Feast of Love
Read Luke 22:17-20
“This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me” Luke 22:19
In preparing for a discussion on the book Food & Faith by Wendy Whiteside for my fellowship group, I have gained a new understanding of the sacrament of Holy Communion. Communion is an act “of sharing intimate fellowship with God.”
Our Wesleyan traditional calls it “an outward sign of inward grace.” Whiteside writes, “In this sacrament we find a place where God offers each of us, in tangible ways, a channel for receiving God’s grace.” In communion Jesus created a new Covenant and proclaimed our sins forgiven. “Every time we eat the bread and drink from the cup, we are to experience Jesus’ love and grace anew to strengthen and encourage us on our faith journey.”
Methodists call the consecration and sharing of the elements The Great Thanksgiving. We take the bread and wine and we are restored by receiving grace. But communion shouldn’t stop there. I had never thought of Communion requiring a response from us. Whiteside says, “We should response to this gift with joyful hearts and acts of caring and kindness toward others. “In giving thanks we receive the gift of gratitude. Thanks to God for his goodness, for the gift of Jesus and our life in him is the key to our joy” Once we have this joy we are ready to serve God.
Whiteside makes clear that Holy Communion is the communion of the church, the gathered community of the faithful. It is more than a personal event. “Communion is a reaffirmation of our commitment to the family of God. We eat and drink both in acknowledgments of common loyalty and in anticipation of being strengthened for discipleship in the world.”
The hymn: Come, and Let Us Sweetly Join
Come and let us sweetly join, Christ to praise in hymns divine;
Give we all with one accord glory to our common Lord.
Hands and hearts and voices raise, sing as in the ancient days;
antedate the joys above, celebrate the feast of love.
Jesus, dear expected guest, Thou art bidden to the feast;
For thyself our hearts prepare; come, and sit, and banquet there.
Sanctify us Lord and bless, breathe thy Spirit, give thy peace;
Thou thyself within us move, make our feast a feast of love.
Karen Bromley
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