) and 1 Corinthians 10:16 (i.e. participation in the blood and body of Christ).

(3) The third name was "the thank-you meal (i.e. Eucharist)." Jesus always said "thank you" to God; the Church, in breaking the bread and pouring out the wine, says "thank you" to God for what he did in Jesus. The Greek for "thank you" is eucharisteo (perhaps you've heard modern Greeks say this, pronounced efaristo), and some of the earliest Christians therefore called the meal "the Eucharist" in reference to how Jesus gave thanks for the meal (Luke 22:19) and blessed it (Luke 24:30) and how Paul calls it the cup of blessing that we bless (1 Corinthians 10:16). This is perhaps the most common word for the meal in use among Christians around the world today.

(4) The fourth name was "the Lord's Meal," or "the Lord's Supper." "Supper" sounds rather strange in some ways today, because that English word now normally refers to an evening meal, whereas this meal was and is celebrated, often enough, first thing in the morning. However, since Jesus' original meal was an evening one, and our Jesus-meals look back to that event it has its own point to make. Paul also referred to it as the table of the Lord (1 Corinthians 10:21).

(5)  The fifth name, "Go – you are sent out" (i.e. Mass), didn't come into use until a bit later. When Christianity reached Rome, and when the meal became regularly celebrated in the Latin language (most Christians in Rome spoke Greek as their first language until well into the second century at least), the end of the meal would be signaled by the person presiding saying, "Go – you are sent out." This, as we shall see, is a powerful part of the whole event, as those who have fed upon the death and risen life of King Jesus are equipped to serve him in the world. The Latin for this phrase is "ite – missa est." From this there developed the word "Mass," the meal that ends with this sending-out, this commissioning as we see with the disciples after breaking bread with some in Emmaus, eating with them in Jerusalem, and then sending them with power to be His witnesses into the world (Luke 24:30-49).

Wright sums up all of the above when he writes in Chapter 10: A Taste of What's to Come:

The Jesus-Meal brings together sacrifice (Lord’s Supper), feast (breaking bread, Communion), and thanksgiving (Eucharist) so we can live as His sent ones (Mass). This is the food that assures us we are on the right road, and that the God who began a good work in us, and now feeds us with his own life, the life of his own Son, will bring that good work to completion when all things are made new and we stand at last in the presence of Jesus himself. This meal is designed by the Father, by Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, to bring a taste of things to come, fresh grapes from the land of promise for those at present wandering in the dusty desert. “As often as you eat this bread,” said Paul, “and drink this cup, you announce the Lord’s death until he comes.” Held secure between past and future – God’s past, God’s future – we go forward on our journey strengthened and given hope. And between faith and hope we are given love, because we are given Jesus’ own presence. + pgs. 52, 58 

When we consume the Eucharist, we become what we eat: a body given to others, and blood poured out for others. Your Christianity is not for you; it’s for the world. + Fr. Robert Barron

Themes Displayed at the Communion Table

I've also found that when encountered together every week, there are powerful revelations that Communion unveils in how Jesus is with us and drawing us into His story again and again:

• Redemption: Jesus meets us where we are and invites us to be welcomed home and eternally valued as we turn from the mirror and turn to the One who was without any flaw and revealed our eternal value to God by covering all of our flaws (Luke 5:32; 2 Corinthians 5:21). When we turn or repent from the things that are temporary that we have used to attempt to satisfy our deepest desires, and turn to Jesus, the One who lived and died for us, who broke His body and poured out His blood for us, our shame and sin is covered and washed away and we are made new in Him. He has redeemed us, not only buying us back from everything we've sold ourselves out to and the deathly toll we have been paying to isolate ourselves, but setting us free from our slavery so that we can step into the light and truly be loved and love in return.

• Reconciliation: At the table, we not only see visibly the good news that Jesus lived and died for us, but that He made a way for us to be reconciled to the One who made us and loves us. We also see that if we have been forgiven this much, then we need also to forgive. Jesus taught us to pray, " ... and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us ... (Luke 11:4)." The table not only speaks to how God has reconciled us to Him, but that we need to offer our tables in our ministry of reconciliation to those who have been hurt by us, or who we have hurt, and offer the same grace across relationships, cultures, and ethnicities, as well as where racial divides have occurred (2 Corinthians 5:17-19; Ephesians 2:13-19).

• Restoration: We all need food to live. Our strength and energy will be sapped without it. But the food in this world only provides temporary relief. Jesus is the Bread of Life (John 6:35). In Him, we find fulfillment to know who we are and how to live. We know that we are loved because He gave His life for us (1 John 3:16). In knowing Jesus and what He did for us, we do not need to thirst or hunger after other things to fulfill us, but can receive from Him to live abundantly in and through the restoration He gives us (John 4:13-14). 

• Renewal: Jesus told the disciples that He would not drink of the cup of the new covenant again with them until He returned with His kingdom (Luke 22:17-20). In the meantime, He is preparing a place for us, interceding for us and making us new to reflect Him as we continue to celebrate the first Lord's Supper (John 14:3; Romans 8:34; 2 Corinthians 5:17). And when He comes again, we will be joined with Him at His Marriage Supper of the Lamb when He finalizes His work of making all things new (Revelation 19:9; Revelation 21:5).

For seven words to help further explore the themes above, while also expanding into even more of the wonder offered in this table of hope, check out A Holy Meal: The Lord's Supper in the Life of the Church in which Gordon T. Smith powerfully reflects on The Lord's Supper as a gracious means of (1) Remembrance: Memorial; (2) Communion: Fellowship with Christ and One Another; (3) Forgiveness: Table of Mercy; (4) Covenant: Renewal of Baptismal Vows; (5) Nourishment: Bread from Heaven; (6) Anticipation: Declaration of Hope; and (7) Eucharist: Joyous Thanksgiving Celebration as we participate in personal and communal understanding and embodied experience of Jesus providing for us from Himself.

