John Symington - Communion Meditation (August 4, 1963)
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| - | Of our hearts, | 0:03 |
| be acceptable in thy sight, | 0:05 | |
| oh Lord, our strength and our redeemer, | 0:09 | |
| amen. | 0:13 | |
| Today, we celebrate the oldest act of worship | 0:16 | |
| in the Christian church, | 0:22 | |
| from the upper room in Jerusalem, | 0:25 | |
| where Jesus shared a meal with His disciples, | 0:29 | |
| on the night he was betrayed. | 0:32 | |
| We can travel down the centuries | 0:35 | |
| through all the trials and tribulations | 0:39 | |
| and triumphs of the church. | 0:41 | |
| We see little groups of men and women | 0:45 | |
| in the catacombs of Rome, | 0:48 | |
| breaking bread. | 0:50 | |
| Martyrs have faced death in the strength | 0:54 | |
| of what they found at the Lord's table. | 0:56 | |
| In many generations, | 1:00 | |
| and has supported the persecuted, | 1:02 | |
| one who found in communion | 1:07 | |
| resources of ordinary daily living, | 1:11 | |
| referred with elements on the table, | 1:16 | |
| as the rationed bread of God's army, | 1:19 | |
| the stirrup cup of God's sins. | 1:23 | |
| It was an old scouts divine who said, | 1:28 | |
| "we got a better grip of Christ in the sacrament, | 1:31 | |
| now we get in the simple word." | 1:35 | |
| Is it some sort of special kind of bread and wine | 1:41 | |
| that we receive today? | 1:46 | |
| It's not the teaching of the New Testament | 1:50 | |
| out of the reformed church. | 1:53 | |
| If they somehow changed their substance, | 1:56 | |
| the bread and wine we take into our hands, | 2:01 | |
| are common bread and wine. | 2:05 | |
| And so it remains | 2:07 | |
| to the end of the day. | 2:10 | |
| But for him who has a heart to feel, | 2:13 | |
| an eye to see, | 2:17 | |
| a mind to understand. | 2:20 | |
| For those who are prepared to receive in faith, | 2:23 | |
| they have in them the wonder | 2:27 | |
| and the glory of the love of God. | 2:32 | |
| Jesus took bread, | 2:36 | |
| and he said, | 2:40 | |
| "take, eat. | 2:41 | |
| This is my body, which is broken for you. | 2:44 | |
| Do this in remembrance of me." | 2:49 | |
| Yes, ordinary common bread, | 2:53 | |
| but something more. | 2:56 | |
| Some years ago, | 2:59 | |
| the American author, Agnes Keith, | 3:01 | |
| wrote a magnificent and a brave book, | 3:05 | |
| about her experiences in a Japanese prison camp | 3:09 | |
| for civilians in Malaya. | 3:14 | |
| After three years of captivity, | 3:18 | |
| hunger, | 3:22 | |
| horror and torture, | 3:24 | |
| freedom was in sight. | 3:27 | |
| One day, an American G47 plane circled the camp, | 3:29 | |
| and they dropped a 34 inch canister, marked bread, | 3:37 | |
| B-R-E-A-D. | 3:43 | |
| They were all starving. | 3:47 | |
| Bread meant life. | 3:51 | |
| That said, Agnes Keith. | 3:53 | |
| The message of the canister was, | 3:56 | |
| you are not forgotten. | 3:59 | |
| And the greatest satisfaction | 4:02 | |
| we could get from the contents, was already ours, | 4:06 | |
| not merely bread, | 4:12 | |
| but something more. | 4:15 | |
| So it is with the bread shared in this chapel today. | 4:18 | |
| Not merely bread, | 4:23 | |
| the life of Jesus Himself. | 4:26 | |
| This do in remembrance of me. | 4:31 | |
| Because we are not forgotten by Him. | 4:34 | |
| This is the total response of our faith | 4:38 | |
| to the continuing faithfulness of the risen Christ. | 4:42 | |
| Evermore give us this bread. | 4:49 | |
| The men who put that question in Galilee | 4:54 | |
| didn't really know what they were asking for. | 4:57 | |
| They were all mixed up about the Christian faith, | 5:01 | |
| as we sometimes are. | 5:04 | |
| But they had a real of sense of need. | 5:07 | |
| There was a deep hunger in their hearts | 5:11 | |
| Christ do what they required. | 5:15 | |
| He said, "I am the bread of life." | 5:18 | |
