COMMUNION MEDITATION: Out of sight, out of mind …

I was feeling guilty.

I think part of it was my age.

I had just turned a teenager, and I had never had to deal with something so impactful. I didn’t know how to handle it.

You see, I was the youngest of eight children and childhood consisted largely of the trauma of never knowing a day where I didn’t fear abuse from my father. But on the other side of that, I never knew a day when I didn’t feel deeply loved by my mother. She was the person in this world who gave me strength and guidance through those rough childhood fears.

So when my mother suddenly died as I turned a teenager, it was a devastating time for me.

As the months passed after her death, I realized one day while looking at a picture of my Mom, that one reason why I was looking at the photo of her was because I didn’t remember her as well as I thought I should.

Certainly I remembered what she looked like, but the image wasn’t as crisp as if she was still with me.

Of course I could remember the sound of her voice … but not quite the same as if she could still call out my name.

Then I realized I had finally had a week in which I had a day that I had not thought about her.

I felt guilty because I didn’t remember her like I thought I should.

There is something to the saying “out of sight, out of mind” and that increases the more someone or something is out of sight.

Jesus understood this tendency of ours to forget. Even the big stuff. Even the really important stuff.

Even Him.

So he devised a method to help us remember something that is critical we never, ever forget.

We read about His plan in 1 Corinthians 11:23-25, “For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.’ In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant between God and his people
— an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this to remember me as often as you drink it.'”

There isn’t anything more important in our human experience than the fact that Jesus Christ offered His body to be broken, and His blood to be shed, so that humanity could be saved. And yet, how often, in any given week, do we recall that specific, vital event?

We forget.

Even the big stuff.

When we come together as the family of God, and partake of the bread and drink at the time of Communion, we do so to remember. To remember the incredible sacrifice Jesus Christ made on our behalf.

Remembering draws us closer to Him, and prompts us to worship.

So as often as you do this … as often as you come together to partake of the elements … remember!

Scotty