Considering this Sunday is our quarterly Holy Supper offering, I was struck by this article from New Church Life on partaking of the Lord's Supper as integral to intentional spiritual practice.  May it add a depth of understanding and feeling as we approach the table tomorrow seeking to further develop a loving relationship with the Lord and our neighbors.

Blessings,

Ethan

The Promise of Holy Supper  (Rev. Eric Carswell, EDM Edit)

Some people have found the holy supper somewhat intimidating because they have heard that some people approach it in a worthy state and others [not]. Since they only have a vague idea of what this refers to (and perhaps even a vaguer idea of what would [constitute] a worthy state) they tend to avoid the holy supper. In a number of places the Teachings for the New Church quote an exhortation from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer that speaks of worthiness and unworthiness [and expands on it] (Swedenborg, True Christianity 526).

"It must not be thought that the Lord shuts heaven against those who approach the holy supper unworthily. He does not do this to any person up to the very end of their life in the world. It is the person who shuts heaven to themselves, and they do this by rejecting faith and living a wicked life.

Still the person is constantly kept in a state where it is possible for them to repent and be converted. For the Lord is perpetually at hand, urging His acceptance.  He says: I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to them and dine with them, and they [shall] with me. Revelation. 3:20. (Swedenborg, True Christian Religion 720)

What does it mean to approach worthily? One simple statement is "The people who worthily approach the holy supper are those who have faith in the Lord and charity towards the neighbor, so those who have been regenerated (or spiritually reborn)" (True Christian Religion 722). 

Of course, the Lord doesn't expect us to be nearly perfect before we take the holy supper. If we have been consciously trying to be led by the Lord and trying to show a wise kindness to the people around us, then we have lived in our lives what the holy supper represents. We have been seeking the Lord's love and wisdom as guides for our own lives. This is what makes eating the bread and drinking the wine the most holy act of worship.

We know that the miracles of the holy supper will not take place just because the Lord loves us and is all-powerful. Yes, He is working to accomplish the miracles of regeneration through subtly affecting many millions of things at each moment that have an impact on our lives. But the Lord needs our cooperation. 

We need to turn to Him in prayer. We need to turn to and guide our lives by the true ideas He has revealed in the Word. We need to acknowledge not just a broad and vague presence of evil within our lives, but specifically recognize and confess to the Lord [those things] within ourselves that we have recognized harming us, people around us, and the uses we seek to serve.

We need to seek the Lord's help in keeping these evils and the false ideas that support them from controlling our hearts, minds, and lives. Gradually, as each day goes by, and we do our part to shun evils as a sin against the Lord, He will bring about a change in what we care about, think, and are inclined to say and do. There is great power in the sacraments of baptism and the holy supper to represent the Lord's miracle of change. May we acknowledge this power and seek it in our own lives.