This past Sunday we had the great opportunity to partake in the Lord’s Supper. Each time I take the bread & the juice, I try to travel back 2000 years ago, and picture what it would have been like to hear Jesus speaking to the disciples, “Take, eat, this is my body which has been broken for you.” To feel the warmth that was given off by the lamps in the room, to hear the whispers of the disciples as they tried to figure out what Jesus was talking about. They probably did’t understand it all but I would imagine they felt very loved by the end of it.
Each time I’ve served communion at PRBC, I have done a different task. One time I helped serve the deacons, one time I helps serve the deacons and the congregation, but this time, I was able to simply serve the congregation. It allowed me to focus on those who I was giving the bread & juice to. I prayed for Brett Campbell as he grabbed a piece of bread for the first time, as a new Christian! I prayed for the students and they reached for the cup. Every person that I extended a tray to, I tried to lift them up, maybe the same way Jesus did when He passed them to the disciples many years ago. It was a very humbling moment for me!
There was one moment though that took my breath away! After we had passed out the bread, the deacons and I all stood at the back of the sanctuary, waiting to walk forward together. Finally, everything was in order and in unity we began to walk. I was trying not to walk too fast and run over Dicky Luffman, nor walk too slow and be stepped on by Steve Martin. But as I walked, I looked down into the chrome plate of bread, and as I did, I saw my reflection in it. There it was! Among the pieces of the broken body of Christ was my reflection! I handed Mitch my plate and then went and took my seat but my mind was still fixed on seeing my reflection.
The bread represents the body of our Lord Jesus, broken on Calvary, as He was nailed to a cross with every single sin I have ever done or will ever do hung around His neck. At that moment, God the Father turned His back on His only Son because He could not bare to see my evil, wicked, and selfish sins! Three days later, the stone that was placed over Jesus’ tomb, which was placed there to keep Him in, was rolled away and Jesus, alive and well stepped out! He no longer had my sins around His neck but His righteousness in His outstretched hands! He was extending His beautiful gift to you and me so that if we would bow before Him, He would clothe us in His righteousness! Now when God looks at me, He does not see me, He sees His Son!
When I looked at my reflection in the communion plate, I couldn’t help be see, ‘the bread!’ The broken, righteous body of Jesus, covering my face! No longer am I Jason Lawson the sinner, now I am Jason Lawson the REDEEMED! I have been saved by grace through faith! My reflection is now that of Jesus! Praise God!
When you look in the mirror, what do you see? Someone who is broken, tired, troubled, or dying? Or do you see the One who stepped out of Heaven and came to earth so we could be redeemed, restored and reborn? That’s the God we remember in communion!
I’m praying for each of you this week! May God lovingkindness & Holy presence always surround you!
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