Yesterday, I read this in Worship by Hughes Oliphant Old. It totally blew me away. I'm going to try to smuggle it--or at least part of it--into my church's newsletter. He's describing Paul's discussion of the Lord's Supper in 1 Cor.
. . . Paul again returns to the subject of the celebration of the Lord's Supper. He introduces his remarks by saying, "When you assemble as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you" (1 Cor. 11:18). The Greek here is very interesting. It might be translated, "when you come together to make the church." The text seems to imply that it is in the meeting together for the purpose of sharing the meal that these individuals become the church, the body of Christ. It is this supper which constitutes the church. Once again it is clear that the Lord’s Supper is a covenant meal. Those who participate in it become members of the covenant community.
Here let us think for a moment about the fact that the service is called "the Lord's supper" (1 Cor. 11:20). Very few things in the New Testament are called the Lord's. We hear of the Lord's Supper, the Lord's Table, the Lord's Cup, and the Lord's Day. That is about it. These things all belong together. The Lord's Day is distinguished by the fact that it is the day for the celebration of the Lord's Supper at the Lord’s Table, sharing all together the Lord's Cup. Why are all these things called the Lord's? It is because it is here above al that we celebrate the memorial of our Lord, the memorial which he instructed his disciples to observe. It was the Lord's Table, the Lord's Cup, and the Lord's Supper because he was the host. It was by means of these that through his Holy Spirit he was present among them. It was the Lord's Day because this was the day on which he chose to meet them again and again.
A paragraph or so later he states:
"Do this in remembrance of me" (1 Cor. 11:24). Quite important to a true understanding of the sacrament of communion is an understanding of what is meant by celebrating "in remembrance of me." "Do this in remembrance of me" is in effect Jesus' interpretation of the fourth commandment, "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy" (Exod. 20:8). We have already spoken about this at some length. Something else needs to be said here. Neither Jesus nor Paul had in mind a simple mental recollection. They had in mind far more. The text says "Do this in remembrance of me." They had in mind holding a religious service. In a true celebration of a covenant meal the remembering of God's saving acts had an essential function. It was through God's gracious acts of redemption that he lad claim to his people; by remembering those saving acts one confessed and acknowledged that claim. In holding the memorial one acknowledges God's Lordship and the service which one therefore owes to God . . .. In so doing one lays hold of the Covenant and assumes both the obligations and the prerogatives of the covenant people. (p. 110-111)
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