Dear Family at CCC,

     This Sunday we will have the privilege of partaking of the Lord’s Table. Our eager expectation is that this means of grace will further vivify in our hearts the message that we have been reconciled to God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The broken bread and the poured-out cup remind us, not only that the wrath of God against our sin has been satisfied by the broken body and poured-out blood of our Savior, but also that we now enjoy new life in fellowship with God, whose loving promises will never fail. His invitation to come and partake of this Table reminds us that He sought us when we were far from Him. In our sin, we judged Him unworthy of our trust, love, and obedience. Yet in great love and mercy, He sent His Son to overcome our blindness and sinful rebellion and to bring us back to Him. 

     This pursuing aspect of His love will be especially encouraging to us this Sunday as we hear from Romans 1:28-32. In these verses, the Spirit will challenge us to see the relational divisions we have all experienced from God’s point of view—as the outworking in judgment of our rejection of Him as unworthy of our time and affection. This sobering truth is one that none of us can escape, and we have all in various ways cultivated its bitter fruit—our division from God brought division from each other as well. Yet the astounding truth of the Gospel is that the Lord pursued us when we had rejected Him. The Table symbolizes our new life in Him and the reconciliation we enjoy now with the Triune God, who loves us and made us for Himself, as well as the reconciling work of the Spirit as He applies the Gospel to our broken relationships.

     In preparation for the Table then, let us pray for the Spirit to open our eyes to the ways in which we have subtly put aside the Lord, and the privilege of knowing Him, in order to fix our attention on lesser things. Let us ask Him to help us run in heart and mind to the cross, in order that we may gain a fresh sense of His mercy to us in Jesus. And let us come on Sunday morning expecting Him to use the means of grace to continue to assure us of our reconciliation with Him, and through Him, with each other. 

In Christ,

Robby