Jewish Wedding Communion Focus Theme ©

Because Jesus speaks to all people in all countries in all languages, we forget he was a Jew speaking to a predominantly Jewish audience. As he would speak of himself in relationship to the church, he would refer to himself as the Bridegroom and the Church was his Bride.
This took on an extra meaning to me when I came across how a traditional Jewish wedding was performed. After proposing to his bride, the bridegroom would leave for an undisclosed time, as much as a year, during which his bride would remain faithfully waiting.
During this time, the Bridegroom would go to build a room onto his father’s house so there would be a place for he and his bride to live. He was not allowed to come back for his bride until his father was satisfied that all was ready. Then he would return unannounced and he and his bride would be wed. After the wedding, the entire family and their friends would gather together for seven days of celebration.
Think about it. The bridegroom leaves to add onto his fathers house. As the 14th chapter of John states. “I go to prepare a place for you.” “My father’s house has many rooms, were it not so, I would have told you.”
The son can not return until his father gives him permission. Mat 24:36 "No one knows when that day or hour will come-not the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. When Christ comes again, we will be taken to enjoy a celebration. Rev 19:7 Let us rejoice, be glad, and give him glory, because the marriage of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. Then in verse 9, How blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb!'" We, the church, look forward to that coming wedding celebration when Jesus will return again.
We have come to that time when we take communion. We do this to remember Christ’s promise to return to us. As Paul writes to the Church of Corinth, For as often as you eat this bread and drink from this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
I get excite when I think of Christ returning as a Bridegroom to us his bride because I know how much I love and cherish my wife. To think of our savior having that same love for us is more than I can imagine.

Talents Communion Focus Theme ©

Solomon, the wisest man on Earth spoke a lot on the topic of work. Throughout the Proverbs, he told how the wise worked hard and the foolish were lazy. In the third chapter of Ecclesiastes, he tells us there is a time for every purpose unto Heaven, and at the end of the chapter he states, So, I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. God has created us with talents and we give glory to God when we use those talents in our work.
The movie Chariots of Fire highlighted the exploits of Eric Liddell who believed his purpose was to be a missionary in China. He was quoted to stay,
“I believe that God made me for the purpose of going to China, but He also made me fast. When I run, I feel His pleasure." Eric used both of his talents to God’s praise. He won a gold medal in the 1924 Olympics, and went to China as a Missionary. He was also quoted to say. “We are all missionaries. Wherever we go, we either bring people nearer to Christ, or we repel them from Christ.”
When we work with joy to the best of our talents, we not only praise God for the abilities he has provided us, but we draw others to the light that shines inside us. The reverse it true, too. That is why I try to show the Good News in my actions as well as my words.

Joblessness ©

I work at the Missouri career center. During hard times, I will see people who have never been without a job in their entire life and they are not only confused because they are having to look for work for the first time in years, but are uncertain about how to go about it, The biggest problem is after a while looking, they start to see their lack of finding a job as a personal issue, believing there is something wrong with them, rather than an economical issue, 10 % unemployment and climbing.
More than once I have had to remind people that what is happening in their life is just that, life. In this broken world we experience the brokenness that others have caused. But as Jesus states in John 16:33 “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
Jesus overcame the world because he was not worried about what his stature and position was in it.
For the love and kindness he showed, he was hated, spat upon, and hung on a cross. The worst thing the world could do was kill him, but he overcame death and promises we shall live with him forever if we believe on him and have faith.
That is why I remind people who are hurting, the most often given commandment in the Bible is Fear Not. As another old hymn states, This world is not my home, I'm just a passing through. I find my comfort in knowing this world is not where it ends, but is just the beginning. Jesus assures us of that with his death and resurrection.

Plowing Fields Communion Focus Theme ©

When I was on the farm, Dad would have me help in the planting of crops. It was easy to plow a field as long as I followed my dad, because as long as the tractor tire ran in the furl, the rut made in the ground by the plow turning the earth, it was simple; the tractor would almost guide itself.
It was tougher if you were making the first pass on across the field. Once, my dad told me to take care of the field by myself. The furl I made on my first crossing of the field was a crooked as a politician. I struggled trying to straighten it out for several passes, but it kept getting worse and worse.
When my dad returned, he shared the secret with me as to why I had so much trouble. He explained that whenever you cross the field for the first time, you set your eyes in a point far beyond where you are plowing, and you do not take your eyes off of it. This would keep the row straight and once you got a straight start, it was hard to get off course.
We often get distracted from our goal as we go through life. We get to looking side to side instead of keeping focused on what is ahead. Tractors also do not have rear view mirrors. We must stay focused on eternity.
That is why the apostle Paul likens life to a race. When running the race, you stay focused on the end. Not where the other runners are and not the people in the stands. They would distract you from your final goal with eternity.

