“Come To The Lord’s Table With A Pure And Penitent Heart!”

“Come To The Lord’s Table With A Pure And Penitent Heart!”
During Holy Communion an old mother almost drank the full content in the chalice. When asked after service why she did it she said she wanted to be cured of her sickness. She said she felt quite relieved when she gulped down the wine.
Many people are regular in receiving the Lord’s Supper, but for the wrong reasons.
The first Lord’s Supper was celebrated as a Passover meal, which was a commemorative meal to remember the exoeriences of Egypt. It was also a meal of thanksgiving, so in each family as they celebrated, the family head gave thanks before distribution.
While celebrating the meal with his apostles on the eve of his betrayal Jesus filled it with new content. What happened on that day became a bequeathed legacy meal of remembrance. “The Lord Jesus, on the night on which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes”(I Cor.11:23-26).
It doesn’t state that the meal has any healing power according to the old mother or that consubstantiation or transubstantiation takes place, transforming the bread into real flesh and the wine into real human blood or both being present with the bread and wine.
Each time the meal is celebrated it is a proclamation of the Lord’s death, which has to be done as often as possible “until he comes.” This explains why in the liturgy for Holy Communion the response is, “Your death O Christ we proclaim, your resurrection we announce, your coming we await.”
So to say, the Lord’s Supper is a memorial supper, recalling and portraying Christ’s death for sinners;” announcing his resurrection and awaiting his second coming with hope and conviction.
If we are thus convinced that Christ died for sinners, we must rid ourselves of sin before partaking in the meal of remembrance. Otherwise it would affect us negatively.
That is why a preparatory service is necessary before any participation in this remembrance meal. Once prepared we can heed the call, “Come now with faith and repentant hearts to the table which the Lord has prepared for you. Take and eat of his bread of life and drink of his cup of salvation with thanksgiving.”
Prayer: Holy Spirit purify me so that I can celebrate the Lord’s Supper for the right reasons and in the right spirit. Amen!
Have a blessed day! Peace be with you!