COMMUNION!

It was special. Perhaps one of the most special ever for me.

Quite easy, it is, to get blasé about Communion. After all, it is a pretty commonplace affair. Some wafers, some wine. A hymn, a prayer. Perfunctory, unimpressive. It shouldn’t be.

It wasn’t. Not last weekend. That was special. As special as it ever gets.

There we were, six guys—a pastor, a couple of elders, and a few others—gathered in a hospital room, in Houston. At the bedside of one we all loved dearly and had loved for decades. The ravages of cancer were taking its toll. A shell of his former self, but his spirits were still bright, his mind alert, his faith strong, his trust in God unshaken. I, on the other hand, found it hard not to cry.

And we shared the Lord’s Supper together. Powerful! Face to face with our mortality, the meaning of that sliver of bread and that sip of wine hit home.

For as often as you eat this bread
and drink the cup,
you proclaim the Lord's death
until He comes.
1 Corinthians 11:26

The Lord’s death! Oh, the bliss of this glorious thought. For because of His death, I don’t need to die eternally. My sin—not in part, but the whole—has been nailed to the cross with Christ. I bear it no more. Death detoxified. Devil defeated. Sin substituted. Burden banished. Sinner saved. Eternity entered.

And so we proclaimed the Lord’s death. All six of us dying men in that hospital room. But—this is incredible—all of us dying men would live, and we would live eternally!

All because of the Lord’s death. And that truth we proudly declared that day as we partook of the bread and the cup. “Hallelujah!” we cried, through the sting of tears, the pain of disease, and the grief of parting. There at the bedside of one I might never see again, this side of life.

The next time I enjoy the cup and the bread with my dear friend, I realized, might very well be at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb—that glorious time of celebration with Christians of all ages, when the Lord takes us home.

Blessed are those
who are invited
to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Revelation 19:9

Blessed, indeed! And all because of the Lord’s death. To look at the six of us that day, one would see grieving men, afflicted men, mortal men, seemingly defeated. But, no, we were the victors, not the vanquished! More than conquerors through Christ who loved us. Men with one foot in heaven. Waiting to go. All of us in that room—sick and healthy, bedridden and standing. Ready to enter the fullness of life eternal. All made possible by the Lord’s death.

O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?
… but thanks be to God,
who gives us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:55, 57

All because of the Lord’s death. If you get a chance to participate in Communion this week, would you do so with your brothers and sisters in Christ, praising God for His Son through whom we live and will live forever? Thanks be to God! Through the Lord’s Supper, let’s continue to proclaim that atoning sacrifice, until He comes. And come, He will … soon!

And then one day
I'll cross the river,
I'll fight life's final war with pain.
And then as death
gives way to victory,
I'll see the lights of glory
and I'll know He lives.
William and Gloria Gaither, 1971