In Remembrance
Let me tell you about a man I met in Brazil who did everything out of love. Now, as Christians, we are instructed to do everything out of love. In the case of my friend, Ronaldo, he wanted it all and he was going to get it all out of love, but it was love of power, money and control.
Ronaldo figured the best way he could acquire power, money and control was to become the drug dealer in Carajás, Brazil. He modeled 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 by staying alert, standing firm in what he believed, he was a man of courage and he was strong. He bought a piece of land and built a house on the property. Customers could stop by the house and buy their drugs and even use the drugs right there. It was one-stop shopping. Ronaldo had it all, the power, money and control. In an instant all that changed when he discovered the overwhelming love of God in Jesus Christ. The love of Jesus knocked this man to his knees.
Years went by and while Ronaldo was living in Manaus, Brazil, he decided to board a boat and travel down the Amazon River in order to return to Carajás. When Ronaldo got out of the boat in his hometown, he didn’t do so as a drug dealer as before, but instead, he returned as a Presbyterian minister. He moved back into that drug house and in a symbolic gesture, he tore down each board in that home, one by one. Where that house once stood, now stands a Presbyterian church. New lives in Christ are being born on this property where lives were once being destroyed.
Ronaldo was once an evil man taking part in corrupting people’s lives. Through the blood of Jesus Christ, Ronaldo’s life was radically transformed. If God can do that for a man like Ronaldo, He can redeem anyone. God gives us visible signs of His invisible grace. One of those signs is the observance of communion. We come together as a body of believers to remember His grace, mercy, the hope we have in Christ and above all else, to remember His sacrifice on the cross of Calvary.
We are not told how often to take communion, but to simply remember the sacrifice Christ made while we partake. In 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (NKJV) we read:
“For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.”
Let’s not allow communion to merely become a ritual or tradition we engage in without any thought for the great price that was paid in order for us to be reconciled back to God through His Son, Jesus Christ.
