Supper Time

Most elderly “folks” have told me, that as they age, their fondest memories, regardless of how far or how high they have gone in this world, memories of their early years at home.

I remember supper time, the large farm kitchen, with it's wood stove, fireplace and large eating table. Many times there was not much food but what was there, was blessed.

During WWII, my father was away, the entire time, working on defense “projects”... building barracks and even hangars for planes, in the war effort. He and his brothers were not in uniform, but in work clothes. His brothers worked in the shipyard.

My mother, with hired help, kept the farm going as did her aged father and other older relatives.

I remember, some ”supper times” only one bowl on the table... often potatoes, but my favorite, rice and tomatoes. My mother had a large pantry filled with canned tomatoes and other vegetables from the garden.

A few years ago, visiting at my beach house, one of my snooty aunts, remembering eating supper with her poor sister and the one big bowl, said, “do you still like rice and tomatoes?”

I have made it a practice to live frugally, never forgetting (the hole from which you were digged.) (Isaiah 51:1))

Jesus did not tell us to remember Him at Christmas, Thanksgiving, any other time, only, the grace and mercy found at His memorial table, the Lord's Supper (1 Corinthians 11, Isaiah 53) the wine, represented the shed blood of Christ, the bread, representing the stripes on His body, His atonement, on the cross, free gift to all who believe, the shedding of His blood for all sin, (past, present, future) His broken body for our healing. (all diseases, all infirmities) Knowing the true meaning, we can celebrate at this table worthily.

Every morning of my life , I celebrate, communion, in memorial but, on Sunday morning, at my communion, I cook some rice in a boiler, and then at lunch, mix tomatoes with the rice... a memorial to my humble beginnings, which I never want to forget.

Corinth, was a Greek city located on an isthmus of the Mediterranean. Stormy, rough waters, early ships were unloaded of their cargo on one side of the isthmus, the cargo transported across land to the other side. Until a canal was dug, because of the many sinkings, the vessels were dragged across to the other side. At this growing city, people from across Europe, arriving in Corinth, became a wild-traveler's city and much instability in the early Christian church located there. Their memorial service would often lead to excessive drinking so, Paul, in his letter to the church there, cautioned them about the unworthiness of the memorial to the Lord's atonement.

The Lord's supper, recurrent ordinance of the new testament church (initial ordinance, baptism) with joy, should be celebrated often. People have often asked me, how you recognize a Christian... so many pretenders. Always, without fail, those who love God's word. Those who read it, listen intently to it, can never get enough of it. I have encountered “card-signers” who tell me that they have never participated in a communion service. Shame, a disgrace to the word Christian. Very much like the girl who was baptized at First Baptist Church, Goldsboro, NC one Sunday night. Before the evening service did not stay for the service but went, instead, to an uptown movie theatre. Do you really think there was a change in her life? .

I know about transubstantiation, the beauty of the Catholic communion but, when Jesus initiated His memorial service He was alive, a man of flesh and blood, and I believe, He wants symbolic memorial.

At His table, we evaluate ourselves, are we living the best version of Him?

To the uninitiated, everything is obscure. Hundreds of times from the platform, this layman, not a minister, has descried the first visual image of my life, which I can remember. That ancestral country church, my mother on her knees, washing another woman's feet. The foot-washing service is the most beautiful part of God's memorial service.

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. (Psalm 116:15) The greatest memorial service on this earth is the celebration of the life of a believer. The greatest celebration of a believer, passing from physical to spiritual life is the great supper time of the church (bride) with Jesus Christ... and “whosoever will” may come.