For the past two years I've spent Easter weekend at a leadership conference in Nashville with a group of kids from on our church. Rather than attending the HUGE service associated with the conference, we use Sunday morning as a time to meet with our group and enjoy a worship service together. This year, our speaker was Mark Elrod, a fellow church member and Political Science professor at Harding. He had two main points about communion. The first one I'd heard many times, but the second one was a new thought to me.
First, we need the communion service as a memorial. God doesn't want us to do it just to keep us busy, but we need the constant reminder of his death, burial, and resurrection. In the church of Christ, we traditionally have a communion service every week. I know that many people think this would make it too routine, but for me? I need that weekly reminder of how dependent I am on God's grace and just how far he went to extend his grace to me.
Second, God gave us a portable memorial. We are not dependent on a particular place to serve as our reminder. We are not dependent on a particular person to oversee our reminder. Anywhere we are -- with just a bit of planning ahead -- we can share communion with our friends. As a group, we can collectively remember our humanity and Christ's deity. We don't have to travel to Jerusalem -- although I do want to someday -- and neither do we have to view a certain structure which may be destroyed.
The internal nature of faith is an amazing thing. We are not called to fulfill a set of rituals, but to give our minds and hearts to God. The actions are merely a reminder of much deeper things.
May you have the spirit of Easter with you each Sunday!
1 comment:
I had the feeling that at least on person was listening last Sunday.
I wish we could have been outside. I always love doing that at Easter.
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