Abba,

Do we really understand the price of true communion?  Of deep fellowship?  Of rich intimacy?

Do we really understand the true joy and delight of true communion with you?

Once a month we come together as your body to remember the Lord Supper.  We often refer to it as communion.

But do we really understand that which we take part in?  Do we really understand what it is that we do?

Very little of our remembrance feels like true communion.  We sit in a separate pews, looking ahead at a single person up front, listening to familiar words of what we do in remembrance of you, Jesus.

Where is the connection with each other? 

Where is the connection with you?

It feels barren.  Cold.  Distant.  Liturgical. 

Not intimate and communal. 

There is no true preparation.  We just come.  Often distracted.  Weary.  Grief stricken.  Lonely.  Angry.  Discouraged.  Isolated.

It is sad but often true, we don’t live every day with this remembrance in view or upon our minds.

So when we come, we are often unprepared.  We are unprepared to remember or to experience the true communion (with you or with others) of remembrance.

Abba, what are we doing?  This is not the way you intended it.  This is not your design or desire.

Our sacred remembrance is supposed to draw us into deeper intimacy and fellowship with you and with each other as members of ONE body.

Oh that we would see this and come to cherish this monthly remembrance!

Oh that we would come to take greater care to prepare our own hearts to receive it!

Oh that we would come to take greater care to draw near to others and provoke/stimulate greater worship TOGETHER as ONE body as we engage in a humble sacrifice to honor one eternal king who offered himself in our place!

Oh that this would mean more to us than a mere element of our service time; an element quickly forgotten by the time we get home for lunch.

Abba, cause us to reclaim the wonder, joy, and passion of our remembrance!

Cause us to draw near to one another in earnest devotion and care as we spur one another on in joyous and humble celebration.

Cause us to cherish and hold to this remembrance as the very life sustaining and satisfying nourishment that it is.

Cause us to come with greater care and more earnest preparation so that we do not profane the very sacrifice that we gather to remember.

Abba, oh Abba, reclaim the place of highest priority and desire in our hearts and may our remembrance be evidence of and witness to that great passion.

We love you, Abba, oh we love you!