Communion Message
(Renewing the relationship)
December 30-31, 2000
Pastor William Pickthorn

I feel guilty in taking any time at all, but since it's been so long since I've conducted a communion service, or helped with one here, I feel that I have to tell you that I do it a little bit differently, and I learned to do so about 30 years ago when I was serving on the religious staff of the Memorial Church at Stanford University. An Anglican priest who was on the staff said to me, we should be friends because we were so much alike in what we believe and teach. And when I heard that he was Anglican I immediately said, how do you conduct communion? Now communion for me had been just a memorial to celebrate the fact that Jesus died for us, but I knew that some churches said that when you bless the bread it becomes the body of Christ, when you bless the wine it becomes the blood of Christ, and so you are partaking actually of the Lord. And so I said, what do you believe? He said, we believe, and this is of tremendous importance to me, that by the power of the Holy Spirit the Lord hovers above you as you partake and you can literally received from Him what you need as you eat and drink.

And then he went on to say, the body was broken and it was broken for your healing. If you need healing, believe for it. And then he said, when you read the whole passage it talks about the whole body of Christ. That's this church and extended beyond the church, way beyond. And he said, we need to consider the whole body of Christ, and if you know somebody else in the body of Christ that has a need, let the Lord interceded through you as you partake. I began doing communion differently and amazing things happened. I'm not going to take time to tell you about it because you're standing. (Congregation laughs) Then he said, remember what the Lord said about the wine? It is the seal of the new covenant. The old covenant had sacrifices offered at the temple. The new covenant is the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He sealed our salvation when He died on the cross. But, since covenants are made between two people, we have to recognize the fact that the covenant between God and you and me can be broken by our failure to live up to it. God never changes! His part of the covenant doesn't change, but I can, and so He said when we drink the cup we renew our covenant relationship with the Lord and take a fresh the power of Christ through His Holy Spirit. That's what I want us to do today.

Forgive me for taking so much time, but friends, I want you to hold the bread. What's the greatest need the Lord impresses you with right now? Is it a need in your life? Thank you. Is it a need in somebody else's life? Is it something in the church where God's blessing is desperately needed? Join me in prayer.
Oh Lord our God, as we pray together we thank you that by the power of the Holy Spirit the Lord Jesus Christ is here to meet our needs. And so Lord it's not too much for me to ask for healings to take place when sick people partake. And for healings of relationships to take place as we intercede, and for miracles in the church which is the body of Christ to take place. Here our prayers and work as we eat of Your grace, and Your power, and Your glory together in Jesus' name. Amen, amen.

Now I remember that here you customarily kneel for communion. I'm going to ask you to do that when you drink the cup because the cup signifies a very personal, intimate relationship between you and God. And I don't know of a better way to do it than to bow before Him. Can they kneel? Okay, let's kneel together. Will you pray for a renewal of covenant relationships everywhere, among us, in our family life, with the Lord, and with the church -- do pray.

[Pastor Ralph Huddleston]
Heavenly Father as we bow before You, as we hold the cup that You have provided, renew us inside out. As that Holy Spirit hovers over us may You make it so in our lives. Renew us, rebuild us, restrengthen us, refocus us. Father, we know that there is nothing more intimate in a relationship than the sharing of blood. Blood shed for us. For our strengthening. For our renewing. Continue to make us new. Continue to make us new heavenly Father through the power of Your Holy Spirit. As we drink of this may we never forget its cost. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. Let's drink together. Thank you. Amen. Thank you Pastor Sheley for the privilege of ministering here again.