The Power of the Holy Supper (12/29/23)
"As is our tradition, this Sunday's service will feature an offering of the Holy Supper as part our desire to usher in the New Year centered on our relationship with the Lord. Given such focus, I was delighted to find the following
short article by (former Bishop) W.D. Pendleton describing the use of the Holy Supper for our spiritual life. May it inspire in us all the desire for a New (Spiritual) Year, indeed!"
Blessings All,
Ethan
The power of [our theology] lies in the fact that it leaves people in freedom. While things are spoken of which ought to be done, they do not say that they must be done if a person is to be saved. There are, therefore, no external requirements which bind the member of the church.
But the Holy Supper was instituted in order that there might be an [outermost expression] in which the Lord's love for the entire human race could be expressed, and also in order that the Lord might be [in partnership] with us, and us with the Lord. It is not that this cannot be effected in other ways,
but there is a [unique] power in the Holy Supper.
[We are taught] it is the means which the Lord has appointed, that the person of the church may be
strengthened and confirmed in their faith. And not only our faith in God, but our faith that the Lord will remit our evils if we, in our heart, will repent. It is, then, in the Holy Supper that the Lord Jesus Christ continually renews His covenant with the individual, and in each renewal is there is an uplifting, that is, an elevation of the spirit from the things of the earth! (W.D. Pendleton, EDM edit)
