The fourth one is to know this communion is collective.

We don’t celebrate reunions, gatherings, weddings, festivals in isolation, but in community with a meal. When we invite someone to eat with us it is an invitation to relax a little bit and get to know one another. In many cultures, to offer to eat with someone is to offer them friendship, however, in our culture the individual desires have been elevated over the family, group, or community and we have become isolated in spiritual relationships.

As a result we have become fearful or hesitant to become connected with others in spiritual relationships to such a degree that we avoid committing to one another, and as a result we experience a tremendous amount of isolation and loneliness. However, we were created to be in community with one another and will never get to fully experience Jesus if we remain in isolation,

We can resist, we can avoid, we can keep people at a distance, we can continue to project these lives of having it all together and we are going to miss out on the fullness that is to be experienced in Jesus.

As we enter into communion with one another it is a time to extend grace to others, to pray for one another, forgive one another, maybe walk over to someone and seek forgiveness, because if we are going to do this together then we are going to hurt one another, we are going to offend, and the character of our church won’t be measured by the lack of conflict, but our maturity to resolve that conflict because we are can’t do this alone.

No one in here is perfect, we all have our baggage, our quirkiness, and through Jesus we can find community with one another. It isn’t our charisma, our intelligence, our finances, our ethnicity, our resume that brings us together, but our faith in Jesus Christ. This is why we can celebrate. That is the purpose of communion. It is a snapshot of what we will experience in heaven this morning we can experience it through faith in Jesus work on the cross.