By Doug Redford
William Willimon served for many years as dean of the chapel and professor of Christian ministry at Duke Divinity School.
Willimon tells of a student who approached him following a chapel service one Sunday and commented, regarding the sermon, โI have never heard anything like that before. Where on earth did you get that?โ
Willimon replied, โWhere on earth would you have heard this before? After all, this is a pagan university environment. Where in these surroundings would you have heard this? And where else in this culture would you hear it? To hear this message, youโve got to come here on a Sunday morning.โ
Consider this Communion meal of which we partake each Lordโs Day. And then think of all the meals we have eaten over the past week. Besides our meals at home or wherever we reside, some of us have been part of business lunches, school lunches, meals with friends, or meals that were part of special occasions such as birthdays. Churches gather for fellowship dinners or serve meals to the community in an outreach effort.
But no meal holds the meaning that this meal of Communion does. We wonโt remember it because of the variety of foods served and how great they tasted. This meal does not fill our stomachs; it feeds our souls. It reminds us how empty our lives would be if Jesus had not come and provided the sacrifice necessary to forgive our sins and make us right with God.
How the meal tastes is not how we evaluate it; what we remember is that Jesus tasted death for us (Hebrews 2:9, New Living Translation). There is no other meal like itโthat is, on this earth. We await the ultimate Communionโwith Jesus and all the saints at the wedding supper of the Lamb.
To paraphrase Willimonโs question, โWhere else would you get a meal like this?โ No restaurant will ever serve this kind of food. You canโt order it from Grubhub or Door Dash. Only the church can serve a meal like this because only followers of Jesus know what this meal truly means. It is a โfamily recipe,โ prepared in Heavenโs kitchen โbefore the creation of the worldโ (1 Peter 1:20) and ours to humbly, gratefully enjoy.
Doug Redford has served in the preaching ministry, as an editor of adult Sunday school curriculum, and as a Bible college professor. Now retired, he continues to write and speak as opportunities come.
Author: Doug Redford
Doug Redford has served in the preaching ministry, as an editor of adult Sunday school curriculum, and as a Bible college professor. Now retired, he continues to write and speak as opportunities arise.
