Rejoice

It doesn’t seem like an accident that throughout the history of the Church, there have been so many ways that we have tried to get this meal wrong. Jesus gave us bread and wine and told us to share it with thankfulness regularly, and people have done almost every thing else besides this. People bow down to the bread and wine, talk to the bread and wine, take only bread and not wine, do it once a year, once in a while, hardly ever, do it with a frown on their face and suspicious looks at the people sitting around them or trying hard to have vague guilty feelings. But here’s the deal: we’ve already confessed our sins and heard God’s promise of forgiveness. If you have lingering sin, that’s not been dealt with, deal with it now, confess it to God now, and then come with joy. If you’ve never been baptized, if you aren’t sure if you know this God, if you aren’t sure that you are forgiven, please talk to one the elders or deacons after the service. But at this meal, God is giving us His life, it’s the fullness of joy, it’s like laughter that you can’t hold back. So really the only question is: do you want that? Do you want that joy? If so, take this bread, drink this wine, look around at each other, smile at each other, sing loudly together. This is not a funeral. Our Jesus rose on the first Easter nearly two thousand years ago, and He told us what to do. He said rejoice.