New Words As We Join Together For Communion
At Mercy Hill, we consider our gathering together at the Lord's Table the apex of our worship service.
Having offered our worship to the Lord, having confessed our sins and heard the words of the Good News of Jesus, having sat under the teaching of God's Word, we join together at the Lord's Table to commune with our Lord and with one another.
In God's renewal of his covenant of grace with us, this sacrament is a true means of grace, that is, Communion is one of the ways that God grows us, nourishes us, and matures us in Christ.
What a privilege it is to join together every week around this table of grace!
We are introducing a liturgical element during our gathering around the table. The word liturgy simply means "service of worship." All churches have them whether they are explicit or not--they are simply what we might call "rhythms of grace."
The element that we are introducing brings our church in line with many historical expressions of worship flowing from the Reformation echoing words of Scripture, and are similar to what countless churches around the world say together when they join together around the Lord's Table.
Our version invites us to speak words together (as we do when we sing and sometimes pray together):
Leader:
Our Lord has a promised us, "I am with your always,
to the very end of the age."
Together:
Praise be to You, O Christ!
Leader:
Lift up your hearts!
Together:
We lift them up to the Lord!
Leader:
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
Together:
It is right to give Him thanks and praise.
Just a brief explanation to help us unpack these words.
First of all, why say anything at all? The simple answer is that worship is not a spectator event, but is participatory, for all of us.
After all, in other gatherings, we often speak words together, whether they are reciting mission statements in a board room, chanting at sports events (think of some of the Aggie yell's that are repeated weekly at sporting events), or simply greetings that are part of our public expressions (Hi, how are you going?" "I'm fine, thank you. How are you?").
The first part of our communion liturgy has the leader reminding us that we are not alone, but that Jesus has promised to be with us until the end (words taken directly from Jesus' Great Commission in Matthew 28:20).
Our Lord has a promised us, "I am with your always,
to the very end of the age."
Together:
Praise be to You, O Christ!
And this reminder has additional meaning in our belief that Christ is not absent from our fellowship, but is present with us by His Spirit. And He is with us in a special way as we commune with Him feasting upon the bread ("This is my body") and wine ("This is my blood").
And our response to Christ's presence among us? We join our voices together in saying, "Praise be to You, O Christ!"
The next words we speak together remind us to seek first the kingdom of God. "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:1-3).
And so the words we speak remind us of this truth, and so we lift up our hearts (the core of who we are) in loyal service to and the anticipation of real communion with Christ the King:
Leader:
Lift up your hearts!
Together:
We lift them up to the Lord!
The final words we speak invite us into prayer, and more specifically, the "eucharistic" prayer. The word eucharist comes from the Greek word that simply means "thanksgiving."
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
Together:
It is right to give Him thanks and praise.
The fact that redeemed sinners like us are invited to the Lord's Table is not only astounding in God's magnanimity and kindness, but produces in us deep gratefulness and praise and joy as we come together.
CS Lewis once likened the various elements of liturgy to a dance. At first when you are learning the steps to a dance, you focus on where you place your foot. But after a while, it becomes second nature, and that is, it becomes natural and freeing.
That's what the words of the communion liturgy are like. At first, when we are learning to speak them in cadence together, it might seem a bit awkward. But once we learn them, they become second nature and actually frees us to enter more fully into the sacred moment of Communion together.
Together, these words help focus our hearts and minds up Christ, the King of kings and Lord of Lords, our highly exalted Savior who has been given the name above all other names.
Mercy Hill Church, may the Lord bless us, stretch us, grow us, and deepen us together during our weekly rhythms of grace together at the Lord's Table.
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