Communion Sunday

It's Sunday again and I have the message at church again. In our denomination we only serve the sacrament of communion once a month..on the first Sunday of each month. It's tradition. In the beginning of our church, we served it each Sunday but sometime in our history, that was changed. Usually the communion message is a challenge for personal change. And it's usually a short message. There are other elements in the service so that's one reason it's a short message. Here is mine:

This light that the writer of John speaks of is available to us today as well. It is illustrated here this morning as symbol…with these candles. Symbol often helps us to understand a principle that may not be clear to us any other way. The sacrament is symbol too. This church does not believe the bread and the wine are the actual body and blood of Jesus but they symbolize his death and the continuing light of his message.

God’s light is that still small voice within each of us…...the light that lights our way when we have a difficult decision to make; when we are about to do something that is perhaps against our very nature…something with which we are struggling. Sometimes that light is apparent when we have done something to hurt another and often when we have done or said something that hurts so badly that it damages a relationship. God’s light is there for us…if we recognize it. It will entice us to make it right…to do the right thing. It will try to persuade us but will not coerce us.

We are often torn in many directions. Society today says some practices are perfectly acceptable, yet, we, as Christians, are often unsure. To conform to the mores’ of society may make our witness suffer, but worse yet, it may go against the very teachings we have depended on as an anchor all our lives.

To grow spiritually, we have to live with ourselves and be able to respect ourselves. We often make enough poor choices on our own without the additional pressures of the society in which we live.

Right living comes through knowing how Jesus lived and what he taught and observing and practicing his teachings. This does not take place through observing laws and traditions but by practicing discipleship and taking the time to pray and ask ourselves if our personal decisions are acceptable Christian behavior and if they are acceptable to our own conscience. That’s what God’s light illuminates for us.

Luke 4 teaches us the mission of Jesus and, as disciples, that mission is also ours. We are God's hands in the world. "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed."

The Lord’s Supper gives us an opportunity to examine ourselves in this light, and repent of those actions and issues that we need to put aside to best move forward in our journey as a Christian. It gives us an opportunity to make necessary changes in our lives. It is a time of forgiveness and reconciliation. It is a time to put away old hurts and issues in order to focus on what is really important ahead in our journey of discipleship.

I don’t believe we need forgiveness from God for our poor decisions and sins. God has long forgiven us. Recognizing the light of God though, we must be willing to take responsibility for our own mistakes and reconcile with others we may have hurt or who have hurt us and then…... move on. Only when we decide to learn from our bad experiences and are we able to forgive ourselves and begin to grow spiritually again. God’s hope for us is that we become all that we can become in a lifetime of lessons…..to fully realize our true potential. We do that with the help of God’s light.

Repentance isn’t something we can accomplish in a short time or even a lifetime. We continually have to be sure the decisions we make are the best not only for us, but also for the family and the community of the church as well.

As Paul said, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me in Christ Jesus.”