January 27th, 2012
Communion…Inspiring or Boring?
I love communion…which is a long way from how I used to feel about the celebration of the bread and the cup. To be honest, in the early days of my faith, there was no way that I would have put the words “celebration” and “communion” in the same sentence. The way I experienced it was BORING!
But, it wasn’t meant to be and it doesn’t have to be. According to Jesus Himself, it’s intended to inspire…to inspire us to remember.
As a pastor, I’ve taken this seriously. We don’t approach communion as a throw away…as an unconnected tack on to our already full weekend services. On the contrary, when we celebrate communion, it is the point, the entire focus of the service. And, we don’t just mindlessly repeat the same service over and over and over again. We’re trying to wake people up to the vital reality and life defining importance of Christ in their lives. We’re not trying to dull them spiritually through mind numbing redundancy. We’re trying to sharpen them spiritually by taking them deeper in their understanding and experience of the power of the cross…of Christ’s sacrifice for them.
We do this by focusing the entire communion celebration on different aspects of Christ and what He did for us…can do in us…if we genuinely depend on Him. We do this by seeking to build on what Jesus did in giving us the bread and the cup…we attempt to use tangible things to bring to life the intangible. We’ve given people post-its to write their burdens on and then encouraged them to let go of them as they stuck them to the wall. (What a beautiful site…church walls full of burdens representing people free of them.) We’ve given nails to pound into the cross; party favors to remember their victory in Christ; cheap little erasable slates for them to write their sin on and see it disappear; etc. As the above video shows, this week we used suitcases to picture the baggage we carry in life…the baggage that, in Jesus, we no longer have to carry. (You can watch the full talk here: http://ow.ly/8IjZx)
We want to invest the creativity God has given us to inspire people to remember…Jesus died to set them free!
So…if you’re a part of NorthRidge, I encourage you to make our New Life Communion services a “not to miss” part of your life. If you’re a pastor, I encourage you to take a new look at and new approach to how you lead out communion in your spiritual family. If you’re a believer, remember…there’s nothing in all the world more worthy of celebrating than Jesus…and what He’s done for…and wants to do in you. Celebrate Him today by living for Him.
I’d love it if you shared some of your thoughts on or experiences with communion.
Categorized: Christian Living, Church Change, Leader Change, NorthRidge Church |
Elizabeth T
Celebrating communion is one of my favorite expressions of worship – it’s a time when everything else falls away, and I can see myself clearly standing at the foot of the cross, overwhelmed by His love, His provision, His acceptance of me as His child . . .and I find that celebrating communion at Northridge is an incredible way to continue to deepen my understanding of all that He has done. I love that we never lead up to sharing the bread and the cup the same way twice, but instead focus on yet another truth, blessing or promise that His death and resurrection accomplished. And if I haven’t mentioned it lately, I love having you as our pastor, and I love, respect and admire the entire team that works to lead us into such meaningful experiences of faith. Thank you very much, brother, for following God’s call to lead our church family.
Schel
Raised in a different church, communion was just “part of the routine” and we usually left right after. I am so glad that NRC has made it the special celebration that it should be. Jesus did the first communion and instructed us to REMEMBER! Thank you for helping us to do just that. We should never forgive that His blood washed us clean! Thank you Jesus!
Schel
Sorry, meant we should never FORGET that he washed us clean with His blood… Really should read before I hit submit.
jerry
This was a beautiful, healing service..a direct experience of His truth and presence.
Sue
Growing up, my favorite Communion service was on Maundy Thursday. The pastor always had a way of helping us see just how much Christ did for us..we almost felt like we were at the Last Supper. I love how Northridge helps us *celebrate* our faith!
Debi
I just finished watching the New Life Communion service on-line and am so sorry I missed this in person. The way Pastor Powell expains things gives everything so much more meaning. Not the communion service from my younger years. I am so looking forward to the next service. Thank you Pastor Powell and NRC for everything you do.
jim
thanks 4 showing gods love to all
Chris
Brad,
Can you comment on the correlation we are experiencing between Genesis 47:13-27 and our recent attempts by the government to nationalize several private industries (automotive, banking…) and other hand outs?
Matthew Buresh
Brad, I thank JC he put a female in my life to get me to you & Christ. Its been a wonderous, eye-opening, difficult journey to deal w/after being in Catholicism for 25 years. I see most of my family happy w/their religion, but don’t understand much of it anymore and why their man-made laws become laws of Our Lord….I’ve took a lot of dislike from my family for “straying” away, but it Is comical to even try talking to them about the subject matter…they just don’t want to hear it. At the moment I am Extremely Disappointed w/Catholicism and all it is about, it robbed me of knowing I mean Knowing Jesus Christ and be able to have this blossoming relationship w/Our Savior…its tough out there tho no doubt and I’m leaning on going to speak w/a “priest” to get some of my ill feelings about why they feel they need to hear our personnel sins, do the same thing every week, the fancy garb they wear, etc, etc…have a Blessed Day people :]