Thoughts on the Lord’s Supper?
Hello everyone:
I will be leading the Lord’s Supper for the first time on Sunday. I’ve led singing alot, and assisted with the Lord’s Supper… but never lead it. I’m trying to decide what to say….. does anyone have any thoughts or tips they’d like to share?
-Clarke
Hello all:
I’ve been thinking about the fractures that have occured in the Restoration Movement, and specifically within the churches of Christ.
Thomas and Alexander Campbell were both anti-creed. They believed that creeds were one of the most divisive things in all of Christendom, and that by doing away with creeds and returning to the bible, unity would be made possible.
Looking at the history of our movement, it worked for a while. People from all denominations rejected creeds, embraced the scriptures, and lived with differences…. even with differences that I would have a hard time dealing with.
It seems to me that we in churches of Christ have created a few unwritten creeds. Instead of requiring someone to sign a piece of paper that lists out our view on the hot button topics we are interested in, we instead have the creed that others must adhere to in our head. Sometimes we write it down in the form of magazines, or promote them through lectureships, through sermons, and now through the internet.
We must really return to the removal of all creeds, written and unwritten. We cannot with good reason limit our fellowship outside of salvation and those specific instances of disfellowship directly commanded in scripture.
When we do, I believe the Lord will bless us greatly. We may live in a different age than the Campbells, with a different culture and different norms, but the Christ is still the Lord, and unity is still what the Lord prayed for in the garden before his crucifixion. The setting and methods may be different, but the message will still work.
We must be united to shine the light of Christ into the dark world that surrounds us.
-Clarke
Hello all:
Happy New Year everyone!
I hope 2005 went well for everyone, and I hope 2006 is a very successful year for preaching the gospel and reaching the lost with the good news of Christ Jesus.
I’ve not been very prolific since Christmas. I saw in the stats that very few people were visiting during the week between Christmas and New Years, and no one has been updating their blogs, so I decided to take a break as well. That probably worked out for the best, as my whole family has been sick on and off for the last week or two.
I spent last year exploring change, fellowship, and unity. I suppose I will continue to go down that road for a while. While it is important to me to look out at those that we should be united with, I think it is also very important to look inside and see those that we are lacking unity with, as well. I hope to be looking in alot this year.
Also, what, if anything, would you like to see on this blog? Is there anything in particular that you like to see, or don’t like? What about restorationmovement.org?
I look forward to the conversation that we will have over the next year.
-Clarke