A few months ago, Ryan and I were asked to help serve communion at church. We didn't drop anything, so they asked us again the next month, and now we're serving again on Sunday. We completely enjoy serving in this way, but I had a little hiccup in my heart over just that...my heart. I didn't feel like I was adequately preparing on the inside for what was happening on the outside.
I grew up in a Quaker church. (I used to say I grew up in a Friends church, but people thought I meant "a friend's church" like I didn't have my own church. Quakers and Friends are synonymous term.) If you're not familiar with that church, one of the unique things about it is that they don't practice the physical elements of communion. They have a time in each service called "communion after the manner of Friends" where the congregation sits quietly, communing with the Lord.
Perhaps that background from the first nineteen years of my life is what has pushed me to be more aware of the state of my heart as I enter a time of breaking actual bread and drinking from an actual cup.
Our church now is pretty big, so communion is a bit of an art form. I'm still learning when to step forward and take the elements. I'm still learning the rhythm of serving my section efficiently. I'm still learning to be aware of other rows that might need help once mine are served. All those things are part of serving. But they also distract (in the moment) from communing in my spirit.
So the Lord gave me an idea for a little guide that I can use on Sunday morning, before I even go to church. I thought I would share it with you, in case you ever find yourself in a place where you need to settle your heart before you break bread and drink from the cup.
In true Bekah fashion, this is an acrostic based on the word COMMUNE. (You're welcome.)
C = Confess. When Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, he had some directives for them on how they should administer the Lord's Supper. One of the things he said was, "Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup." (1 Corinthians 11:28) My first stop in my quiet time will be to examine my heart to see if there's anything I haven't confessed that I need to address. (Side note: I'm trying to be more diligent about doing this anyway. I tend to gloss over things I know I really should address!)
O = Open. Psalm 119:18 says, "Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law." I want to be sure that as I enter this time of communing with God, my eyes are opened to whatever He wants to show me. I don't want to only see what I choose to see, but I want to be open anything He may want to put in my path. It might be a blessing, it might be a piece of understanding, it might even be (gulp) discipline. But I want to see.
M = Meditate. I know that whole meditate word can be a tricky one, because some people associate it with practices that aren't very holy in nature. But Psalm 119:97 says, "Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long." When I meditate on something, I focus my thoughts on it and camp out there for as long as I can. And in a moment like this one, I certainly want to be meditating on the Lord and His word. (And on the things I just asked Him to open my eyes to see from that Word.) Plus, this part just reminds me of that Quaker upbringing and sitting quietly before the Lord.
M = Memory. If you read Luke 22:7-38, you can read about the Last Supper Jesus had with His disciples. During that time, he said to them, "do this in remembrance of me." (In fact, many churches have tables at the front with that phrase engraved on them.) So part of what I want to do in preparing my heart is call to my memory the whole reason we participate in this at all. We are participating because Jesus asked us to do it in remembrance of Him.
U = Understand. I'm not a scholar. Not by a long shot. There are many things I don't understand, and some of those things are okay with me. I think part of having faith in God is being content with not understanding everything about everything, but trusting that He is sovereign. But I do want to understand everything I can. In the book of Mark you can read about a time when Jesus predicted His death and resurrection, but it says the disciples "did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it." (9:32) While I'm preparing my heart, I want to take time to ask for the ability to understand anything I should and don't. I don't want to be afraid to ask.
N = Near. One of the verses my mom taught me when I was a little girl was "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. (James 4:8) I think one of the important things to remember about practicing communion is that Jesus' death and resurrection gave us the opportunity to draw near to God. I don't want to forget that. And I definitely want to experience it. So I want to begin to wrap up my heart-preparation by asking God to draw me near.
E = Enter. Psalm 100:4 says, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name." Though much about the practice of communion is weighty and serious, I also believe God wants us to approach Him with thanksgiving and praise, so I want to end my preparation on that note.
I'm looking forward to spending communion Sundays with this guide, so I can prepare my heart to worship and serve. In those final moments before I actually serve, I may be trying to work out all the logistics of serving smoothly, but when I arrive, I want to show up with a heart prepared to serve and receive.
3 comments:
I really admire how devoted you are to all areas of your church life.
When do people who help with communion take their communion? Do the congregants take their communion together?
Tamar - Thank you! :)
Maria - That's a great question! I know different churches do it different ways! At our church, we have trays filled with the wafers, and trays filled with little juice cups, so the group serving communion goes to the front of the church, gets the trays, and passes them down the rows until everyone participating has received one of each. Once the congregation has been served, the servers go back to the front and are served by the minister. Then we all take it together. At our old church, there were stations placed around the church, and everyone in the congregation had to go to a station to receive it. (That church also used a loaf of bread, so you tore off a piece of bread and dipped it in the cup.)
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