Christmas Dinner

A number of people have come up to me over the last few days and asked me about our plans to celebrate the Lord’s Supper as a part of our Christmas Eve worship service. Why would we celebrate communion again in December when we have already celebrated it on the usual first Sunday of the month? Why would we celebrate communion on one of the ‘high holidays’ that brings in everyone even loosely connected to the church? Why would we celebrate communion on Christmas Eve in a year where circumstances and schedules have led a good number of the other big Evangelical churches in town not to have a service, and knowing therefore that there will be many people from other congregations in our midst?

And perhaps most importantly: What does communion have to do with Christmas?

I think I’m going to leave the answer to that final question for those who come to our service on the 24^th (I don’t want to give you any more reason to be distracted during my brief message than Christmas Eve already gives you!), but I hope I can quickly answer some of the other ones here today.

Why celebrate communion again?

For the same reason there always seemed to be peas on your plate when you came to the dinner table as a child – because it’s good for you. This meal is not merely something that we need to check off of our list and say that we've done it once a month like changing the water filter in our Brita dispenser (not that most people are that vigilant about that either), it’s a meal that was given to us by God to nourish the church. It is real spiritual food that connects us to Christ and to each other and in our celebrating of it, it makes us strong.

A.B. Simpson, the founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, the family of churches of which EAC is a part famously opined: 

“Roman Catholics teach that in the Lord’s Supper the bread and wine are converted into the actual flesh of Christ (but) it would do us no good if we could actually eat the flesh of Christ; it would be profane cannibalism. But if we can receive that which lies back of His flesh, His vital strength into our being, that is all we need. And that is the real substance of the resurrection body. He is the embodiment of life and power, and by the Holy Spirit He imparts to us that life and power as we worthily receive the sacrament and discern Him in it.”

This meal therefore is a meal that the church desperately needs to dine upon. There is no such thing as having dined too much at this table.

Why celebrate communion on one of the ‘high holidays’ when everyone who is even loosely connected to the church seems to attend?

One of the questions that has been raised to me has to do with how communion will make ‘outsiders’ feel? Will there be an awkward moment when the invitation is given and some feel compelled by their conscience not to partake?

To that question my response is another question: Is the Christmas Eve service primarily an outreach event or is it a worship service? And my contention is that is the latter. I am of the conviction that the best way for the church to witness to the unbelieving world is to be who we were called to be. To do what Christians are supposed to do in every place and venue. That means of course being the hands and feet of Christ to the lost and poor; being the balm of healing to the broken and broken-hearted; being examples of righteous living to a world that is losing its moral centre; being people who offer love and forgiveness to people who have wronged them; and being the authentic worshiping community of God when we gather together to worship. I think that our worship is highly evangelistic, because in our times of authentic worship of God we show the world who we really believe Jesus is. Our worship teaches people about God more than just about anything else we do in the church – how we relate to God, how we show reverence, how we structure our services and what we say and do reveals the heart of our faith. Watering down our worship service to make it more comfortable for any particular group, be they inside or outside of the faith, demonstrates a heart to please people more than pleasing God. (Galatians 1:10)

Now if you were to tell me that the purpose of the Christmas Eve service was outreach – then I would likely concede that the nature of the event justifies a different approach – but Christmas Eve is first and foremost a worship service for people to come and celebrate the birth of the Messiah, to remember the unequaled sacrifice of Christ in humiliating himself with flesh (Philippians 2), and to give glory and thanks to God for his unmerited love toward us.

Why celebrate communion in a service when we know that a great many people from other congregations and other traditions will be joining us?

This is a strange year indeed. By an uncoordinated series of events a number of the other Evangelical churches in town will not be holding their own Christmas Eve services and will instead be encouraging their people to attend ours if they are looking for somewhere to go. We will in all likelihood have a good number of people who come from traditions that have a slightly different understanding of doctrine than we do at EAC – and that is a wonderful thing.

In fact, more than being a discouraging factor in choosing to celebrate communion this Christmas Eve, that gives us reason even more to set the table and have our Christmas Dinner together. Gordon T. Smith (no relation) in his book A Holy Meal does a better job of explaining why than I ever could so I’ll just let you read his words to make my point.

The basis of our gathering should never be thought of in doctrinal terms - so that those with whom we fellowship at the Lord's Supper are those who agree with our reading of the biblical text or our particular theological or doctrinal heritage. In the Lord's Supper we declare our unity not only with those immediately present, a particular gathering of Christians, but also with all Christians everywhere. 

 Each time we gather we do so on the assumption that all Christians are, as a matter of principle, welcome at this table, this observance. We "discern the body" (1 Cor. 11:29) each time we gather and celebrate the church catholic - women and men from every nation and tribe and language. We "discern the body" each time we welcome guests among us who come from other theological or denominational traditions. To exclude someone from the table because he or she is not of our denomination or church tradition is to fail to discern the body of Christ. Thus a guest in our midst is a potent way in which we can demonstrate that our fellowship is with all Christians - represented by this guest in our company. 

 Christ himself hosts us at the meal. In this event we are in fellowship with the Lord of glory. And in this event we are accepted by Christ as we welcome others even as Christ welcomed us (Rom. 15:7). Christ reminds us of his love and peace and receives us into his company. He draws us to one another, for in Christ there is no male or female, slave or free, Jew or Gentile (Gal. 3:28), east or west, rich or poor. All of this anticipates the consummation of the kingdom when we will see Christ face-to-face and gather from every tribe, tongue, and nation - Palestinian and Israeli, Irish Catholic and Irish Protestant, Tutu and Huti. We are all one in Christ. In the Lord's Supper, we experience a foretaste of this. More than anything else we say or do, the Lord's Supper enables us to receive the peace of Christ, and to be a means by which the peace of Christ comes to or world. p.55,56

This is why I believe that setting the table and preparing the elements of the Lord’s Supper is more than appropriate for our Christmas Eve service. I’d encourage and invite you to come out and join us at Estevan Alliance Church at 7:00pm on December 24 to find out why Christmas is the perfect time to experience this as well.

God bless you and Merry Christmas,

Chris