Church Online: Preparing for Communion

Elements
Please gather these items prior to Sunday if you will choose to join us in Communion. This doesn’t have to be fancy or precise. Find whatever elements you can and join us!

Bread: Consider taking the opportunity to bake some fresh bread, if you are able. Here are some recipes for unleavened flatbread and a gluten-free option. Really, any bread or cracker will work.
Juice: Grab some grape juice if you can or any darker juice.
Cups

Preparing Our Hearts Over the Weekend
Scripture: Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record Jesus’ time with his disciples as he taught them to remember him through the bread and wine. Matthew and Mark’s portion is shorter and more to the point, and it serves well in larger settings. Luke’s is a bit longer and records the context of Jesus’ teaching. For individual households, it can be beneficial to read through Luke 22:14-23 or perhaps the Passion narrative in John 19:1-42 over the weekend as you prepare your hearts to take the bread and wine.

Prayer: As you pray during the days leading up to corporate communion, consider praising God for his holiness, his justice toward sin yet grace and mercy toward us. Thank Jesus for taking our sin, dying in our place. Thank God that the “work” is already done, and that the power to practice the way of Jesus is richly provided by the Holy Spirit giving us new desires through the gospel.

Confession: Consider this short prayer from Psalm 139:23-24: “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.” As the Lord reveals any anxieties or sin in your heart, humbly confess them, boldly pleading the blood of Christ to cover every sin and every weakness.

Reflection: Allow time for a few moments of silence and solitude to still your heart in the days or minutes leading into worship in order to reflect on the gospel as you prepare to take the elements. You don’t have to linger for hours, but creating small periods of silence and stillness before the Lord is truly powerful. Pausing in quiet before you take the elements for 1-2 minutes allows for enough time to anticipate gospel remembrance.

Adoration: Later in the day after corporate worship, consider taking a moment at your next meal to pray and thank God for the good news of the gospel. If you have roommates or family members living with you, consider having more than one person pray. Consider asking the Lord for the capacity to walk in regular remembrance of the gospel in the daily grind of the days ahead. Ask for boldness in carrying this same gospel to the world around us.

A note for families with young children: Communion practices vary widely across the spectrum of Christian worship. Some refer to it as The Lord’s Table, The Eucharist, The Lord’s Supper. Wars have been fought over the practice of this sacrament. However, our hope is that the Spirit of God would unite his Church, and our local church family here in Lynchburg, under the blood of Christ and the good news of the finished work of Jesus on cross.

So, please feel free to lead your children to the Table as your Spirit-led conscience allows. If your children have professed faith in Jesus, then, by all means, guide them to take the elements. If they haven’t or if they are simply too young to understand what is happening, then these can be such sweet moments of sharing the gospel and discipling your precious children as you explain this symbol, this means of grace.

Click here for a helpful explainer video to help prepare your family for Communion this weekend.