Bread of Life

Sharing Communion Apart

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

Sharing communion apart seems to be a contradiction in terms and yet it is very much a reality many of us are living out in this Corona virus world. I wrote this devotional for my people from the various nursing homes where I normally would be visiting every week. Though it is a personal message specifically for them, I thought it might also be an encouragement to you as well.

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”                                        1 Corinthians 11:23- 24 ESV

While we have been apart for more than two months one thing which I have missed the most is being able to share communion with you. You may be wondering if there is some way we can still remember this holy meal. The answer is a resounding yes! We can still be together in heart if not in person in the three important parts of our Lord’s last supper. First we Repent. Just as Jesus prayed with His disciples, we must also pray and not only give thanks as Jesus did, but also ask for forgiveness so that God can clean our hearts and prepare us for communion.

Second; we Receive the bread and the cup; but not only from the hands of a priest or a pastor. Instead we recall Jesus as the Living Bread. He is the one who is giving Himself to us. It is from His hands that we receive such a gift. He also passes us the cup which holds His life spilled out on the cross for ours. As we receive His life into us He washes our past away and gives us new life in Him. Last of all we do this and Remember. It is not that we are recalling something forgotten but instead it is an honoring of His death and a celebration of His life; until he comes again. Oh I am looking forward to the day when I can be with you again to have communion. But until then be sure to repent; receive and remember as often as you can because our hope is our looking forward not to a return to normal but to the return of Jesus to this world!

Dec-Jan 2011-12 159

7 Loaves of Heaven’s Bread

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments

For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.  John 6:33 ESV

When I was a boy I loved the smells coming from the kitchen when my mom baked bread. I could hardly wait for her to hand me a warm slice slathered with butter right from the oven. We need to ask ourselves if we are also longing to know God like that. Are we eager to come into His presence and receive a fresh word from Him each day? No matter the answer to that question now is the time to set our sights again to that Easter morning when Mary came to the tomb and became the first to see our risen Lord;

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The Bread of Heaven!

Monday’s loaf was When the angels sang

And shepherds knelt And the Heavens rang

On Tuesday Mary dedicated Him

In the temple like a lamb Who was without sin

At the Jordan On Wednesday Jesus was baptized

And the dove descended On the bread of life

Thursday’s loaf was when He broke the bread

And He blessed the cup And bowed His head

Good Friday’s Bread was given for us

And His blood poured down The rough wooden cross

Saturday’s silence Was the bread of sorrows

As He lay in the tomb Waiting for tomorrow

Then on Sunday’s dawn He came as Heaven’s Bread

The stone rolled back And He rose from the dead!

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Picture Taken at the Ark Experience

 

Remembering Him

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”                                   1 Corinthians 11:26 -27 ESV

Though the bread given to us may be held by human hands; 2,000 years ago it was given to us first by Him. As we take the bread and cup in our hands, He wants us to remember the marks of the whip, the crown of thorns and the cross. In the same way that Mary worshiped by pouring out the spikenard to prepare Jesus for His burial, we worship Him as we take the bread and cup and remember His cross.

 

I often think of the spear that pierced His side. Jesus hung lifeless after having given His spirit to the Father. But even as His body hung limp and vulnerable, a soldier plunged his lance into the side of Jesus. It was cruel but it was his job to make sure that Jesus was dead and with no possibility of rescue. And then there flowed out water and blood down His side and onto the ground showing the price that He paid for our sins and yet we easily forget. In the middle of the activities and pressures of life we need to come and sit again at His table. We must tell again the story of the bread He broke and the cup He blessed till the day when we eat and drink at His table in Heaven.