Monday 25 February 2008

You proclaim the Lord’s death

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. – 1 Corinthians 11v26

The Lord’s Table is one of the central functions of the local church. We often say that we only observe two ordinances; baptism and the Lord’s Table. Leaving aside the deep theological rifts over the presence of Christ we sadly still choose to fight over aspects of it. Who can partake? Wine or grape juice? Leavened or unleavened bread? How often? And so on and so on.

On the other hand some Christians never even think about it. It is just something we tack on to a church service once a week, or once a month, or once a quarter, or once a whatever.

I am not going to get into the merits or demerits of those discussions or attitudes this morning. I only what to deal with what Paul said here, “As often as you do this, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.”

There are some important issues. We must take care in how we observe the Lord’s Table. But, at the end of the day what are we doing when we observe it? Only we know if we are truly proclaiming the Lord’s death. Since the beginning of the letter Paul has been drawing our focus to Jesus on the cross, to Christ and Him crucified. When we share in the Lord’s Table do we see Jesus and Him crucified? Are we ever mindful of the precious cross of Christ?

May we ever proclaim the Lord’s death when we observe the Lord’s Table, no matter what our minor preferences are.

1 comment:

Parrowdigm said...

Yes, isn't it funny how we get so wrapped up in the elements that we too often lose sight of the substance?