COMMUNION SUNDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2020
JESUS DECLARED, “I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE. HE WHO COMES TO ME WILL NEVER GO HUNGRY, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN ME WILL NEVER BE THIRSTY.” (John 6: 35)
WELCOME TO OUR SUNDAY COMMUNION WORSHIP
INTIMATIONS: –
OPENING HYMN: – (CH-585): – ACCORDING TO THY GRACIOUS WORD, in meek humility, this will I do, my dying Lord, I will remember Thee.
Thy body, broken for my sake, my bread from heaven shall be; Thy testamental cup I take, and thus remember Thee.
Gethsemane can I forget? Or there Thy conflict see, Thine agony and bloody sweat, and not remember Thee?
When to the cross I turn mine eyes, and rest on Calvary, O Lamb of God, my sacrifice, I must remember Thee, –
Remember Thee, and all Thine pains, and all Thy love to me; yea, while a breath, a pulse remains, will I remember Thee.
And when these failing lips grow dumb, and mind and memory flee, when Thou shalt in Thy Kingdom come, Jesus remember me.
LET US PRAY:
ALMIGHTY GOD, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hidden; we come to You and ask to cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of Your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love You and worthily magnify Your holy name this morning. We confess that we have sinned, in thought, word, and deed, through our own fault and in common with others. We are truly sorry and turn humbly from our sins. Lord, have mercy, and forgive our sinfulness. Merciful God, You have prepared for those who love You such good things as pass human understanding. God of life and truth, You have taught us that we cannot live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Feed us with the Word of Life, and by the power of Your Spirit lead us into Your Truth. Pour into our hearts such awe towards the Sacrifice of Your Son that we, loving You above all things, may obtain Your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.
OLD TESTAMENT READING: – PSALM 116: 12 – 14.
HOW CAN I REPAY THE LORD FOR ALL HIS GOODNESS TO ME? I WILL LIFT UP THE CUP OF SALVATION AND CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD. I WILL FULFIL MY VOWS TO THE LORD IN THE PRESENCE OF ALL HIS PEOPLE.
NEW TESTAMENT READING: – JOHN 1: 14, 29, 34.
THE WORD BECAME FLESH AND MADE HIS DWELLING AMONG US. WE HAVE SEEN HIS GLORY, THE GLORY OF THE ONE AND ONLY, WHO CAME FROM THE FATHER, FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH. …JOHN SAW JESUS COMING TOWARD HIM AND SAID, “LOOK, THE LAMB OF GOD, WHO TAKES AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD! … I HAVE SEEN AND TESTIFY THAT THIS IS THE SON OF GOD.”
The HOLY COMMUNION is a Godly Revelation of our Christian Faith. It unmistakeably unites into one religious act the threefold LOVE of God for us, His creatures. Creating it by His WORD, the Creator-God still loves His World, and, although we became deformed by sin, out of His love offers salvation for all those who believe in His sacrificed Son, the Lamb of God. This Anointed Saviour, who takes away the sins of world is the Creator Word of God that became flesh, to be human, but without sin. The Holy Communion with Christ not only commemorates Jesus’ sacrificial death, but also makes us partakers of His Righteousness, won for us through His death and Resurrection. Instituted at His Last Supper before His death on the Cross, it shows Jesus’ clear intention to make His Atoning Sacrifice not only better understood, but also more personal both for His disciples and for us. Breaking the bread and raising the cup with the words: – This is my body, which is broken for you, and: – This cup is the New Covenant sealed in my blood, – Jesus wants to offer us God’s HOLINESS, to assure us, that there is no other WAY back to God but only through Him. During the centuries the Christian Church created creeds of faith, Confessions, to associate more easily with the teachings of the Gospels about our Saviour Anointed (=JESUS CHRIST), and after prolonged Church Council debates in Nicaea, THE NICENE CREED, was agreed ecumenically (= the entire world), – including our Church of Scotland – to be the basis of the Christian faith.
THE NICENE CREED
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father; through Him all things were made. For us and for our salvation He came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit, and the Virgin Mary and became truly human. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; He suffered death and was buried. On the third day He rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and His Kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. AMEN. (Adopted at the First Council of Nicaea, – 325 A.D.)
In our New Testament reading from the first chapter of the Gospel of John we have three references on the way of Salvation, preparing us for the Holy Communion in the second part of this worship.
