As we noted this morning, the very first, direct gift of God was food in the garden. And the very first sin in the history of the world was over food. So it doesn’t seem accidental that the very first gift of the New Testament is again food. When Jesus shared this meal in the upper room just before His betrayal, He was giving His disciples the gifts of the Kingdom: forgiveness, fellowship, but it was given through the means of ordinary bread and wine. One of the great victories of the Reformation, one of the reasons why we are cheerfully Protestant is the recovery of this meal as a simple, ordinary meal for all of the people God which by the power of the Holy Spirit we believe promises enormous and extraordinary things. This meal is how we learn to become human again. This meal is where we learn what we are for. We were made to work. We were made to give thanks. We were made for communion with God and one another. We have been remade to be forgiven and to forgive. We were made for joy. Take this pattern with you into the world. Whatever you are called to: take the gifts of God, give thanks for them, enjoy them, share them, and extend God’s blessing through them. Taste and see that the Lord is good. These are the gifts of God for the people of God.
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