Articles for tag: Body And Blood

July 21, 2017

Christian Standard

At Eye Level

By Ronald G. Davis A few years ago, a well-known preacher”s morning sermon was titled “God at Eye Level.” That”s a provocative title, isn”t it? In that Jerusalem upper room long ago and at this table today, we are at eye level with God. That”s an intriguing thought to me. Imagine those men who were at the table in the upper room, eye-to-eye with Jesus. Could each look him in the eye? Or did each try to hide his face in the shadows of that dimly lit room, not so much as daring to catch his eyes with their own?

July 29, 2016

Christian Standard

Bless the Hands

By Nancy Karpenske When my family gathers at the dinner table, it is common for the designated prayer person to pray, “Lord, thank you for the hands that prepared this meal.” Those would be my hands they are talking about. Sometimes fixing dinner has taken hours, chopping, mixing, stirring, grating. Occasionally my hands smell like the onion I chopped, or they are scratched from picking raspberries. But quite often my hands have merely pushed the buttons on the microwave or flipped the switch on the Crock-Pot in order to produce a satisfying meal. I like to cook and bake. But

April 22, 2016

Christian Standard

What Kind of Table?

By Mark Krause One of Paul”s names for Communion is the “Lord”s table” (1 Corinthians 10:21). It is impractical for most churches today to celebrate the Lord”s Supper by sitting at chairs around a large table. Yet the table is an important symbolic element to our understanding of the Supper. Table fellowship is a powerful thing. We do not normally sit down to eat at a table with random strangers or with enemies. We like to take our meals with family and friends. When we celebrate Communion, we reenact a meal with other people, and these are people with whom

March 25, 2016

Christian Standard

Taken and Broken

By J. Michael Shannon In some ways our Communion service seems a strange thing. We know it has its roots in the Passover celebration, but as we would expect from a ceremony instituted by our Lord, it can speak to us of much more. What is the significance of eating bread and drinking juice? Why does it represent the body and blood of Jesus? Why do we internalize these emblems? All living things, for their survival, depend on other living things to surrender their lives. Whether a person eats meat or is a vegetarian, something that was living surrenders its

March 11, 2016

Christian Standard

A Silent Sermon

By J. Michael Shannon Communion services usually are very quiet gatherings. The music is usually soft, and people do not talk and laugh among themselves. This is almost universally true regardless of the church tradition of those partaking. While there is an appropriate sense of joy in the celebration of what Jesus has done for us, there is also a silent awe that comes over us because of the magnitude of the sacrifice. Our quietness is almost instinctive. And so it was for a monk, as the old story goes, who was assigned to do the homily for the brothers

September 19, 2014

Christian Standard

Hallowed Ground

By J. Michael Shannon “Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup” (1 Corinthians 11:27, 28). No one who visits Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, can leave unchanged. In a three-day period, two great armies struggled there in an epic conflict. There were approximately 50,000 casualties from both sides. What makes Gettysburg significant today is that the entire town and county stand as a reminder

April 26, 2013

Christian Standard

Foolishness and Communion

By Tom Lawson   “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). What could be more foolish than Communion””a little bread and grape juice or wine through which we are invited to experience Christ? Perhaps the only thing more foolish is saving the world with some wood, a few nails, and torn, bleeding flesh. We like to make the chasm between the spiritual and the physical as clear as the difference between day and night. The unseen spiritual is

February 6, 2012

Christian Standard

More Than a Memorial

By Tom Lawson The language we use when talking about Communion has a great deal to do with our history. A quick review of any English Bible will demonstrate words like memorial or emblematic or symbolic are not found in any of the passages about Communion. So, where do they come from and why do we hear them so often? The flip side of that question might be: Why are there a number of biblical phrases and teachings about the Lord”s Supper we rarely hear? To understand why we hear what we hear, it is important we take a brief

July 17, 2011

Christian Standard

Making the Father Known

By Ethan Magness Despite our best efforts and fervent hopes, God cannot be fully known. Our questions will never be fully answered. God’s ways are higher then ours and so, in some ways, God will always be a mystery. But God does desire to be known. Christ came, in part, to make God known. In Christ, we know God is good and kind. We know God cares about the lost and confused, the sick and the poor. We know God is love, not because of an abstract theological declaration, but because his love has been demonstrated and incarnated in Christ.

July 14, 2011

Christian Standard

Outrageous, New, and Glorious

By Ethan Magness   We are shocked by Jesus” words about the bread, “This is my body” (Matthew 26:26, author”s emphasis). We are shocked by the is. Much like the crowds who went away sad in John 6, we get lost in parsing verbs and miss the truly shocking nature of this sentence. The disciples were not shocked by the word is. The disciples understood stark metaphors. They were shocked by his use of the word my. This is because this meal already had meaning. The bread had meaning. The wine had meaning. The herbs had meaning. This meal was

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