| There's a sense in which we should come hungry | 5:23 | |
| to the Lord's table. | 5:28 | |
| I was once visiting a patient in hospital. | 5:31 | |
| Before going to the bed, | 5:36 | |
| I spoke to the head nurse in charge of the ward. | 5:38 | |
| And he said, "she's rather poorly. | 5:43 | |
| She's not making much of it." | 5:46 | |
| And that rather, he had enough way | 5:49 | |
| of describing the situation. | 5:51 | |
| Surgeons and doctors had done all they could, | 5:54 | |
| but recovery was very, very slow. | 5:57 | |
| Before leaving the patient, I asked, | 6:03 | |
| "is there anything I could get for you? | 6:05 | |
| Have you got a sensing for anything special?" | 6:08 | |
| "No, thanks," she said, "I've got no appetite at all." | 6:13 | |
| Now that's serious for physical health. | 6:19 | |
| Some have meat, and cannot eat, | 6:24 | |
| can be a tragic phase. | 6:27 | |
| It's also serious when our whole personality is concerned. | 6:31 | |
| We cannot deceive Christ who is the living bread. | 6:38 | |
| If we feel no need of him, | 6:44 | |
| if we have no appetite for what God provides, | 6:45 | |
| that may be that some won't quite get to find time | 6:50 | |
| trying to make this year, | 6:55 | |
| in this short address, | 6:58 | |
| how much I think we'll understand. | 7:00 | |
| If it's hunger that brought you here, | 7:04 | |
| I was once spending a vacation in a village, | 7:08 | |
| in the north of Scotland. | 7:12 | |
| And one day, three little boys who were brothers | 7:14 | |
| went missing from a cottage. | 7:18 | |
| They might have gone off into the hills, | 7:22 | |
| they might've wandered up along the road, | 7:24 | |
| got a lift (indistinct) into a nearby town. | 7:28 | |
| They had left a short written note, | 7:32 | |
| and they just disappeared. | 7:33 | |
| A number of people got into a flap about this, | 7:37 | |
| but not their mother. | 7:39 | |
| The mother said, "don't worry, | 7:41 | |
| they'll come home when they are hungry." | 7:45 | |
| She was right. | 7:48 | |
| We all turn towards our true home when we are hungry. | 7:52 | |
| Dissatisfied with tasks as the prodigal son was. | 8:00 | |
| Tired even of manner and its sweetness. | 8:06 | |
| When we have a hunger for the living God, | 8:12 | |
| give us this bread forevermore, | 8:17 | |
| and in this sacrament, he does. | 8:21 | |
| Now unto God, the father, | 8:27 | |
| God, the son | 8:30 | |
| and God the holy spirit. | 8:31 | |
| We ascribe all honor and glory, | 8:34 | |
| world without end. | 8:37 | |
| Amen. | 8:40 | |
| (organ playing) | 8:48 | |
| (choir singing) | 12:00 | |
| (high pitched singing) | 12:57 | |
| (high pitched singing continues) | 14:21 | |
| (organ playing) | 14:41 | |
| (choir sings) | 15:06 | |
| Accept oh Lord, | 15:42 | |
| these offerings that we bring onto thee now, | 15:44 | |
| through Jesus Christ our Lord. | 15:48 | |
| (organ playing softly) | 15:56 | |
| Lift up your hearts. | 16:35 | |
| - | We lift them up unto the Lord. | 16:37 |
| - | Let us give thanks unto the Lord, our God. | 16:39 |
| - | It is meet and right (indistinct) to do. | 16:43 |
| - | Let us pray. | 16:45 |
| It is very meet, right, and our bound and duty, | 16:54 | |
| that we should at all times, | 16:59 | |
| and in all places, | 17:01 | |
| give thanks unto thee, oh Lord, | 17:03 | |
| holy father, almighty everlasting God. | 17:05 | |
| (organ plays) | 17:10 | |
| (choir sings) | 17:14 | |
| All mighty God, | 18:02 | |
| our heavenly father, | 18:03 | |
| who of thy tender mercy didst give thine only son, | 18:06 | |
| Jesus Christ, to suffer death upon the cross | 18:09 | |
| for our redemption. | 18:12 | |
| Who may there by his oblation of himself once offered, | 18:15 | |
| a full perfect and sufficient sacrifice | 18:20 | |
| for the sins of the whole world, | 18:24 | |
| and did institute and in his holy gospel | 18:27 | |
