Communion of the Saints

This Sunday, our Grace Church family is going to gather for our complete, three-fold Communion service. For those of you unfamiliar with the Grace Brethren full Communion, it is comprised of three components which define the journey of our faith from beginning to end. It is a beautiful picture of and reminder of who we are as the people of God, the subjects of Christ the King.

Bread & Cup

The sharing of the bread and the cup are common to the assorted Christian denominations. They are a remembrance of the broken body and shed blood of our Lord and Savior. We remember, but do not mourn that historical event. It is a looking backward to the means of our reconciliation with Him and with each other.

Love Feast

At our full Communion service, we celebrate with a love feast. This can take many different forms; this time it will be finger foods. It is symbolic of our future hope, to be in fellowship with the King and His people at the consummation of all things, what Scripture calls the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. This look toward the full expression of God’s Kingdom, Eden restored, is the hope of our faith, that which motivates us to persevere through the brokenness of this present age.

Foot Washing

The component of our Communion celebration which seems to bother the most people is the foot washing ceremony. First, what it represents; then, why I think it bothers us.

Foot washing comes from John 13 where Jesus washed the feet of His disciples before the Passover feast, the one we refer to as the Last Supper. Other denominations point to the servitude of Christ in this event, that He gave us a model for serving others. We historically have emphasized the cleansing aspect. When Peter asked to be washed completely, feet, hands, and head, Jesus told him that he was already clean and only needed his feet cleansed (v.10). Both of these aspects are true and both are to be present among God’s people. Christ called us to do just He had done (v.15). He says that He has set an example for His followers. The point of foot washing is to submit ourselves to the Lordship of Christ. We are to be like Him, and He came to serve others. And while He has made us clean by His blood, we are to commit to helping one another remain clean.

But I think here is where we have a problem with foot washing. Some don’t want to deal with other people’s feet and most don’t want to reveal their filth. Of course, I write this as analogy, because most of us do more to clean our feet prior to foot washing than we do any other time of the year. But it is in our nature to live as rebels against God and His Kingdom rule. We may be willing to accept a weak, broken, dying king, one who was willing to sacrifice for us. We may even love the idea of returning to Eden and all that sinless creation and a benevolent rich man have to offer sojourners from the land of brokenness and pain and death. But do we really want the whole package? Do we want to learn to obey all that He has commanded (Mt. 28:20)? Do we want to expose our shortcomings to others? But King Jesus says that unless you submit yourself to His authority in your life, you can have no part of the bread and cup and no seat at the feast (Jn. 13:8).

So, I’ll see you at Communion at 6pm on Sunday evening. Bring your dirty feet. And bring your fellowship circle. Let us celebrate all that our King has done for us in the past that allows us to gather in His name. And let us look to the future when He will make all things right, giving us the greatest desire of our heart, HIM, trusting that we will also get everything else He created us to long for. And let us come prepared to enthusiastically say “Yes” to all He has planned and decreed for our lives up to that Day.

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before His presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations. Psalm 100

Why Taste of Grace?

Most of you have figured out why Grace Church and Connect need a ministry like Taste of Grace. I have sent out several emails explaining how ToG fits in with a missional approach to ministry. It also is a crucial part of our discipleship as believers and a church.

Stewardship: Stewardship is a HUGE concept in our faith. What will you do with the things God has entrusted to you? Will you squander blessings? Will you look to bless others?

Outward Focus: Churches tend to turn inward on themselves and distance themselves from their mission field. Outreach ministries keep our mission ever-before our eyes.

Christlikeness: Christ came ministering to the whole person. Christians tend toward a Platonic dualism, being concerned for the soul but not the body. If we’re to be faithful to Jesus commands and to be made into His likeness, we need to care for the whole person also.

Community: Grace Church doesn’t exist in a vacuum. We are part of a community. And our faith is built around the image of redemptive community, the church. Christ’s church is to have a positive impact on the world, not only from our perspective, but also from theirs. If Grace Church were to disappear, would the community mourn a tragic loss?

Here’s an Angel Food Ministries promo video I found on the Internet. It explains that food programs like ToG are for everyone. Take a look. Consider. And let’s talk…

The Genius of AND…

Americans, especially Christians, are known for their either/or reasoning. Something is either “this” or “that.” And usually, that means that we’re going to break down into an argument about which is “right,” and by implication, which is “wrong.” And that’s when the real fun begins. Once you have sides claiming that their solution is the only right one, you can go to war against other views.

This has been the case in the church for about a decade. There is a war that has been raging between how you do church, philosophically. The war is between Attractional church and Missional church. Put in action language, it’s a war between “Come and see” and “Go and be/tell” approaches to ministry.

Now, no one would argue that the church is not to be missional. As I preached on October 24, we are to be a sent people, ambassadors for Christ witnessing about the person and work of Christ and about His Kingdom. But very few churches put their emphasis there. Rather, the trend of the last 30 years of church history has been upon building facilities and programs designed to attract people to our Sunday morning gatherings. See the tension?

Look at the connection process. One model says “Come here to our space, believe what we believe, act like we act, and then you can be part of us.” The other says “You are so important to me and to God that I will go out and find you, entering into your world and inviting you to be in relationship with me/us in the hope that you will come to understand why we believe what we believe.”

And how you allocate resources in each of these models is very different. The key resource in the Attractional church is money since it is necessary to build better buildings and programs. The key resource in the Missional church is people, and effort is placed on helping them to understand their calling to the mission field and then on encouraging and empowering them to act.

But this week, I’m headed to the AND Conference in Indiana. The AND Conference is a conversation about how BOTH of these methods have tremendous value for the church and God’s Kingdom. It’s a conversation about how you live and minister in the tension between two very different philosophies of ministry. And I’m not even sure that there is a totally right or totally wrong answer, but I’m hopeful that the conversation will lead to deeper thought, prayerful reflection, and lively discussion about what God wants from His people at Grace Church. This is a great experience for folks who find themselves in “white space.” And inspired by the message of yesterday, I look forward to being open to the skillful hands of the Potter as He shapes me, my brothers, and our church… Yes, even in Indiana! ;o)