Scripture Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The bar at the Beer Barrel Saloon in Put-In-Bay is the longest in the world. It's 405 feet and 10 inches long according to the Guiness Book of World Records. Jun 1, 2017. That is wrong, the longest bar in the world is the Lord’s table on the first Sunday of October. The bread and wine served there is out of this world.
(Robe, history and purpose of WCS) prayer.
The Lord’s Supper, Eucharist, communion, table fellowship. Whatever you call this celebration, ask yourself this: Are you receiving all Christ offers through this meal? AND do you know who else is at the table with you?
Loaf, wafer, unleavened bread, cubed white bread, rice cakes, millet bread, breadfruit.
Wine, wine mixed with water, grape juice, tea, nut beer, coconut milk, soda pop. One cup. Tiny glasses tinkling in silver or brass trays made of wood, glass or plastic Dip, sip, or drink?
Standing, kneeling, sitting, lying prostrate on the floor. Receiving from priest, lay person, pastor, elder, deacon, church member, loved one.
Daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly, only when you feel worthy. Remorse, hope, memory, healing, joy, gifts, reconciliation, justice.
Christians around the world have different ways of following Christ's inviting example. We all share food and drink common to our cultures-to remember what Jesus did on the cross - that Jesus died on the cross, and purchased our deed to heaven on the cross so that we could rightly anticipate a new heaven and new earth. “Behold! I am making all things new.
Though the Bible tells us to receive communion, it does not tell us exactly how we should receive it. That is why we are free do it different ways here at Ashland - which keeps it from being only a routine activity. Moreso, we understand that brothers and sisters around the world celebrate it differently than we do - yet to all of us there are things in common.
Take, eat, remember, and believe. Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
When Leonard Vander Zee was a boy, growing up in a large Christian Reformed church, he and his brother would watch from the balcony on communion Sundays. Moving slowly from pew to pew, elders in suits passed silver trays filled with tiny cups of wine and platters of cubed white bread. People were silent except for nervous coughs.
The sights, sounds, and aromas told the Vander Zee brothers that "something very special was going on. That sense of holiness, that expectation of heaven touching earth, has never left them," Vander Zee writes “When Christians remind each other that Jesus' body was broken for us, that his blood was poured out for a complete remission of all our sins, something special happens. Remembering Christ's sacrifice with other Christians-whether strangers or friends, gives a special sense of being at home. It's not so much a sense of knowing and being known as "being gathered together with all of those who call themselves Christians and worship Christ.”
The gospel stories show how much Jesus loved to eat, drink, and celebrate and how much he wanted everyone at the feast.
Leonard Vander Zee was an adult in an experimental worshiping community when he first stood in a circle with other worshipers, "drank from a common cup and broke off a piece of bread from a loaf and did so at the invitation of another ordinary Christian."
He writes that what struck him most in that action was "the simplicity and power of the shared cup and loaf.. the power of koinonia (fellowship) in the body and blood of Christ."
Vander Zee experienced koinonia even more deeply after his church realized that they'd double-scheduled a Sunday evening. So South Bend Christian Reformed Church decided to combine their evening communion service with their turn of hosting a simple supper and service at a local rescue mission.
After prayers, songs, and a short sermon, Vander Zee explained what communion was and placed bread and grape juice on a battered card table. Vander Zee recalls that "a strange and holy quiet descended." Well-dressed and ragged, smelling of fine cologne and stale smoke, church and street people filed forward. "We were all one body, for we all ate from the same loaf."
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Sacrifice and Sending nature of Communion
Whereas many emphasize in communion what Christ did for us, others emphasize the sending nature of communion. Two congregations discovered it is both.
They had built a Habitat for Humanity home and decided to dedicate it with a communion service. They invited the people for whom the home was built, others who worked on the project and the neighbors. One person commented how they felt the presence of God like never before during communion as they realized Christ died not just for them but for the world - for their community - and how communion was a recognition of God’s forgiveness in Christ but also God’s continuing work in His body…the church.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
COMMUNION AROUND THE WORLD
Have communion in Togo West Africa and you’ll likely drink fruit of the vine from a calabash — a hollowed-out gourd cut in half. And you’ll drink it in a mud building with a thatched roof — or under a tree. “Their own traditional, animistic beliefs require a systematic series of sacrifices, and when they learn that Christ sacrificed himself once and for all … they are full of joy.”
At churches in eastern Nepal, the fruit of the vine is green, reflecting the color of grapes.
In France, church members rise from their seats and form a line to take communion.