| command us to continue a perpetual memory | 18:30 | |
| of his precious debt until his coming again, | 18:34 | |
| and who in the same night that he was betrayed, | 18:39 | |
| took bread, | 18:44 | |
| and when he had given thanks, | 18:47 | |
| he broke it and gave it to his disciples, | 18:48 | |
| saying, take, eat, | 18:51 | |
| this is my body, | 18:55 | |
| which is given for you. | 18:58 | |
| Do this in remembrance of me. | 19:00 | |
| Likewise, after supper, | 19:07 | |
| he took the cup, | 19:08 | |
| and when he had given thanks, | 19:10 | |
| he gave it to them saying, | 19:11 | |
| drink of it, all of you, | 19:14 | |
| for this is my blood of the new covenant, | 19:17 | |
| which is poured out for many, | 19:19 | |
| for the remission of sins. | 19:22 | |
| Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. | 19:25 | |
| Hear us oh merciful father, we most humbly beseech thee, | 19:32 | |
| and grant that we, | 19:37 | |
| receiving these, thy creatures of bread and wine, | 19:38 | |
| according to thy son, our savior Jesus Christ, | 19:43 | |
| holy institution, | 19:46 | |
| in remembrance of his death and passion, | 19:48 | |
| may be partakers of his most blessed body and blood, | 19:52 | |
| that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith. | 19:58 | |
| Amen. | 20:05 | |
| Let us pray together. | 20:14 | |
| We do not presume to come to this thy table, | 20:17 | |
| oh merciful Lord, | 20:20 | |
| trusting in our own righteousness, | 20:22 | |
| but in thy manifold and great mercies. | 20:25 | |
| We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs | 20:28 | |
| under thy table, | 20:31 | |
| but thou art the same Lord, | 20:33 | |
| whose mercy is unfailing. | 20:35 | |
| Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, | 20:37 | |
| so to partake of these memorials of thy son, Jesus Christ, | 20:40 | |
| that we may be filled with the fullness of his life, | 20:45 | |
| may grow into his likeness | 20:48 | |
| and may evermore dwell in him and he in us. | 20:51 | |
| Amen. | 20:56 | |
| (organ playing) | 20:59 | |
| ♪ Our father ♪ | 21:23 | |
| ♪ Who art in heaven ♪ | 21:25 | |
| ♪ Hallowed be thy name ♪ | 21:27 | |
| ♪ Thy kingdom come ♪ | 21:31 | |
| ♪ Thy will be done ♪ | 21:33 | |
| ♪ On earth as it is in heaven ♪ | 21:35 | |
| ♪ Give us this day ♪ | 21:39 | |
| ♪ Our daily bread ♪ | 21:41 | |
| ♪ And forgive us our trespasses ♪ | 21:44 | |
| ♪ As we forgive those who trespass against us ♪ | 21:47 | |
| ♪ And lead us not into temptation ♪ | 21:52 | |
| ♪ But deliver us from evil ♪ | 21:54 | |
| ♪ For thy is the kingdom ♪ | 21:58 | |
| ♪ And the power ♪ | 22:00 | |
| ♪ And the glory ♪ | 22:02 | |
| ♪ Forever, amen ♪ | 22:03 | |
| (organ playing) | 22:14 | |
| Ye that do truly and earnestly repent of your sins, | 25:11 | |
| and are in love and charity with your neighbors | 25:18 | |
| and intend to lead a new life, | 25:22 | |
| following the commandments of God | 25:25 | |
| and walking from henceforth in his holy ways, | 25:27 | |
| drawn here with faith, | 25:32 | |
| and take this holy sacrament to your comfort. | 25:34 | |
| Jesus said, "this is my body which is given for you, | 25:50 | |
| take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for you, | 25:55 | |
| and feed on him in your heart by faith, | 26:00 | |
| with thanksgiving." | 26:03 | |
| (organ playing gently) | 26:07 | |
| (high pitched organ playing) | 27:31 | |
| (organ plays gently) | 27:35 | |
| (organ continues playing) | 30:36 | |
| Jesus said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, | 31:21 | |
| which is shed for you. | 31:27 | |
| Drink this in remembrance that Christ died for you, | 31:29 | |
| and be thankful. | 31:34 | |
| (organ plays gently) | 31:38 | |
| (organ continues playing) | 33:14 | |
| (high pitch organ playing) | 33:50 |
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