Value 5- Week 3 Communion
Word: “Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, ‘Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God comes.’ Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’” Luke 22:17-19
Devotion: Thanksgiving
The question I ask myself every time I come to the table for Holy Communion is the simple yet profound question Jesus once asked a man, “What can a man give in exchange for his life?” At the table I am confronted with the overwhelming truth that Jesus died to give me life. He traded his life for mine. At the table, the answer only answer I can give to the question “What can a man give in exchange for his life?” is thanksgiving. What Jesus has given is a gift that is priceless and can’t be earned or repaid. Paul said it best, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:23)
Because of that truth, Holy Communion is also appropriately known as the Holy Eucharist or the meal of thanksgiving. The name comes from the Greek word eucharistia which means gratitude or giving thanks. It is appropriate that the main part of the Communion liturgy is called “The Great Thanksgiving”. The root word for eucharistia is the word charis or grace. So Holy Communion is the meal of grace. Grace of course is the unmerited, undeserved love of God, a gift! Since God’s love in Christ is a gift, I am not expected to earn or deserve it, but only to be moved by it, grateful for it, and to respond by loving God in return (“we love because God first loved us”). That is the primary reason as United Methodist we practice an “open table”. At Christ’s table, all are welcome for he offered his life that everyone who desired could be restored to a right and loving relationship with God our Father. John Wesley believed in taking Communion as often as he could because he believed it to be a “means of grace”. The table becomes a place where we can experience the unconditional love of God for us over and over again.
If thanksgiving is all that we can give in exchange for the gift of our lives, then what does thanksgiving look like in us. It is more than words we say, it is an attitude of our hearts and out of our hearts flow our words and actions. To live with thanksgiving as a primary motivation for all that we do brings graciousness and humility to our lives and through us into the lives of others. How powerful is the table for shaping our hearts and our lives into that of gracious love for God and in turn for our neighbor.
Practice:
This week when I take Holy Communion as myself the question, “What can I give in exchange for my life?” Then each night review my day for ways in which I succeeded or failed at living thankfully and graciously.
Leave a Reply