When is Memorial Day?
It’s Memorial Day weekend—a time of cookouts and gathering with family and friends over a long weekend and opening up the swimming pool and watching the Indy 500 and, of course, decorating the graves of our departed loved ones. Memorial Day was always one of the year’s highlights when I was growing up, for my grandmother’s siblings all gathered at her home that weekend. On Sunday, they would travel to the family’s cemetery to decorate graves. So, for me, Memorial Day, conjures up memories of family and food and Rummy 500 and fun.
However, every weekend is Memorial Day when you’re living in Christ. As we gather around the Lord’s table, we remember his sacrifice for our sins on Golgotha’s tree. On the night he was betrayed, Jesus took bread, gave it to his disciples, and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me” (Lk 22:19).
The Lord’s Supper isn’t a filler between some songs and a long, boring sermon. The Lord’s Supper isn’t about physical nourishment. The Lord’s Supper isn’t about a tasty treat. The Lord’s Supper isn’t something to check off our list for the week. The Lord’s Supper isn’t about making sure we’ve completed the five acts of worship so we can go home.
No, the Lord’s Supper is our Memorial Day. The Lord’s Supper is about remembering the suffering of Jesus. The Lord’s Supper is about remembering that I’m full of sin and the only way I can obtain holiness before Almighty God is through the cross. The Lord’s Supper is about remembering God’s great love. The Lord’s Supper is about remembering we’re family and that we’re all cleansed the same way—through the blood of the Lamb. The Lord’s Supper is about remembering that I’m forgetful and that I sometimes live my life as though Jesus’s blood doesn’t matter.
The Lord’s Supper is the most important thing we do each week. The Lord’s Supper is the purpose of our assembly: “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread. . . .” (Acts 20:7). Did you notice why Luke, Paul, and the other disciples “gathered together?” They came together to break bread, i.e., the Lord’s Supper. The intent wasn’t to pray together or to hear Paul’s speech or to sing hymns of praise; the church can pray and hear the word and sing anytime. But only on the first day of the week can the church assemble to break bread.
When we come together this Lord’s Day, don’t forget it’s your Memorial Day. Don’t neglect to come together. Don’t neglect to concentrate on Jesus as you eat his body and drink his blood, for in doing so, you find life eternal (cf. Jn 6:53-58).
This article was originally written by Dr. Justin Imel, Sr., for the weekly newsletter at Church of Christ Deer Park in Deer Park, Texas.