Tag: Communion

Pass The Wine Please

February 16, 2023 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

There are some things in life that carry many meanings. They remind us of a variety of things. I know that seeing certain images takes me back to another time and another place. The crystal cookie jar that’s on my shelf at home reminds me of summers spent with my grandparents at their pool. The smell of cinnamon rolls in the oven transports me to Christmas as a child. The loud rumble of a semi truck using its engine as a braking system going down a hill makes me feel the bouncing seat of my Grandpa’s semi truck.

Everything has the ability to remind us of something else. But those special things can have multiple memories attached.

In the life of the church for which I am a pastor, we celebrate something called communion on a weekly basis. Communion is the bread and wine that are linked to and remind us of the amazing gift we receive in Jesus. Our particular identity believes that miraculously and mysteriously the bread is the body and the wine is the blood.

I recently took some time to consider why these particular elements were used. I found something interesting when it came to the wine. I always thought the wine was used partially because it was there as part of the Passover meal that Jesus was eating with his disciples. I thought it was used because it was red and it would be a visual reminder of the blood of Jesus shed on the cross. And while these may be true, I think there’s more to it than just that. Wine has a much bigger, wider and deeper significance.

The use of wine weaves its way through the Old Testament. And throughout it has a wonderful array of overlapping meanings. Wine is more than just a harkening ack to Jesus’ blood on the cross. It was a symbol throughout the Old Testament of prosperity, life, vitality and celebration.

If we look at the uses of wine throughout the Bible, you’ll see that wine was indicative of wealth. It was a symbol of having plenty in life. Genesis reminds us that the blessing of Isaac on his son Jacob would be the blessing of abundant amounts of wine among other things.

But wine was also a marker of celebration. I think this one is most overlooked. Even in the context of the Passover meal, which Jesus was celebrating when he gave communion for the first time to his disciples, the tone wasn’t worship or contemplation. It was celebration. The passover meal was a meal of remembrance of all the God had done. It was the marker of when God saved the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. You better believe there was a party there. Wine was for celebrating!

Jesus’ first miracle is another time wine is used. I think there’s no accident here either. When Jesus first breaks onto the scene and does one of those cool God-things, it wasn’t healing someone or raising a dead person or even casting out a demon. His first miracle was all about wine. It was about provision, partying and participating in life with his people.

When Jesus turned water into wine, he did far more than just help the party manager save face. He elongated their celebration! He gave them a visible and edible reminder that he was able to provide for their needs in a variety of ways.

When we come to communion and take the bread in our hands and drink the wine, it’s far more than a memorial meal. It’s more than just a reminder of the death and resurrection of Jesus. It’s a reminder of the provision of God for his people. It’s a display of God’s blessing and the prosperity that he brings on his people. But it should also be a visible and edible reminder that he wants us to celebrate.

Even in the New Testament the idea of drinking too much wine is correlated to being overcome by the Holy Spirit. When a person has a couple drinks too many they have a tendency to lose themselves in the moment. The same should be true as we gather at the table for communion. We should lose ourselves, not in too much wine but in the abundant provision of God through his Spirit. We should leave joyful and excited, like we just were part of a great celebration!

Wine is a wonderful reminder of God’s provision, blessing, and joy. It’s definitely something worth celebrating! So this Sunday, if you’re one of those church going types, go up to the table for communion. Take the bread. Drink the wine. Then remember. Remember the sacrifice of Jesus. Remember the provision of your Heavenly Father. But remember also to celebrate the full cup of God’s Spirit that he pours out for you at this table.

The Table Is Set

April 1, 2021 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

Today marks a pretty special day in the life of the church. It’s actually a pretty cool thing that happens on this day and we’ll talk more about it tonight in our worship service but here are a few things I thought would be helpful as you consider what this day is all about.

Maundy

Ok so for starters this is just a weird sounding word. We don’t use it any other time but so often we throw it around as if it’s normal or something. The word actually derives from the Anglo-French and means commandment. I know that’s not the normal focus of our Midweek Maundy Thursday worship but that’s where the word came from.

There actually was a command that was part of what we normally celebrate as the Maundy Thursday account. The command is to love one another as Jesus has loved them. The command isn’t about doing anything or performing some weird ritual. It’s about loving and serving one another and putting others before yourself. That’s the Jesus way!

Why did they all sit on one side of the table?

I know you’re probably not wondering this but I always find it odd that in every picture they’re all sitting behind the table as if for a photo op or something. But none of them are looking in the direction the camera would be! So obviously none of these pictures are real and they really in all likelihood sat around a table like most normal people do.

Why this night?

So there’s a lot of history and tradition and ritual in the timing of all of this. Jesus doing this on this particular night fits right in with the rest of the week. We talked about Palm Sunday and all of the cool hidden details in a previous post that you can read here. The idea is simple really. Jesus had to celebrate this meal with his disciples on this very night to fulfill everything the Old Testament points toward. There was a celebration in the Jewish calendar known as Passover which commemorated the plagues on Egypt and how God delivered his people by letting the angel of death pass-over the faithful. The way the angel would know whose house to pass-over was made clear by the sacrifice of a lamb in that house and the blood being on the door posts. This signified the people relying on God to deliver them.

Fast forward to this night and we see Jesus celebrating the Passover while he’s preparing to be the newer, better, fuller, forever-er sacrifice for all people not just the Israelite ones from the Old Testament.

Where’d he get the bread and wine?