God's encouragment Communion Focus Theme ©

We have a saying in Celebrate Recovery. God never wastes a hurt. He never wastes a tear. He takes the things that have troubled us, that have injured us, that have caused us pain and he uses them the help us encourage others. He gives us the ability to show others the hope we have within by how he has affected and improved our lives, encouraging others and giving us worth at the same time. He gives us usefulness in our shortcomings and in that he continues to move us toward his perfect idea for our lives. With some of us, that process can take longer than others.
C. S. Lewis writes about this in his book, Meer Christianity. God is like that parent watching his toddler trying to walk for the first time. He watches with hope and anticipation and ….ooooooooh. Okay, try again, you can do it, you can get up, you can ….oooooooh. That’s alright, one more try. Just one foot in front of the other…..oooooh. God encourages us and accepts us without accepting our shortcomings.
Lewis then writes about how the Holy Spirit works on us. We invite God in to our cottage to do some repairs on it. He fixes the plumbing and patches the roof and we are satisfied and happy. Then he starts replacing windows. knocks out a wall and starts building on another wing. We start to get nervous and tell him we are satisfied and he can stop at any time. Next thing we know, he is building a new entry way and adding a courtyard with a garden. You see, when we invite Jesus to live within us, he does not want to live in a cottage, but in a mansion. This can be scary to us because we are happy to have him fix the big things in our lives, but sometimes we want to hold onto our pet weaknesses.
Because of the perfect plan he has for us, he works with us until we can reach his ultimate goal. So strong is his desire that be all that he wants for us that he suffered and died on a cross. It is for that reason we take this time to recognize the sacrifice he made for us.

Shepherd Communion Focus Theme ©

King David sang “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. “ He is saying that God will provide for his needs and with those needs filled, he wants for nothing. But, as a Shepherd the Lord takes charge to make me lie down in green pastures and he leads me beside the still waters. There is the problem. I don’t want green pastures and still waters. I want to look for excitement in the woods. I want to shoot the rapids. Sometimes I want to look for greener pastures on my own. That is why the Shepherd takes watch over the sheep. He wants us to have peace and tranquility and we want chaos and lots of stuff. Like sheep who wander, we are incapable of taking care of ourselves without getting into mischief.
Sometimes we get to thinking that green pasture is there by our doing and not by the Shepherd’s leading and we get to feeling we found that pasture on our own. We believe we are self sufficient. We take the Shepherd for granted. We forget that the Lord, our Shepherd is there to protect us from ourselves. It is not that we have evil intent; we just forget or get the mistaken idea that we should not bother the Lord with our daily situations in life.
We have to remember the Shepherd guides the sheep because there are no fences where we are, and without his guidance, the sheep will stay in one area and destroy the pasture or stray off.
The most important thing is under the Shepherd’s care, we have no evil to fear. In John 10:11 Jesus states “I am the Good Shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Our Shepherd laid down his life on the cross so that we could have salvation. He was true to his word and will be true to us if we have faith and believe in his love and trust his leading us to his good purpose.

Seeking Father Communion Focus Theme ©

"When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years."--  Mark Twain.
As we get older, we can sometimes grow to appreciate our parents in ways we did not when we were growing up. My dad is a full time farmer. He would leave early in the morning and work until the sun went down. This would frustrate my brother because he always wanted dad to throw the ball with him, but he was never around.
I had a different perspective. I usually knew which field dad was in and what he was doing, so if I wanted to be with him, all I had to do was walk or ride my bike to where he was and he would always be more than willing to let me follow him around all day as long as I could keep up. All I had to do was seek him.
Well, just as Mark Twain said, time took care of my brother’s frustration. It took realizing that dad was providing for our needs instead of giving in to our wants. Also, he never expected anything out of us that he was not willing to do himself.
Our Heavenly father never asked of us what he would not do himself. He became flesh a dwelt among us, lived a good example and for our sakes died for us, giving up his life as any parent would for his children. But, Christ sacrificed himself as a substitute for our sin. He died and then He rose again and if we want to be with him forever, we need to seek and follow him.