Every week we come together for worship. We sing songs, but the songs themselves can’t be the focus of why we come together. We pray prayers, but those prayers are addressed to God, so prayer itself cannot be the focus of why we come together. Every week the Bible is opened and the word of God is applied to our lives and our needs through a sermon, but the sermon—no matter how wonderful—is not the center of why we come together.
It’s only at the table, though The Lord’s Supper, that we are drawn to encounter the living Christ in our lives and in our fellowship. It is essential for us to understand that communion is the culmination of everything we do when we come together. And it’s from the table, that we extend grace and fellowship to each other.
Communion sits at the center of our worship.
Some time ago we conducted a poll of our attendees to determine what they saw as most important to our worship and fellowship. It’s not surprising, but I do find it delightfully affirming, that the resounding response was that communion is the most important thing we do.
While that response pleases me it also reminds me that we need to take communion seriously. We need to teach it responsibly. We need to never let any other element of our time together take our focus off of our encounter with the living Jesus in the bread and cup we share.
