Dear Christian friends:
"Every time you eat this bread and drink this cup you are showing the Lord's death, that He has died for you. Do this until He comes again.”

This evening we have gathered here to look back almost two-thousand years to hear and see what happened on that Thursday so long ago. Our dear Lord ate the Passover meal with His disciples and then established a new meal and a new covenant to replace the old meal and the old covenant. We call it the New Testament and the Lord's Supper. Another, name for the Lord's Supper is the Eucharist. Eucharist means thanksgiving, celebration. What do we celebrate in the Lord's Supper? Our salvation, our new life in Jesus.


One way we celebrate life is by thanking God for it. In the Lord's Supper we do this. Before we come to the altar to eat and drink we join together in praise and thanks to God for the new life He has given to us. It is called THE PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING. I am sure you remember that. So, we celebrate life by joining in the Lord's Supper Prayer of Thanksgiving.

After the Prayer of Thanksgiving we come to the altar, one by one, to eat and drink. And what do we eat and drink? Bread and wine, yes. But what do we eat and drink with the bread and wine? Yes, Jesus’ body and blood. The body and blood he gave for us and shed for us when He died upon the cross. By giving to us His body and blood to eat and drink Jesus seals to us the forgiveness of our sins. This strengthens our faith and life in Christ. It, too, is a way of celebrating life.

Also, when we walk to the altar to eat and drink we show others gathered in Church that we believe in Jesus Christ, that His blood takes away our sins. In our text St. Paul writes, "Every time you eat this bread and drink this cup you are telling again the message of the Lord's death, that He died for you." (verse 26) In this way we also celebrate the new life He has given us.

In_some churches the minister asks the people who believe to come forward and give a testimony to all who are gathered to show that they have accepted Christ Jesus for their Savior. Baptist churches often do that way. We in the Lutheran Church show our faith, celebrate our new life in Christ, by arising and coming to the altar to eat and drink the Lord's body and blood, which He gave for us and shed for us upon the cross. It is our way to celebrate life, to witness to one another and to any strangers who may have come to our church. We "tell again the Good News of the Lord's death, that He died for us."

Sometimes we are ashamed and shy to witness to strangers and others where we play or visit or work, or even at home with our family. But here at church we can witness of our faith merely by standing up and eating and drinking at the Lord's table. Truly that is an easy, beautiful way for us to witness to one another and to visitors. It is also a beautiful way to celebrate our life in Christ.

We celebrate life by coming to the Lord's Supper. We thank God for the new life He has given us in Christ. Our faith and life in Christ is strengthened by the eating and drinking. And at the same time we tell again the Good News of the Lord's death, that He died for us. May God help us to remember that and do it often. In our text St Paul says, "Do this until He comes again!" The Church is to celebrate life by coming to the Lord's Supper and it should continue doing this unto the end of the world, “until He comes again!" Let us do it all of our life, as long as we are members of the Church on earth, and let us do it has often as we can.

Amen.