Yesterday, the Renovare Covenant Retreat ended in a worship service, including the Sacrament of partaking of the bread and juice. Rev. Chris Webb introduced the Sacrament by talking about food laws.
Every religion other than Christianity has food laws. Judaism does not allow eating of pork and other meats considered unclean. Hinduism is vegetarian. But God lifted any dietary regulations on the Christian community. Diet is not a wall to determine who is in and who is out with Christianity as it is with other religions.
However, various Christians have given the meal of our Lord titles and used that meal as a statement of who is in and who is out. Some of us call it the Lord's Supper, some call it communion, some call it "mass" and some call it the Holy Eucharist.
I remember 20 years ago our first six months in Sugar Land. We had not yet planted Community Life Church and were using the time to visit various churches in the community to gain some understanding of the Christian landscape in our community. One week I made an appointment and met the pastor of a small church plant. A couple weeks later we worshiped them. This church practiced "closed" communion. When it came time for the meal without explanation the elders stepped to row after row of chairs and at each gave the nod for families to go up for the meal. When they came to our row they walked past. My intellectual side knows that makes sense because "closed communion" dictates that I, not a member of their church or another church in their denomination, was not allowed. For my emotional side, it felt like a punch in the gut. I felt ostracized and left out in the cold with my wife and children. I was a fellow Christian. The pastor knew me as an evangelical Christian with a high view of Christ and Scripture, just like their congregation, yet I was out when it came to the meal of the Lord we shared as Savior and Christ.
Does God smile when he sees us make this meal as a statement of division between Christians? Something to think about.
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