Articles for tag: Lord’s Supper

September 11, 2018

Christian Standard

Jesus’ Controversial Approach to Food and Eating

By Mandy Smith Jesus often caused a stir, and it’s surprising how often food was at the center of things. Whom he ate with caused controversy. When he ate and what he ate upset the religious leaders who seemed to be watching his every move. Mark 2 provides various examples. First the Pharisees judge Jesus for eating with tax collectors and sinners. And Jesus simply replies, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (v. 17). Then the Pharisees get upset with Jesus because he doesn’t

August 14, 2018

Christian Standard

Reflecting and Reactivating

By Joe Harvey Remembering can be powerful! Yet it all depends on how we go about it. We can remember that something happened: “Yes, I did pay that bill.” That kind of remembering is functionally useful. It answers a question or settles an uneasy feeling. That is not what Jesus had in mind when he told his disciples to “remember me” during the Lord’s Supper, however. Surely, he was calling them to a different kind of remembering—one that involves reflection and reactivation. Reflection is simple enough. It means revisiting the past and regathering the meaningfulness of that remembered moment. Jesus’

June 19, 2018

Christian Standard

Our Link to Jesus

By Gene Shelburne In a very special way, Jesus is present in our pain. When Jerry Yamamoto was growing up as a Japanese boy in a mostly white neighborhood in California in the 1950s, he absorbed unimaginable abuse. He tried to explain to his playmates that he was innocent of Pearl Harbor, but none of them believed him. At times, he said, when the abuse got really rough, he went home and tried to wash his skin white. In early adulthood, Jerry faced a serious faith decision. Buddhism beckoned him to withdraw from the strife and struggle of this world

June 14, 2018

Christian Standard

Why I Love the Restoration Movement

By Rick Chromey   “I believe what I believe is what makes me what I am, I did not make it, no it is making me.” Rich Mullins, “Creed” I grew up in a small independent Christian church in remote central Montana. I cut my teeth in a wooden pew, sandwiched between my grandmother and brother, listening to sermons, learning hymns, and loving the saints. I washed Communion cups as a preschooler, passed offering plates as a child, and led song services and served Communion to shut-ins as a teen. I loved my church family. They made me who I

May 22, 2018

Christian Standard

Battlefield Sacrifice

By Rick Chromey This weekend marks the unofficial beginning of summer, but it’s also when we pause to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Since 1970, the last Monday of May has been designated as Memorial Day. It’s an annual sacred holiday to remember our fallen soldiers. Jesus taught his disciples, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). Friends will do that for friends. A friend will honorably take a bullet for a buddy, but those who serve in our military often die for people they

May 15, 2018

Christian Standard

A Passover Meal to Remember

By Rick Chromey It’s so easy to forget. Most often our memory fades with time. We forget how we felt. We forget details and even reasons. Our memory of something can become jaded, biased, foggy, or lost. Sometimes our memory is damaged by age. It’s not that we want to forget, but rather, we simply can’t remember. God understands the peril of human forgetfulness. Our minds sometimes need a little jogging through a metaphor, object lesson, or visual cue. Sometimes we need to re-create the experience. The ancient Passover meal was something God used to remind the Israelites of their

March 17, 2018

Christian Standard

Archaeologists Unearth the Centrality of the Table

By Jim Nieman The discovery of a floor to what might be the earliest-known Christian church seems to confirm that early Christ followers came together around a table to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. In 2005, prisoners unearthed a 580-square-foot mosaic floor with three inscriptions likely dating to the third century. One of the inscriptions speaks of a table “offered . . . to God Jesus Christ as a memorial.” The mosaic floor was discovered within a prison holding 1,200 Palestinian inmates, in Megiddo, on a hill overlooking the Valley of Jezreel—“the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon” (Revelation 16:16).

March 16, 2018

Christian Standard

The Communion Distinctive: Drama of the Gospel

By Mark Scott   In the middle of the second century, Justin Martyr gave an account of the weekly worship of Christians. And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine

March 15, 2018

Michael C. Mack

Go and Tell

By Michael C. Mack I have learned some of the most vital lessons from some of the most unlikely people in Scripture. Mary Magdalene is one of them. A most pivotal day in her life started “while it was still dark” (John 20:1). As she went to the tomb, her life epitomized what our lives would look like without knowing Christ and the power of his resurrection—dark and hopeless. But the resurrection changes everything. A day that began in darkness ended with her radiant proclamation, “I have seen the Lord!” (v. 18). Mary was the first to view the empty

March 13, 2018

Christian Standard

The Presence of the Resurrected Christ

By Dick Wamsley In an article in Worship Leader from 1993, Robert Webber wrote, “In early Christian worship . . . the giving of thanks was not a sober recall of the death of Jesus, but a joyous response to the presence of the resurrected Christ.” He cited the experiences of the earliest Christians when they came together to “break bread” (Acts 2:42), connecting those experiences with the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus recorded in Luke 24 and John 21. Luke records the appearance of Jesus to Cleopas and another disciple on the road to Emmaus. Even though Jesus walked with

