Communion Service Sunday 7th September – led by Pastor Peter Gooch
Peter is strong both on symbolism and the continuity between Old and New Testaments, but the passage from Exodus 12 showed us a very Old Testament God, rooting for his chosen people, and ‘woe betide’ anyone who stood in their way. Hard to reconcile the God who loves all of us killing off so many young Egyptians.
The themes Peter took from Exodus 12 – The Passover – were of a powerful God who keeps his promises, blood sacrifice, the slaughter of lambs, the need to celebrate the event as a religious festival for all time, and how Jesus had related the celebration to Himself when He had been on earth.
At the original Passover each man had had to choose either a lamb or a young goat for his household. John the Baptist had said of Jesus,” Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”. The lamb had had to be without defects. Jesus was without sin when he was crucified for our sin. The people were to put blood from the lamb on the doorposts. Jesus said, “My blood is given for you.” Elsewhere it was said, “Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins”,
So we could see a close connection between Jesus’ death and the Feast of the Passover. And God had arranged that the Lamb of God, should die at the time when the Passover lamb was being slain: the death of Jesus Christ was the fulfilment of the Passover. Here was the true sacrifice: Jesus’ death was for sinners all over the world. And the principal purpose of the Lord’s Supper was to remind Christians of Christ’s death for sinners – not a sacrifice, but a commemorative ordinance of the sacrificial death of Christ, “until he comes”.
The reading from 1 Corinthians 11 had the very familiar passage that we hear at most Communion Services sandwiched between Paul taking the church in Corinth to task about divisions between them, and about the way they were celebrating the Lord’s Supper. And he warned them that anyone ate the Lord’s bread and drank from his cup in a way that dishonoured Him was guilty of a sin against the Lord’s body and blood, and this brought with it judgment – which was why many of them had been weak and ill, and several had died. The situation at Corinth had not been good, for there was selfishness in their communion feasts and their divisions at Communion had denied the very unity of the Lord’s Supper. It had been customary for the believers to eat together; an opportunity for fellowship and sharing with those who were less privileged, with Lord’s Supper as climax. However, instead of holding a ‘bring-and-share’ meal, ensuring that everybody had a similar amount, some gorged at the expense of others. And some of them had no longer been in a fit state to appreciate what the Lord’s Supper was about.
Jesus had taken the ingredients of the Passover meal and transformed them into a meaningful experience for believers. The bread stood for his broken body. The cup stood for his shed blood. For Jesus, paying the penalty for our sins had been exceedingly painful, both physically and spiritually. Because of his great love for people like us, He had given His body, allowed it to be tortured, and at his death, God’s penalty for the sins of the world had been laid on him. It was also a case of looking forward to the second coming of Christ. “Whenever you drink, do so in memory of me. This means that every time you eat this bread, drink from this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes”.
Paul had told them (and us) to first examine themselves (to look within at the state of our hearts) and then eat the bread and drink from the cup in a worthy manner. If we confessed our sins to God, He’d keep His promise, forgive us our sins, and purify us from all undoing. The supper should also be a demonstration of the unity in the church, and we should look around at the family of God.
Before we celebrated our communion, Peter wanted to say what the Bible told us. That while Jesus was here on earth, he had never ceased to be God. If Jesus had been only a man when he was on earth, then his death on the cross would have had no benefit and meaning for us. If Jesus had not been God when he was crucified, then Christianity would be worthless. We should thank God that Jesus on earth was Emmanuel, God with us.
And to close, Peter sang, solo and unaccompanied, a hymn to take us into Communion.
Potters Bar United Reformed Church 