The Grace of God

Last Sunday, our church finally completed our journey to the Lord's Table . . . and, despite the issues of man, God blessed us with a special day.

For weeks, I had felt in my heart that this day would be special. Our spring and summer had been crazy as a church family, with curious events and lots of transition -- and it felt to me that this "Come to the Lord's Table" series was a moment to kind of put a bow on where we were as a people.

It was a chance to get our hearts clean, to seek unity, to regroup and renew our relationship with the Lord . . . and I was overwhelmed by all of the stories from our congregation as people did exactly that.

I had an idea in my mind how I wanted to do the Lord's Supper which, admittedly, was dramatically different from our typical Lord's Supper observance. But, even in my wildest dreams, I never anticipated the way God would show up in our service.

As we became to come forward as a church family to take the elements, I began to experience waves of emotion as I saw individuals, and couples, and families file past to get their bread and cup of juice. I saw faces, and thought of their stories, and it slowly began to dawn on me that I was reliving God's grace, mercy, and even victory in their lives as they passed by me.

In all of my planning, I had not anticipated the power of this train of church members. In fact, I had not considered it at all . . . all of my planning had been directed from the perspective of what it would feel like to come to get the elements. I had never, for a single moment, thought of what it would feel like to watch others come.

But it nearly overwhelmed me. I felt such a powerful presence of the Lord, and I mentally checked off His victories one by one as people passed . . . I saw people who had been lost a year earlier come to the table. I watched as children who weren't supposed to survive their first few weeks come to the table as God's children years later. I watched as husbands served the elements to their wives, marriages that God had miraculously salvaged over the past months.

To put it bluntly, I was racked by the visible demonstration of God's goodness, mercy, and power.

Friends, He truly is good, all the time. May we never cease to marvel at His goodness and grace. And may we prepare our hearts for revival . . . which should be the natural outflow of coming to His table with our hearts right and hands open to celebrate His love and experience His blessings and direction in our lives.

Not surprisingly, this week has been a wild one, with the enemy seeking to destroy the beauty of what we experienced on Sunday. It seems like the pandora's box of discouragement has been opened, but it all reminds me that when God is glorified, the enemy is angered.

But we know who gets the glory, friends. And we know, despite or during it all, that God is good, all the time. May we persevere and see what grace emerges from His hand next.