Last Sunday I conducted my first communion service. As I was preparing for it, practicing over and over the verses from Luke 22:19-20 that we traditionally read as we take the elements together, I reflected on that phrase, “do this in remembrance of me.” What was Jesus saying? I think it is much more than what we might read today in light of our traditions. The context of this passage in which Jesus instituted what we call depending on our backgrounds The Lord’s Supper, communion, or the Eucharist, expresses the whole of who He is and what He came to do.

After all that rehearsal in preparation for being in a setting where I wouldn’t have a free hand to read a Braille page with, I still didn’t get it quite right. I think I mixed in a different version or maybe even a different passage as I repeated those verses. I was so worried about messing up that I messed up. How often we do that in our walk with the Lord. We try to remember everything we’re supposed to do and we try so hard to do it, yet in the process we miss the point. It is the communion with Himself that Jesus wants from us. It is the fellowship and sharing together that should mark our walk with Him.

In our modern society, we seem more than ever to be slaves to our calendars. There have always been special days, but now with the help of our technology we can schedule our lives down to the minute. I’ve never quite understood it. We’ve turned a tool for marking time into a taskmaster that dictates when we rest, when we rejoice, and when we remember. As the arbitrary New Year approaches, we typically take time to remember. We evaluate the year past and make resolutions about what we want to do in the year to come. That’s not a bad thing. It is good to evaluate where we’ve been and where we want to go from time to time. It is good to resolve to do those things we know we ought to do. I would say that if you know there’s something you need to do, don’t wait on the calendar. Make that resolution today!

But let us not forget that it is relationship that our Lord seeks. When we learn the meaning of communion with Him and thereby with one another, we will find joy, life, peace, and love. I hope you will join us this Sunday at Bartimaeus Baptist Temple as we explore communion together. We meet at 2:30, so you don’t even have to miss your regular service.