Communing with my Savior
“They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord.” Acts 15:39-40 NIV
I grew up in Kansas City, and we attended the First Baptist Church of Bethel. Communion was taken several times in a year but was never done weekly. As a young child the part I remember the most was the Pastoral Prayer. One pastor in particular used to sit in silence praying prior to the elements being distributed. He prayed for what seemed like a very long time, and it was silent. The young brain in my head used to wonder what in the world he could be praying about for so long. Now I can’t find enough time to pray.
My wife grew up in the Catholic Church. Whenever I attended church with her, I paid attention and prayed but from my seat, not going forward to receive communion. She and I attended a non-denominational church for a large part of our marriage. That church sort of combined the two approaches by having communion weekly. In that particular church the elements were sometimes passed out to people in their seats and at other times people could go to either of several spots in the sanctuary when they felt ready during that part of the service. The church we attend now offers communion in a way that feels a lot like the church of my youth.
Every church has a method for the act of receiving communion. Each of those churches can explain the reason they do everything related to that as well as other parts of the service. Conversely, most churches could explain why they think other methods are not biblically supported. In other words, I think most churches feel that there is a right way and a wrong way.
The verses used for this post point out a disagreement between Paul and Barnabus. Disciples were human, not perfect. God used that disagreement to facilitate two different missionary journeys instead of just one. I think God still uses our disagreements to reach more people.
In my opinion Jesus is more interested in changing hearts than in changing behavior. At times, those go hand in hand, but not always. What if the different ways we all worship are more useful than divisive? If one method of helping people commune with the risen Savior makes sense to the people in one church, but a different method reaches the heart of another group of people, our dissimilarity may in fact be what God intended, because He can use any of us, in spite of our own opinions about a matter, to reach more people.
No matter which church I have attended, I have found that proper preparation of my heart is the key to being in communion with my Savior. That same preparation is also the key to me hearing a sermon or singing a song or connecting in prayer, my heart has to be all in.
Reflection Questions:
How do you prepare your heart on Sunday mornings?
How do you prepare your heart for Monday morning? I think Jesus wants both days.
Challenge:
Casting Crowns has a song called “What this world needs”. One verse says that what this world needs is “a Savior who will rescue, a Spirit who will lead and a Father who will love them”. If two different churches think their way of helping people commune with Jesus is the right way, maybe they both are.
Rick Claiborn is a longtime resident of Hays who loves Jesus and is a member of the Hays Baptist Church .