Today (Sunday 12 June) is my turn to lead our congregation in The Eucharist, more commonly known in Evangelical circles as, "The Lord's Supper".
Our Congregation is a bit odd among non-liturgical churches in celebrating The Eucharist each week. Perhaps the KEY reason we do this is illustrated in a story told by David Nasser in his book, Glory Revealed.
Nasser, an extremely popular Christian youth director at the time, was speaking at a huge Youth Rally in CA. His audience was about 40,000 youth and youth leaders. His topic that night was his own testimony of how he became a Believer. His testimony is pretty dramatic since his family fled Iran in 1979 when the Shah was overthrown by radical Muslims.
When Nasser finished his testimony he was feeling pretty smug about how well it had gone. This pride was supported when he was greeted by a young youth director and his wife. They were telling Nasser about what a great job he had done speaking that night. David was feeling pretty good about himself until... they dropped the bomb.
"We are youth directors at a Church of Scientology and it is soooo hard to find a youth event that doesn't talk about Jesus all the time. Your talk was great because you only even mentioned Jesus once or twice."
Nasser was crushed and went back to his hotel room and fell on his knees, vowing NEVER to let this "compliment" happen again!
And that is why our congregation celebrates the Eucharist each week. The Eucharist, as clearly conveyed (e.g. Matt 26:17-30) is a visual illustration of Christ's substitutionary atonement. The first Eucharist was performed as a Passover meal (see Exodus 12), which reinforces the symbolism.
Christ, by grace alone, paid the price for ALL our sins, whatever/ however many, they may be!
Take a moment and read again Matthew 26: 17-18, 26-30, and think about what Christ has done for you, me, and the whole world.
How should we then live?
Our Congregation is a bit odd among non-liturgical churches in celebrating The Eucharist each week. Perhaps the KEY reason we do this is illustrated in a story told by David Nasser in his book, Glory Revealed.
Nasser, an extremely popular Christian youth director at the time, was speaking at a huge Youth Rally in CA. His audience was about 40,000 youth and youth leaders. His topic that night was his own testimony of how he became a Believer. His testimony is pretty dramatic since his family fled Iran in 1979 when the Shah was overthrown by radical Muslims.
When Nasser finished his testimony he was feeling pretty smug about how well it had gone. This pride was supported when he was greeted by a young youth director and his wife. They were telling Nasser about what a great job he had done speaking that night. David was feeling pretty good about himself until... they dropped the bomb.
"We are youth directors at a Church of Scientology and it is soooo hard to find a youth event that doesn't talk about Jesus all the time. Your talk was great because you only even mentioned Jesus once or twice."
Nasser was crushed and went back to his hotel room and fell on his knees, vowing NEVER to let this "compliment" happen again!
And that is why our congregation celebrates the Eucharist each week. The Eucharist, as clearly conveyed (e.g. Matt 26:17-30) is a visual illustration of Christ's substitutionary atonement. The first Eucharist was performed as a Passover meal (see Exodus 12), which reinforces the symbolism.
Christ, by grace alone, paid the price for ALL our sins, whatever/ however many, they may be!
Take a moment and read again Matthew 26: 17-18, 26-30, and think about what Christ has done for you, me, and the whole world.
How should we then live?
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