Another cool thing that we might miss if we’re not paying attention is that while Jesus eats the Passover meal, he takes some of that meal as the elements for the new meal that he starts. So he takes the bread that was made for the Passover meal and consecrates it, sets it apart for what we call communion. He does the same thing with the wine. He takes a cup of wine, of which there were several in this meal to mark different attributes and actions of God. Then he blesses it and sets it apart as His very blood of a new covenant.

So when the Old Testament followers of God celebrated the Passover they had to kill a lamb to atone, bible word for pay for, their sins and their lack of faith. Now in the new Passover event, we don’t see the killing of many lambs but the self sacrifice of one lamb known as the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world.

How often should we do this whole bread and wine thing?

The simple answer is…yes. I know that’s not an answer to the question but really you should take it as often as it is offered. So if it’s offered once a year, then take it! If it’s once a month, then take it! If it’s every other week, take it! If it’s weekly, yep you got it – take it!

There is no set rule for how often a church should offer it. That’s left up to the context of each congregation. And no you will not lessen its meaning if you offer it weekly. No you won’t find it less special if you take it every week versus once a month. That’s ludicrous.

Who should take it?

Now this one is where the bus comes to a bit of a screeching halt for many. The church body to which I ascribe my doctrinal beliefs has a pretty solid teaching on this. The way we do this in the church I serve is I explain what communion is, and if you agree completely with the explanation I give and have had some teaching and instruction on it before that moment with a pastor (either me or someone else) then come on. If, however, you don’t think the same way, don’t believe it the same way, are confused by it, or don’t even think it’s important – then by all means don’t do it! This is a huge deal so don’t go at it willy-nilly. You have to understand what it’s about or you make a mockery of it and it will actually not benefit you at all.

So there you have it. A few little tidbits of info on what Maundy Thursday is all about, why we do it, and why you should too! If you have a church home then please set some time aside to go and worship tonight and this whole weekend (heck go every Sunday!) If you don’t have a church home, then we’d love to welcome you as our guests at Living Word Galena. And if you’re just not sure but want a little more, you’re welcome to check us out online first to listen along to see if what we teach and believe lines up with what you understand and believe.

Happy Holy Week!

Can We Take Communion?

April 10, 2020 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

This is the weirdest Holy Week I can remember. Nothing seems right. Nothing seems normal. Nothing seems holy about this week really. As I sit in the sanctuary with the room nearly empty. A handful of faithful servants have been there for every service we’ve shared with the world. But something just isn’t the same. Add to it there have been lots of things missing this Holy Week that normally would be there and this week feels just so off!

Maundy Thursday

April 14, 2017 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

Throughout the season of lent we’ve been looking at communion from different angles, gaining a deeper understanding of what this thing is that we do every single week. We’ve gazed at the fruit of knowledge and compared it to the fruit of life. We stood in awe of the daily bread that God provides. We recognized the healing medicine of forgiveness offered in communion. We felt the unity we have in Christ as we gather together at the table. We acknowledged that Christ has done everything needed to grant us forgiveness, so we’re left to just rest in Christ. Then we saw the imagery of the wedding feast of the Lamb brought forward in communion. But last night we talked about a strange word – covenant. Continue reading

When A Cup Is Just A Cup

November 12, 2015 / Derrick Hurst / 1 Comment

Perhaps you’ve seen the news that Christians are in an uproar over the lack of Christmas decorations on the new Starbucks coffee cups. Perhaps you’re one who was offended that they chose to lose the symbolic Christmas icons on their cups. But I have to say, sometimes a cup is just a cup.

Let’s think about this for a minute. Some well-meaning Christians are upset that a secular business is not acting like a Christian business. Why is it that this upsets us? Should we expect any different? Why is this cup so important? Sure the Magi in the New Testament followed a star to find Jesus. Sure it was a cup that Jesus passed around at his last supper with his disciples but why are we combining the star and the cup? Why is this cup so important?

To be totally honest…it’s not! This cup has no significance at all. This cup holds coffee. It holds strong, dark, potent coffee! Christians, no matter how well-meaning, should not be angered over this decision. It’s a simple marketing ploy and some of you have fallen right into it. In the New Testament, Jesus promises that his presence is found not in a red holiday cup, but in a cup at the Sacrament of Communion.
It’s here, in this cup that we find the presence of Christ. It’s in the cup of wine and the loaf of bread that we see the blood and body of our risen Lord Jesus.

So why are we so confounded critical of a business that doesn’t want to use a tree on their cup? It wasn’t an evergreen tree that held our Savior on Good Friday. It was a tree in the form of a cross. The tree wasn’t green and filled with life. Rather it was dead, cut, and splintered. It was a tree that was hard. The tree was ugly. It was used for torture not joy. This is the tree that defines our lives as followers of Jesus.

Whether Starbucks wants to use a solid red cup or one covered with Christmas trees shouldn’t matter much at all. As Christians, our lives should demonstrate the meaning of Christmas regardless of what’s on our coffee cups. As followers of Jesus who carry the presence of Christ where we live, work and play, people should look to our words and actions to see the real meaning of this holy-day season. So perhaps we can be more concerned with how our lives reflect the tree of the cross than an evergreen on a red cup. Perhaps we should focus on living the called life everywhere we go instead of criticizing someone for a decision to change their method of distribution.

This Christmas wear the meaning of the season in your words and actions. Let others see the true light of Christmas not on your tree but in how Christ’s tree has illuminated your life. This Christmas may you know the meaning of the season is found in Jesus’ cup of righteousness poured out for all who believe. It’s not about a cup of coffee. Sometimes a cup is just a cup.

Tag: Communion

Pass The Wine Please

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