This Meal is to Empower, Enrich, and Enable Us to Embody the Life of Christ for the Sake of the World

This wonderful meal also provides a fulfillment and a focus for why God is restoring us as Reformed theologian and professor Michael Goheen shares in his classic, A Light to the Nations:

The Lord's Supper is another means by which Christ gives His Kingdom life to His people by the work of the Spirit. ... At the time of Jesus, this meal's significance was interpreted by most Jews as not only looking back to what God had accomplished in Egypt but also looking forward eagerly to what God was going to do with the coming of the Kingdom. ... If we put this in the context of the unfolding story of Israel, we see that, like baptism, the eucharistic meal is charged with eschatological and missional significance. It is a meal that is to nourish restored Israel in its kingdom life. It is the means by which God's people are empowered and enabled to embody the life of Christ for the sake of the world as they participate in what was accomplished in the crucifixion. This is so because Christ Himself is present in the meal and gives His own life to His people. + pg. 142

Five Prayers for Those Considering Communion 

Below are five prayers adapted from Worship By the Book that provide invitation for trusting in Jesus during the meal, and give voice to the longing in our hearts to be welcomed at this gracious table of God.

Prayer for those searching for beauty and goodness

Lord Jesus, if what You claim is true, please guide me, teach me, and open to me the reality of who You are. Grant that I might be undaunted by the cost of following You. As I consider the reasons for doing so, give me an  understanding for You that is wondrous, convincing, and that leads to the life that You promise. Amen.

Prayer of trust

Lord Jesus, I admit that I am weaker and more needy than I ever before believed, but, through You, I am more loved and welcomed than I ever dared to hope. I thank You for loving me, bearing my shame and guilt on the cross, and offering me forgiveness and new life. Knowing that You have been raised from the dead, I turn from my striving to find life elsewhere and receive You as my Savior and Redeemer. Amen.

Prayer of commitment to Jesus

Lord Jesus,  You have called us to follow You in baptism and in a life of committed to You, to Your family, the Church, and to others throughout the world. Grant that I may take the necessary steps to be one with Your people, and live in the fullness of Your Spirit. Amen. 

Prayer for those struggling

Lord Jesus, grant that I may see in You the fulfillment of all my needs, and may turn from every false satisfaction to feed on You, the true and living Bread and drink of You, the Vine of the best wine. Enable me to lay aside the temptations and sins that cling so closely, and run with You and others the journey set before me, looking only to You, the Author and Finisher of my faith. Amen. 

Prayer for the believer

Father, I come now to Your table, to partake of Christ’s body and blood in Holy Communion. I ask that You would search my heart and show me what I may repent of so that I may turn to You and embrace Your promises anew. Although I am unworthy of such free, powerful, and loving grace, You have made me worthy. Though I am often two-faced, You have turned Your face to me and covered all my betrayals and lies by Your very own body and blood. May You be glorified in our partaking of Your sacrament together as hungry and thirsty children who are welcomed at Your table. Amen.

Considering the prayers above, which resonates with you the most in your life right now? 

Would you consider praying one of the above in a small step of faith even if you're not sure you believe in God and don't really know Jesus? Or if you've been distant from His Church, would you consider reconciling, as He has reconciled Himself to you, and connect with His family again? For those who partake of Communion with Jesus and His Church, Lutheran Dietrich Bonhoeffer speaks beautifully in Life Together: 

As (we) are united in body and blood at the table of the Lord so will they be together in eternity. Here the community has reached its goal. Here joy in Christ and his community is complete. The life of Christians together under the Word has reached its perfection in the sacrament. + pg. 122

With Emmaus City Church, we ask you to join with us sometime and consider, "Why are people so thankful that God has shared His life with them through Jesus in this meal?" Author Ann Voskamp provides a thoughtful answer that I'll close this post with:

There might not be a bone in your body that wants to deal with today. And the kids might be darn grumpy or you'll go to be with the church and then it's somebody else's kids falling apart and the pastor or priest has had a hard week and he's winging it a bit and it's all falling flatter than he'd care to admit. And you're straggling in feeling, honestly, a bit disheveled and bruised from a week that's got you swinging on the end of a fraying, thin thread of faith alone, and it doesn't matter if you're wearing your brokenness bold for the world to see today, or if this is the the week you, or anybody else, is burying the brokenness under pressed and ironed clothes. Every single one of us is The Busted who needs a space of grace. Every single brave, beautiful one of us is The Busted who needs a space at the table to feast on great platters of grace and heaping dishes of mercy and brimming pitchers of hope. So, let it happen, this swinging open of the doors of the sanctuaries, this making the Table of the Lord longer, this laying out a spread of grace - The Busted who are the Beloved just coming together for a washing of wounds and a communion of refreshment and endless draughts of great grace.

For another post on the Lord Jesus' Table, check out:

+ Experiencing Good News: Celebrating the Presence of Christ in Communion Together

Bonus: Four Eucharist Sermon Audios and Liturgies

+ The Lord's Supper: Beholding Beauty and Offering Repentance 

+ Communion: Practicing Forgiveness and Reconciliation 

+ Eucharist: Thanking God for the Mysterious Justice of Our Redemption 

+ The Kingdom Mass: Seeking Jesus' Peace and Restoration Until He Returns 

Christ is all,

Rev. Mike "Sully" Sullivan

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