Saints Above and Saints Below

 The link to this week's live-streamed service is here.

The title of Sunday's sermon was "What are you expecting?" I'm not sure what our guest preacher, Rev. Grant Wilson was expecting when he accepted the invitation to fill in for Rev. Irwin this week. Our guest minister last week shared cake during the coffee hour. For Rev. Grant, the expectation was much higher. Not only did we ask him to preach a sermon, we asked him to celebrate the Lord's Supper with us. When I saw him in coffee hour later, there was no cake.

Thank you, Rev. Grant for gracing us with your leadership on World Wide Communion Sunday. We are favoured by your words.

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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Peter 1:3

This is one of my favourite passages of scripture -- I seem to say that a lot, but it is a "good" book!  These verses have been set to music by Samuel Wesley. It is a powerful and moving anthem. You can hear it here, and follow along with the words.

Peter's ringing declaration of faith in Jesus and the resurrection is in total contradiction of his craven denial of Jesus on Good Friday. What changed? 

Peter saw the risen Christ.  He was transformed by the Holy Spirit. Instead of denying Christ three times, Peter declared his love for Christ. Jesus told him to "feed my sheep."

On Sunday we celebrated the Lord's Supper, along with Christians world wide. We broke bread and drank wine as symbols of Christ's love for us, the love that promised us "an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled." 

And while we share the bread and wine in our own sanctuaries, we declare our belief in the communion of saints -- "a great cloud of witnesses" Hebrews 12. That one has been set to music too.

These two passages of scripture highlight for us important aspects of The Lord's Supper. The first is a profound trust in God. The second reassures us of "the communion of saints" as stated in the Apostles' Creed.

However you respond to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, I hope these two passages of scripture --especially in music--will resonate for you as they do for me, on the day when Christians around the world "break this bread and drink this wine."