February 20, 2018

Christian Standard

Flesh and Blood

By Ronald G. Davis John declared it: “In the beginning was the Word . . . and the Word was God. . . . The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:1, 14). Though John’s Gospel account may emphasize the deity of Christ, it gives full attention to his humanity. Incarnation! The eternal, the nonmaterial, became flesh and blood. Here, we celebrate that fact. Jesus was fully human. He grew from infant in Bethlehem to toddler in Nazareth to a boy of age at the temple to a man . . . at the cross. As

January 25, 2018

Christian Standard

Jesus Spent Much of His Life Escaping Death

By Jim Nieman Near the end, when praying in the garden, his arrest but minutes away, and his crucifixion only hours away, Jesus prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). From the time he was a baby, Jesus was escaping death. Herod tried to kill him shortly after he was born in Bethlehem, so his parents took him to Egypt. As an adult, the Jews set out to kill him because he was healing on the Sabbath and calling God his father.

January 11, 2018

Christian Standard

He Didn’t Fit the Profile

By Jim Nieman Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecy concerning the Messiah, so why did most leading Jewish religious leaders and scholars of his day reject Jesus, plot to kill him, and coerce and influence the Roman occupiers into crucifying him? In part, it’s because Jesus—though he performed many impressive miracles, and taught lessons and made claims like no one else—was just too ordinary. Jewish leaders had a preconceived notion of what the Messiah would be and what he would do: he would be a mighty warrior and earthly king; he would overthrow the oppressors and establish an earthly kingdom. And

January 4, 2018

Christian Standard

Beautiful in God’s Eyes

By Jim Nieman Zion National Park in southern Utah is a true wonder to tour and explore. As with so much of Utah, Mormon settlers named the area, and the name they chose aptly befits the beauty of the park. Zion can mean a place or refuge or sanctuary, or utopia, or Heaven. They felt that being in Zion brought them close to God. Christians can appreciate the names given to the various sandstone rocks, peaks, and formations in the park. Names like Cathedral Mountain, Angels Landing, Castle Dome, the East Temple and West Temple, the Great White Throne, and

August 9, 2017

Christian Standard

When I Come to the Cross – Images of Sorrow and Joy

By Jackina Stark Scholars have suggested two details about the cross that I have found intriguing. One has to do with where the cross might have been placed. Some suggest it was not erected at the top of Golgotha but at the base. This is in keeping with crucifixions taking place in busy thoroughfares, but it puts the cross too close to an unconcerned, gawking public for my comfort. It puts it, for that matter, too close to me. The second detail some scholars suggest is that Jesus might have been hung only a few feet above the ground. The

June 23, 2017

Christian Standard

Slowly Savored

By Rick Chromey From mainstream Starbucks and neighborhood bistros, the local coffee cup has evolved into a symbol of connection, companionship, and community. The coffee experience is about family and friends, because great coffee naturally takes time. The beans must be roasted and ground. The coffee is percolated, heated, and even specially flavored. And, of course, every cup is sipped and savored to the last drop. Consequently, coffee is the perfect nonalcoholic drink of choice. It”s the ideal beverage for gathering because great community also happens with time. Friendships are grounded and grown. Relationships emerge through connection and communion. In

May 26, 2017

Christian Standard

What It Means to “˜Examine”

By Randy Gariss The Lord”s Supper is about celebration. After all, the meal points to the love of Christ, forgiveness of sins, the coming of the kingdom, and other wonderful repercussions of the cross. Yet, in the midst of the joy there is another imperative from Paul, one with more sobering overtones. We are each told to “examine” ourselves. 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

April 28, 2017

Christian Standard

Reaffirming Our “˜Yes”

By Mark Atteberry Some of Jesus” parables are epic in scope, like one about the prodigal son. Others are quite short, like this one about a farmer and his two sons:  “There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, “˜Son, go and work today in the vineyard.” “˜I will not,” he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, “˜I will, sir,” but he did not go” (Matthew 21:28-30). The kingdom of God is hindered by people

April 25, 2017

Mark A. Taylor

Our Future: as Evangelicals?

By Mark A. Taylor Are members of Christian churches and churches of Christ properly categorized as Evangelicals? We addressed this topic in the first year I served as editor of CHRISTIAN STANDARD*, and now as I close my tenure, I wonder if anyone is still asking the question. The two who answered in 2003 wrote passionately and convincingly and came to completely opposite conclusions. William R. Baker described James DeForest Murch”s decision to boldly identify himself with the growing Evangelical movement in the 1940s and afterwards. “Not since Isaac Errett, founding editor of CHRISTIAN STANDARD, had anyone from the Restoration

April 7, 2017

Christian Standard

Misfit Convention

By Mark Atteberry The world has little patience for a misfit. Show up at a swanky country club in jeans and flip-flops and you won”t be allowed to play. Let your grass grow too tall or park a junk car in your driveway and the homeowners” association will impose a fine. Cheerfully work above and beyond your job description and your fellow employees will resent you for making them look bad. Let”s face it. Life is less painful if you fit in. We even drill this into our children, starting with the uniforms we force them to wear when we

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