Sunday, January 30, 2022

"Pizza Crust and Sippy Cup Communion"

Caleb is 8 and he prayed and asked Jesus into his life in August. He wanted to ask Jesus into his life when he was 5 because his loving brother Matthew told him that if he did not he was going to HELL. (Nothing like a 7 year old brother with the gift of prophecy and tact.) Caleb didn't really have an understanding of Jesus, sin, salvation or hell when he was 5 so we encouraged him to wait and we prayed. A few weeks ago we had a "Celebrate Missions" service and at the end Matt and I were standing at the back aisle like we usually do. (Don't forget, we are one of those new fangled contemporary churches where we do everything a little different.)Caleb came walking back to us crying and said something was going on inside him and he didn't know what it was. He said, "I tell all my friends about Jesus and I share Jesus with everyone that I meet, but I don't have him inside of me." Matt encouraged him to pray and share his heart with the Lord and he did and it was precious. That night Caleb received the free gift of salvation and knew that he was not going to HELL! Jump Ahead To Tonight... Caleb had gone to bed and I heard from his room..."This is my body, which...I forgot that part...do this in remembrance of me. This is my sippy cup...do this in remembrance of me." Now before I go on some of you are stumped that an 8 year old has a sippy cup, but Hawkins House Rules state that no drinks are allowed in the back of the house unless they have a lid, so Caleb chose to bring a cup of water to bed with him. Don't spread this around, I wouldn't want to embarrass him. Anyway, I walked in his room to find him sitting in his bed eating pizza crust and drinking water from a sippy cup. I asked him what he was doing and he replied, "Practicing for when I get to take communion for the first time. But, I forget some of the parts." After confiscating the pizza crust (another one of the Hawkins' House Rules) I reminded him of the parts he was forgetting and we talked for just a moment more about communion. What stood out to me though, was the fact that so often we who have been believers for a long time take communion for granted. We go through the motions and we eat the bread and we drink the cup, but are we truly "Remembering" what Jesus did for us. Do we truly think about His broken body and His blood that was spilt. I think for me...if I truly thought more about that, I would live today differently. If I realized that His body was broken for my bad attitude and His blood was spilt for my careless words, I would live with an attitude of thankfulness and be more intentional about obedience. He endured the cross for My sins and your sins. It's not just grape juice and a stale cracker. It's remembrance! It's living as though we remember each day. Its remembering His body and His blood, even if its a "pizza crust and sippy cup communion." I Corinthians 11:24-26 "And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you, do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after supper he took the cup saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."