Worthy of the Table.

Is a man worthy of the bread and the wine?

Well, we know that the autonomous man—the man who remains in his sins, living according to his own laws—is not worthy of the body and blood of Christ. No, he is only worthy of death, judgement, and the eternal wrath of God.

But what of us? Are we worthy of the table? In and of ourselves, we are not still; you know we are not. Rather, in partaking, we are being made worthy. And this is the point of Christ's invitation: we need to be worthy. The table is for us and we must partake; we are commanded to partake (Luk 22:19). We did not deserve or merit our place at the table, but the Father, through Christ, in the Holy Spirit, has invited us anyway. 

This means that we are either completely and in every sense unworthy of the bread and wine, or we are being made worthy of the bread and wine in the partaking of it.

Grace is for you; the table is for you. So with thankfulness in your hearts, together with the Body, come and welcome to Jesus.

Let Him Be Nourished!

There once were four men; to each man was born a son.

The first man, when handed his child, said, "I neither know nor care if this babe is family, but since it is here, and we all eat, let it eat as well."

The second man, when handed his child, said, "This babe is not family, but perhaps when it is of age it will become family. If it proves that it is family, then we will let it eat."

The third man, when handed his child, said, "This babe is family! When he is old enough to reason and demonstrate that he knows what being a member of this family is about, then we will let him be fed."

The fourth man, when handed his child, said, "This babe is family, so let him be nourished!"