A beautiful thing

I saw something so beautiful today, that tears are coming to my eyes just remembering what my eyes beheld.

Allow me to set the stage for you...

Today, our church met outside. It was not intentional, but because our building is not yet complete we are renting a space and the employee who unlocks the building for us decided to take the day off, without informing us! So, we had church outside today.

On our property, we have built an ampitheatre (which is mostly completed) and we set everything up out there. There is water in our lake, and we occasionally have visiting ducks (amongst other wildlife I am sure, and we won't be discussing that...) and it is quite a beautiful place.

Well, since we held services outside, we had family worship. There were no children's classes, our entire church family attended service together.

In our service, if you desire you can go to a table (off to the side of the "sanctuary") and partake of communion. It is a completely individual thing. There are no people at the table directing you, speaking to you, or leading you in the process. There is not a point in the sermon where the preacher reminds you that you have the opportunity to come to take communion. It is just there, ready for you, when you are ready to commune with the Creator.

After the sermon, in the service today, we were singing and several individuals began to go forward to take communion. A couple minutes later I glance over at the table and I see a family, off to the side, kneeling in a circle taking communion together. Tears started to roll down my face.

To watch these two little girls listening to their Mom and Dad talk about what Jesus did for them, and why we take communion was so powerful. Then, they all bowed their heads and started to pray. As they began to walk back to their seats, I happened to notice, out of the corner of my eye, another family doing likewise.

Some people might argue children should not be taking communion if they haven't been baptized or if they are old enough to understand what it means and haven't made a decision to follow Christ.

But I was reminded of one of the most powerful communion experiences I have had in my short life. I was at a Methodist church, where they did a very formal communion procession. Everyone came, when the usher dismissed them, to the front of the church and knelt at the alter. The minister would come around and give you a piece of bread saying, "This is the body of Christ broken and given for you." Then someone would follow with the wine saying, "This is the blood of Christ shed for you."

I happened to notice three small children nestled between their parents up at the altar. I wondered what the minister was going to do when she came to the little children (the oldest was probably in first grade). What kind of theological confusion would you create if you told a young child Jesus was "broken" for you?

When she came to the first small child, she looked right down in her little six year old eyes and said, "Jesus loves you VERY much."

That is the beauty of the Cross.

Jesus loves you VERY much.

He was broken and beaten, He shed His blood so that you and I would know one simple truth; He loves YOU, very much.

Let that truth sink in.