Therefore, Let Us Keep the Feast!
In the church where I grew up, there was a rack of pamphlets at the back of the sanctuary. Among the topics covered in them, one in particular was memorable to me. It described what every denomination (but our own) got wrong; there was a chart and everything! I remember that under “Presbyterian," it said “rote, repetitive worship”.
When I first began coming to Christ the King, the liturgical worship did take some time to adjust to; when to stand, whether the bold words were mine or the leader’s (I still get this wrong sometimes, for at least a syllable or two). But as I’ve spent most of my adult life in a Presbyterian context, one thing about that pamphlet was absolutely true: our worship is repetitive. And I couldn’t be more thankful for it. Particularly when it comes to the Lord’s Table.
Regardless of how my week has gone, what the car ride to church was like, or where my heart is relative to Jesus on any given Sunday, I know that I will be brought to His table, to eat His body and drink His blood. And if my life is in the complete opposite place the next week, the next month, the next year, the same meal will be offered. It’s not about what’s in my heart or mind, not how put together my family and I look, but it’s about Jesus and how he instituted this meal 2000 years ago as a nourishment for his people.
During the Last Supper, Jesus’s “High Priestly Prayer” in John 17 speaks directly to us, here today in Houston in 2023. “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,” Jesus prayed. How amazing that the bread and wine shared around that table in Jerusalem are offered to us each week. If that prayer is true, then each time we repeat that meal, we are sharing it not only with each other on Silber Road, but with all Christians, past and future, and around the world. There’s nothing “rote” about that.
As you meet with friends and family to celebrate Thanksgiving this week, to feast and remember, be reminded of this:
Christ has died.
Christ is risen.
Christ WILL come again!
The gifts of God are for the people of God.
Therefore, let us keep the feast!
When I first began coming to Christ the King, the liturgical worship did take some time to adjust to; when to stand, whether the bold words were mine or the leader’s (I still get this wrong sometimes, for at least a syllable or two). But as I’ve spent most of my adult life in a Presbyterian context, one thing about that pamphlet was absolutely true: our worship is repetitive. And I couldn’t be more thankful for it. Particularly when it comes to the Lord’s Table.
Regardless of how my week has gone, what the car ride to church was like, or where my heart is relative to Jesus on any given Sunday, I know that I will be brought to His table, to eat His body and drink His blood. And if my life is in the complete opposite place the next week, the next month, the next year, the same meal will be offered. It’s not about what’s in my heart or mind, not how put together my family and I look, but it’s about Jesus and how he instituted this meal 2000 years ago as a nourishment for his people.
During the Last Supper, Jesus’s “High Priestly Prayer” in John 17 speaks directly to us, here today in Houston in 2023. “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,” Jesus prayed. How amazing that the bread and wine shared around that table in Jerusalem are offered to us each week. If that prayer is true, then each time we repeat that meal, we are sharing it not only with each other on Silber Road, but with all Christians, past and future, and around the world. There’s nothing “rote” about that.
As you meet with friends and family to celebrate Thanksgiving this week, to feast and remember, be reminded of this:
Christ has died.
Christ is risen.
Christ WILL come again!
The gifts of God are for the people of God.
Therefore, let us keep the feast!
Rob Hays
Christ the King Elder
Christ the King Elder
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