1. – JESUS IS THE WORD MADE FLESH. The meaning of these words is that our divine Saviour really took human nature upon Himself in order to save sinners. He really became a man like us in all things, except sin. Like ourselves, he was born of a woman, though born in a miraculous manner. Like ourselves, he grew from infancy to boyhood, then becoming an adult in wisdom and stature. He hungered, thirsted, ate, drank, slept, was tired, felt pain, wept, rejoiced, marvelled, was moved to anger and to compassion. Having become flesh and taken a body, He prayed, read the Scriptures, suffered being tempted, and submitted His human will to the will of God the Father. And finally, in the same body, He really suffered and shed His blood on the Cross, really died, was really buried, really rose again, and really ascended up into heaven. And yet all this time He was God as well as man. This union of the two natures in Christ’s one Person is one of the greatest mysteries and blessings of our Christian Faith. It needs to be carefully stated. It is one of those great truths which are not meant to be curiously debated, but reverently believed by Christians. This constantly undivided union of two perfect natures in Christ’s Person is exactly that which qualifies Him to be the Mediator that sinners need. Our Mediator is One who can sympathize with us, because He is also man. And yet, at the same time, He is One who can deal with God the Father for us on equal terms, because He is very God. It is the same union which gives the value of His/our Righteousness, to the blood of One who was God and man even on the Cross, and when He rose again, He rose not only as mere man but also as God. God’s Word became flesh. What an honour to our undervalued, weak and mortal selves to live in a body which the Eternal Son of God was not ashamed to take upon Himself, in order to take it up to heaven. What an assurance this is to the Promise that the Lord will raise our mortal bodies and glorify them with His own for all eternity!
2. – JESUS IS THE LAMB OF GOD. Jesus, the Lamb does not mean that Christ was meek and gentle as lambs are known to be. This would be true no doubt but, in this name, given by John the Baptist, it means that Christ was the Greatest Sacrifice For Sin, Who came to make atonement for the sins of the world by His death on the Cross of Calvary. He was the Lamb, Abraham told Isaac at Moriah that God will provide (Genesis 22: 8), and the Passover Lamb in Egypt that opened the free journey of God’s people to the Promised Land. He was the Lamb of whom Isaiah had prophesied being led like a lamb to the slaughter (Isaiah 53: 7). Jesus did not come into the world to be a conqueror king, a religion-founder philosopher, or a teacher of mere morality. He came to save sinners. He came to take away the sins of the world. He didn’t make loud proclamations of pardon, mercy, and forgiveness. He took our sins upon Himself, and carried them away. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed (1.Peter 2: 24). The sins of everyone who believes in Jesus are made as though they had never have sinned at all. The Lamb of God took their sins away. Christ is the Almighty Saviour for all mankind. He takes away the sins of the world. He did not die for a few Jews only, He did not suffer for some minorities only, but for the whole of mankind. The payment He made on the Cross was more than enough for the debts of all. His Atonement on the Cross was sufficient for all mankind, though efficient only to those who believe in Him. But nevertheless, the sin that He took and bore on the Cross was the sin of the whole world.
3. – JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD. Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with You I am well pleased.” (Mark 1: 9 – 11) What John the Baptist was saying here is something like this: -“I saw perfectly, and from that time have unhesitatingly testified that the person whom you now see before you is the Christ, the Son of the living God. From the day I baptized Him in the Jordan, and I saw the Holy Spirit descending on Him, and I heard the Word of God from heaven, I have been fully convinced that He is the Messiah!” As we are about to take part in the Holy Communion with our Lord, I hope and pray that the same confession is to be raised from our hearts also as John the Baptist gave testimony about Jesus as The Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, and as the Psalmist did in Psalm 116, verses 12–14, through HYMN: – CH 565 :
I’ll of salvation take the cup, on God’s name will I call: I’ll pay my vows now to the Lord before His people all.
Thank-offerings I to Thee will give, and on God’s name will call. I’ll pay my vows now to the Lord before His people all.
Within the courts of God’s own house, within the midst of Thee, O city of Jerusalem, praise to the Lord give ye.
HOLY COMMUNION
We are here to look back, here to look forward. We are here to remember One who died, here to greet One who lives. We are here to share Bread and Wine, here to share fellowship together. We are here in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ who invites us, as He invited His first disciples, to take Supper with Him.
He shared bread and wine, with the one who would betray Him, the one who would deny Him, and those who would abandon Him in His hour of need.
He invites us to share bread and wine, you and I who are weak and sinful, who daily fail Him, who prefer our way to His, who have barely begun to understand the true meaning of discipleship. Though our faith is frail, and our faults are many, though we have many questions, and much to learn, come now and let us share Bread and Wine, COME AND FIND LIFE FOR OUR SOULS. AMEN.
NARRATIVE OF THE INSTITUTION: –
Hear the Words of the institution of the Lord’s Supper:
FOR I RECEIVED FROM THE LORD WHAT I ALSO PASSED ON TO YOU: THE LORD JESUS, ON THE NIGHT HE WAS BERTAYED, TOOK BREAD, AND WHEN HE HAD GIVEN THANKS, HE BROKE IT AND SAID, “THIS IS MY BODY, WHICH IS BROKEN FOR YOU; DO THIS IN REMEMBRACE OF ME.” IN THE SAME WAY, AFTER SUPPER HE TOOK THE CUP, SAYING, “THIS CUP IS THE NEW COVENANT IN MY BLOOD; DO THIS, WHENEVER YOU DRINK IT, IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME.” FOR WHENEVER YOU EAT THIS BREAD AND DRINK THIS CUP, YOU PROCLAIM THE LORD’S DEATH UNTIL HE COMES. (1.Corinthians 11: 23-26).
