Scripture – John 6:41-60 NIV
At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”
“Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, 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 has eternal life, and I will raise them 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 them. 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 ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
Bob’s thoughts:
I noted this church on a recent trip to a garden supply store and was pleased to visit today.
We were welcomed by a number of people, given some information on the church, and offered coffee. We were made to feel welcome as we enjoyed a most pleasantly decorated social area.
At the beginning of the sermon the pastor asked what denomination the congregation came from. I remember attending an Evangelical United Brethren Church which went on to be Methodist. Since my Mother was Ukrainian Catholic and Dad Presbyterian, I’m sure we went to them also. We also went to a Baptist church, and I wonder where else we worshiped. The joke was that my dad would worship at whatever church was closest.
The message from The Hard Sayings of Jesus series related to Communion: This is My Body…This is My Blood. I used to wonder if this was just to see what interpretation we would come up with, but I believe the metaphoric Protestant interpretation is as close as we come.
The pastor told of a woman who was to help serve who presented herself in tears and how that affected a sacrament that dims to a ritual at most churches. It is what I miss most about not having a church home; serving Communion was an honor and I loved making it as personal as possible, celebrating Christ’s Presence in the meal.
Perhaps a time of confession before would help bring the meaning back; it always humbles me. The churches that celebrated Communion every week were blessed. They also experienced demonic warfare as they became more of a hinderance for the Devil. The story of the server in tears brought me back to those powerful times; may it affect all of us as we humbly come to the Cross.
I loved the cross high on the wall suspended with crossing window chains, a powerful presentation.
Communion was served silently, and the pastor was served.
I enjoyed the voice of the woman leading the music especially during Communion. Her voice was a good match for the songs.
Jan’s thoughts:
I was glad we had arrived with time to spare as many people greeted us warmly and engaged us in conversation. We were invited to help ourselves to coffee in the lovely, cozy café and people stopped to introduce themselves.
The sanctuary was decorated simply with banners on each side bearing Christ’s “I AM” statements.
There was one screen in the front on which words were displayed and I had no trouble reading them although we sat in the very back row.
The Children’s Story time focused on helping the young ones understand symbols Examples included a football helmet and engagement/wedding rings, then segued into a description of the Communion elements. I thought the explanation was well laid out in a format the children could grasp and generally did an excellent job of teaching about Communion.
This week’s message was part six of a series entitled The Hard Sayings of Jesus and was called This is My Body…This is My Blood. The pastor began with an informal survey among the congregation about their denominational roots which he closed by noting the diversity of those present. He lamented the existence of 9,000+ denominations at this point in spite of Jesus Christ’s prayer in John 17 for unity among believers.
He continued by contrasting the Roman Catholic understanding of the Communion elements called transubstantiation, where the belief is that the elements become the actual body and blood of Christ, versus the understanding taught by Martin Luther, that Christ is “in, with, and under the elements.”
He concluded by recounting a Communion service in which one of the servers experienced the Presence of Christ, and because of her emotional response, the Spirit spread among those present. I believe the point of this message was that whatever our denominational beliefs about the elements and the sacrament, the real Presence of Christ will change people every single time.
I was pleased to be present to celebrate Communion.
Our prayer for this church:
Heavenly Father, we pray for Your continued guidance for this congregation as they celebrate Communion that they truly commune with You. Amen.
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