This past Wednesday night I did a lesson on the Lord's Supper. I'm teaching the series: The New Testament Church -- Then & Now. We had a good discussion. Tomorrow I will be teaching on the same subject in the Homebuilders Bible School Class. Our class has been studying controversial or disputable matters. I think some of the class members are going to be stunned to learn that some people have very strong convictions about this (frequency, day, participants, etc.). Isn't it just like Satan to take the very things that are to unite us and point us towards Christ, and use them to create such sharp division within the Body of Christ? Worship, Communion, and Baptism -- those topics never fail to generate a spirited discussion. Some of you know that I have been on a personal journey with regard to the issue of the Lord's Supper. See posts here. My friend Al Maxey has written so well on this subject. He asks many of the same questions I have been asking. Especially here and here. Enjoy!
3 comments:
When to take communion has been of concern to me for some time. The practice at Sunday evening services of "If you were unable to take communion this morning, it is now prepared..." Why are only those people specified? Can't anyone go? If you were not able to attend at all on Sunday, why isn't it offered on Wednesday night? And I could go on, but you know where I am coming from. Who are we to limit?
It never fails to amaze me how much baggage we bring to God's Word. I wonder what we would really see/hear/experience if we knew nothing. There was this guy in one of my music history classes who came to music really late in life. He loved everything. The first time he heard Puccini (even opera haters like him), he just sat there transfixed, with tears streaming down his face. I wished that I could hear the music like he was hearing it. In the same way, I wish I could read God's Word with that kind of freshness!
Alexander Campbell in his book "The Christian System" has some real good quotes from the early Church fathers on their practice of the Lord's Supper if you want to check it out.
Eric---You are so right...sometimes when i read God's Word i catch myself going over familiar passages and already knowing what it says b/c i have studied it so much. But i remember when i picked the Bible up for the first time when i was 18 and read it and was amazed and came to conclusions all on my own just from reading His Word. Sometimes i wish i could go back to not knowing any of the "sides" to theological arguments and read the Bible with a clear mind.
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