In Saudi Arabia, where non-Muslim faiths gather in secret, small groups of believers meet to praise God and take the Lord’s Supper in fear of being caught and in joy of their sins being forgiven. “Sincere faith under duress is most fulfilling,” said a church member, who requested that his name be withheld. “Thousands of miles from home, it’s easy to feel lonely, he added, but communion is a reminder of the constant presence of God and the community of the body of Christ.” Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Children and Communion - An Experience from Mexico
At the church of "La Reforma" in the state of San Luis Potosí, México the children have the responsibility of serving the elements of communion. They offer prayers and with some help also read the scriptures. The children love this moment and is done to let the children know they too are a part of the church community - a vital part of the body of Christ.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
COMMUNION ‘ROUD THE CROSS
In Kupang, Indonesia, at Gethsemane Church, for world communion Sunday, they celebrate ‘round the cross’. Their service is not integrated into the regular worship but is a standalone event and is preceded by a special service of confession and cleansing for those who plan to attend communion. In preparations for the communion service, the janitor, with help from the church youth, place chairs around the outer walls of the church for people to sit in, then rearrange the wooden-slatted pews into the shape of a cross—about four tables long, with a table on each side of the second table to form the arms of the cross. The top of the cross would always face the chancel; the foot always pointed to the front doors of the sanctuary. A wooden pedestal, on top of which was a wooden collection box with a slot in its hinged lid, was placed at the foot of the cross. Chairs are closely arranged around the entire circumference of the cross.
There is no lobby at the church, so when we people arrive for communion, they immediately see the giant cross and wooden box where a special offering would be givin. There is also, a self-imposed dress code: white shirts and blouses, black skirts and trousers. Congregants dare not arrive late for communion, and when it was time to begin, the doors would be closed and people sit quietly in a sea of black and white, meditating on color-coded sin and redemption.
The tables are covered with crisply-ironed white cloths reaching almost to the floor and candles are strewn down the middle of the cross, as much to keep the flies away from the bread and wine as to symbolize the light of salvation. One large chalice, filled with terribly sweet imitation wine, and a whole loaf of bread rests on a tin platter placed at the head of the cross. Trays of small communion glasses, filled with the same wine, and trays of de-crusted white bread cut into cubes are placed between the candles. All the bread and wine was covered by, again, crisply-ironed white squares of cloth, one cloth for each pair of trays.
When it is time for partaking of the elements, assigned elders and deacons approach the table to neatly fold and set aside the cover cloths. The pastor in his flowing black robe that reached to the ground would carefully descend from the pulpit with an air of magnificent solemnity, walk slowly past the altar and down the steps of the chancel, to stand regally at the head of the cross. With silent instructions from elders and deacons, congregants would quietly rise and gather around the cross, led by an elder or deacon who entered from the foot of the cross and walked up both sides until the cross was encircled by worshippers who were invited to sit with a hand gesture.
A Bible passage is read, the words of institution are recited to bless the communion, bread eaten, wine drunk (either separately or from a common cup passed around the cross). Then the first group returned to their seats while the rest of the congregation sang a hymn and the next group took their seats around the cross. There are nearly 25 rounds that required a three and a half-hour service.
One person observing this way of communion noticed as people went for their turn at the cross had those who were in dirty flip flops and torn pants, and others in heels, skirts, suits and ties. It was striking how people from such diverse socio-economic classes - all in black and white, came to the table together, even as we do with all walks of life around the world today.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Communion in a Time of Ebola - Democratic Republic of Congo
During an Ebola outbreak in DR Congo just 50 miles outside the city of Mbandaka it was recommended that communion be suspended. Some congregations, instead, provided washing stations before you entered the church. When you approached the table you once again washed your hands and then were given hand sanitizer before partaking of the elements.
Within a short time the Ebola outbreak was over - in part do to the care these churches took. Think about it - washing your body numerous times while approaching the table where your insides are washed, made clean and sanitized by Jesus. Ebola has a death rate percentage of 50%. Sin has a death rate percentage of 100%. Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
A Blessing from Cuba for World Communion Sunday
The congregation forms a circle large enough to include everyone. Each person either places their right palm on the back of the left hand of the person to the right.
May God prosper you.
May your days be long and your nights serene.
May your friendships honor you, and your family love you.
May you eat at your table, and
may you be gathered into to God's embrace
with a smile.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
INVITATION TO THE TABLE
We come reverently before a Holy Lord / We waited patiently to hear the Word / And we seek His favor in one accord // Let us be stillWe break bread and in our minds we see / His body scarred on Calvary / And He whispers, “Remember me.” //
Let us be still
And the cup we drink, we do as one / For the Man who suffered all alone / Who in anguish cried, “It is done.” //
Let us be still
And when our hurried week pours back in / And our thoughts betray our hearts through sin / Hark this plea and pray this prayer again // Let us be still
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