There is enough room at the table
August 29th, 2021 – Communion Meditation
Are you comfortable with mystery? Communion is a time when we meet with God the Father, Christ Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. We can understand part of this but part of it remains a mystery to us. As we eat a piece of bread and drink a little grape juice out of obedience to Jesus, we are in some mysterious way communing with our Creator, Savior, and Lord. In addition, as we take part in Communion, we are also sitting at the table, as it were, with ALL of the saints who have gone before us, all who are in Christ. It’s a pretty big table we share at Communion. It’s one of those mysteries, that whenever another person desires to receive Christ, there is enough room at the table. I want to read a couple of verses from the John Michael Talbot song, “Come to the Table” – as I read these, hear God’s invitation to you personally today:
Come to the table and see in His eyes
The love that the Father has spoken
And know you are welcome, whatever your crime
For every commandment you’ve broken
For He’s come to love you and not to condemn
And He offers a pardon of peace
If you’ll come to the table, you’ll feel in your heart
The greatest forgiveness, the greatest release
And here at the table, sit those who have loved You
One is a traitor and one will deny
But He’s lived his life for them all
And for all be crucified
Come to the table He’s prepared for you
The bread of forgiveness, the wine of release
Come to the table and sit down beside Him
The Savior wants you to join in the feast
Won’t you sit down beside Jesus today and join in the feast? We remember and give thanks for Jesus and all He has done for us. We also remember and give thanks for loved ones who have gone into eternity before us.
Please pray with me:
Jesus, we thank You and remember You today. Thank You that You lived a life of love with the Father, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank You that You had compassion for all as You healed and taught, challenged and comforted, welcomed and saved. Thank you that You formed a community, promising to be with Your followers wherever two or three were gathered, and sending us on Your mission of hope and healing in the world.
Thank You that You trusted Your life to the Father, and went freely to Your death, so the world might be set free from suffering and sin.
Thank You, God, that You raised Jesus from death and raise us also to live a new life with you. In the power of the Holy Spirit, you send us out to make disciples as Jesus commanded.
Remembering all your mighty and merciful acts,
we receive this bread and this juice from the gifts you have given us and celebrate with joy the redemption won for us in Jesus Christ.
Please accept our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving as a living and holy offering of ourselves, that our lives may proclaim Christ crucified and risen.
Great is the mystery of faith.
Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.
Gracious God, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us and upon these your gifts, that the bread we break and the cup we bless may be the communion of the body and blood of Christ.
By your Spirit unite us with the living Christ and with all who are baptized in his name. As this bread is Christ’s body for us, send us out to be the body of Christ in the world.
Amen.
