Come, union

How does your church celebrate Communion? Brass-plated trays passed across the row once a quarter? 2-in-1 cups containing wafer and juice together, drive-thru style? It's time habit and sheer logistics stop trumping intimacy at the Lord's Table. It's time we engage our Savior in this sacrament with our souls and bodies.

The incarnation is a mystery – God choosing to enter earth, embracing finiteness and physicality. It's a mystery the way human and divine intertwine in the person of Christ, not only as he walked this earth, but also as he sits enthroned in heaven. It's a mystery that continues as he ministers to and through us. It's a mystery we participate in, soul and body.

This mystery is made tangible and visible at the Lord's Table. Why not set up tables for your church to actually gather and share the bread and wine/juice? coming to that table, as opposed to taking wafers off a tray as they pass, our physical bodies join with our souls in declaring the truth of who Christ is and what he accomplished on that cross.

As we come, we receive the two fragile elements – bread and juice – and our physical body assures our soul that we are truly one with Christ. As we ingest the physical nourishment, our body reminds our soul of the eternal, spiritual nourishment of Christ. We need that Table, that time with the church Body, a time to bolster our hearts and gain confirmation in seeing, tasting, touching a reminder of an invisible truth: Oneness on Christ. We need this reminder from our body so our souls can concede what we sometimes struggle to believe: we are one with and eternally secure in Christ.

Coming to and receiving at the Table is our active believing. And, that believing is our testimony to the world of the person and hope of Christ. With bread and wine/juice Christ constructed the most marvelous monument to the most powerful truth of all: His blood ratified a New Covenant and his sacrifice offers new life.

Invite the Body of Christ to the Table of Christ to worship and engage him with both soul and body. After all, it is Come-Union.