Communion

I attended Third Pres here in Richmond today - I haven't settled on a church to attend regularly yet. I really enjoyed the sermon today. It was about the Last Supper. Here's something I learned that I never knew before:

Traditionally at Passover (when the LS took place), the leader - usually the father - took the bread, broke it, and said some ceremonial words to the effect that it represented God's goodness and faithfulness in leading them out of the desert. He did the same thing with the cup of wine, talking about it being the fruit of the vine, and good gifts coming from God. So when Christ took it up and said, "This is my body, broken for you" and "This is my blood" he was really making a statement about the new covenant. The disciples would have been expecting to hear the traditional words, and instead Jesus talked about himself as the sacrifice. We no longer have the covenant that God had with Moses when he sent them manna in the wilderness, which involved keeping a lot of laws and animal sacrifice. The new covenant is that Christ was the one great sacrifice for all our sins, and his brokenness and death have covered us forever.

I loved that the pastor also tied it in to the fact that Jesus can not seriously be considered a "good man" or a "good teacher" - here he was clearly claiming divinity and his own power.

Nor sure if I will continue to go to Third or not - this finding a church thing is so hard! - but I did particularly enjoy that sermon. For communion, though, we had to tear off a bit of bread and dunk it in grape juice and that was gross. Not the point, I know but ugh! It also made me wonder - right after I have my WLS, will I be able to take communion? I know that bread is a big no-no because it gets stuck in the pouch. Hmmmmmm....