(The Minister): – As the Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread, I take these elements of bread and wine, to be set apart from all common uses to this holy use and mystery; and as He gave thanks and blessed, let us draw near to God and offer Him our prayers and thanksgiving.
LET US PRAY:
Father, we come to You conscious of the things within ourselves we hate to remember, yet cannot forget and fear to renounce: our self-indulgences, our prejudices, our resentments, our hypocrisies, our selfishness. Save us from self-contempt as we acknowledge these things and as we remember Your love for us in spite of all that we are and do. Give us the assurance of pardon, the release and relief of those who know that the past is forgiven, and the zest and joy of those who know that the future is still to make. So may we live in that fullness and freedom of life, which You have promised that we can share through Jesus Christ our Lord. Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned in thought, word, and deed. We have not wholeheartedly loved You; we have not loved others as we have loved ourselves. In Your mercy, forgive our past sins, amend what we are, and direct what we shall be. So shall we delight in Your will, and go Your way, with Jesus Christ our Lord.
Hear God’s Word of Grace and the Assurance of Pardon: – CHRIST JESUS CAME INTO THE WORLD TO SAVE SINNERS. YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN FOR HIS SAKE! AMEN.
TAKING THE ELEMENTS OF BREAD AND WINE: – According to the holy institution, example, and command of our Lord Jesus Christ, and as a memorial of Him, we do this: – WHO, ON THE SAME NIGHT WHEN HE WAS BETRAYED, TOOK BREAD AND WHEN HE HAD GIVEN THANKS HE BROKE IT AND SAID, “THIS IS MY BODY WHICH IS BROKEN FOR YOU; DO THIS IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME” – PLEASE, TAKE THE PIECE OF BREAD, YOU BROUGHT WITH YOU FROM HOME DUE TO CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC, AND LET US ALL TAKE AND EAT TOGETHER: – NOW… IN THE SAME WAY HE TOOK THE CUP SAYING, “THIS CUP IS THE NEW COVENANT SEALED IN MY BLOOD. WHENEVER YOU DRINK IT, DO IT IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME” – SO, PLEASE, TAKE THE SEALED CUP FROM THE HOLDER BEFORE YOU, OPEN IT, AND LET US DRINK OUR CUPS TOGETHER: – NOW …
THE PEACE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST BE WITH US ALL! AMEN. (Because of Pandemic-restrictions, we won’t greet one another, this time, with the handshake of THE PEACE OF CHRIST).
LET US PRAY:
GRACIOUS LORD GOD, we thank You for the love which brings us – as food from heaven – the life of Your dear Son, and assures us that we belong to the company of all His faithful people in heaven and on earth. Grant, that being strengthened by this fellowship and by the power of Your Holy Spirit, we may continue His work in the world, until we come to the glory of Your eternal kingdom; through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Saviour and Lord. And here we offer and present to You our very selves, to be a living sacrifice, dedicated and fit for Your acceptance: – through Him, with Him, in Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honour and glory are Yours, Almighty Father, now and forever. Remember, O Lord, Your holy Church throughout the world and reveal Your glory among the nations. Save Your people and bless those who belong to You, shepherd them and carry them forever. Remember, O Lord, our families and friends, and surround them with Your steadfast love. Remember, O Lord, those who are sick, those who suffer pain, loneliness, or grief, those who draw near to death, and those whom we name now in our hearts, before You . . . Comfort them with Your presence, sustain them by Your promises, grant them Your peace. Keep us in unbroken fellowship with Your whole Church in heaven and on earth, and bring us at the last to the joy of Your eternal kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.
THE LORD’S PRAYER: – OUR FATHER, WHO ART IN HEAVEN …
CLOSING HYMN: – (CH-351): – O THOU MY SOUL, BLESS GOD the Lord; and all that in me is. Be stirrèd up His Holy Name to magnify and bless.
Bless, O my soul, the Lord thy God, and not forgetful be of all His gracious benefits He hath bestowed on thee.
All thine iniquities who doth most graciously forgive: Who thy diseases all and pains doth heal, and thee relieve.
Who doth redeem thy life, that thou to death mayest not go down; Who thee with loving-kindness doth and tender mercies crown.
Who with abundance of good things doth satisfy thy mouth; so that, even as the eagle’s age, renewèd is thy youth.
TO FATHER, SON, AND HOLY GHOST, THE GOD WHOM WE ADORE, BE GLORY, AS IT WAS, AND IS, AND SHALL BE EVERMORE. Amen.
GO IN PEACE.THE PEACE OF GOD, WHICH IS BEYOND ALL HUMAN UNDERSTANDING, WILL GUARD YOUR HEARTS AND YOUR THOUGHTS IN CHRIST JESUS.
AND THE BLESSING OF GOD ALMIGHTY, THE FATHER, THE SON, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, ONE, ETERNAL GOD, BE WITH YOU AND REMAIN WITH YOU BOTH NOW AND FOREVERMORE, THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD. AMEN.
