This last Sunday, my pastor preached over Psalm 34.
"Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. Fear the LORD, you His saints, for those who fear Him lack nothing." (verse 8-9)
The neatest thing is that after the sermon, we had communion. Taste and see that the LORD is good.
"I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, He will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.....I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood as eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever...."
John 6:35-58ish.
But just as this bread is more than manna, so communion is more than just once a month (or week). "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him"
"In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." Luke 22ish
We remember Him more than just through communion. Or at least, communion as I think of it.
Communion...Commune. His life in our body, just as our death was in His body. And that's something I can do in my classes today. Abide in Him.
This is sounding a little cultish and weird but ironically this thought will have to wait because...it's lunchtime.
Additional thoughts: I'm currently reading through Revelation and just came across this passage: "If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of His wrath." Revelation 14:9-10. Just a few verses later, "The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes, and threw them into the great winepress of God's wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses' bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia."
Instead of drinking the cup of God's wrath, we drink Christ's blood. We drink life. The cup of friendship instead that of wrath. What a thought!
