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Jan 10, 2021

The Room Where it Happened

The Room Where it Happened

Passage: Luke 22:14-

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: All Things New

Keywords: communion, blood, new covenant, body, epiphany

The meal Jesus taught us to eat, as often as we can, perhaps feels too mystical to us for our own good. What are we to “remember”? Why is that called for? Is there anything to “do” as we receive it? [As a reminder, we're offering a pre-recorded service, but then, weather permitting, an outdoor service (in between snows)]

Due to cold morning temperatures, there will be no outdoor worship service on Sunday, January 10.

Order of Worship

OPENING PRAYER
CALL TO WORSHIP: (From The Worship Sourcebook)
OT READING: Jeremiah 31:31-34
MESSAGE TITLE: The Room Where it Happened
CENTRAL TEXT: Luke 22:14-20
RESPONSE: Our World Belongs To God, 36-37
BENEDICTION: Hebrews 13:20-21

Readings & Scripture

OPENING PRAYER:
“O God who quickened the faith that brought Magi from the east, who kindled the hope that brought captives from exile, and who inspires the love that brings strangers together, let the light that shone in the darkness shine upon us. Let it shine within us, that it might refine our divided hearts. Let it shine around us, that it might illumine the way that leads to our neighbors and to one another. And let it shine above us this day, that it might reveal the Christ who manifests your presence as we worship. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen."

CALL TO WORSHIP: (From The Worship Sourcebook)
Leader: May the light of God’s love in Christ push back the darkness.

All: We come to the light from the four corners of the earth, from the north, from the south, from the east, and from the west.

Leader: But we are all one in Jesus Christ.

All: We come from many nations and many cultures.

Leader: But we are all one in Jesus Christ.

All: We come seeking the light that guides us to life.

Leader: But we are all one in Jesus Christ.

All: Let us lift up our many voices and praise the God of all people.

OT READING: Jeremiah 31:31-34
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

CENTRAL TEXT: Luke 22:14-20
14 And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him.
15 And he said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
16 For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God."
17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, "Take this, and divide it among yourselves.
18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."
19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

RESPONSE: Our World Belongs To God, 36-37
All: Our new life in Christ
is celebrated and nourished
in the fellowship of congregations,
where we praise God's name,
hear the Word proclaimed,
learn God’s ways,
confess our sins,
offer our prayers and gifts,
and celebrate the sacraments.

God meets us in the sacraments,
communicating grace to us
by means of water, bread, and wine.
In baptism, whether of the newly born
or newly converted, God reminds and
assures us of our union with Christ in covenant love,
the washing away of our sin,
and the gift of the Holy Spirit—
expecting our love and trust in return.

BENEDICTION: Hebrews 13:20-21
LEADER: Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever..

ALL: Amen.

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURES:

  • Genesis 3:15
  • Genesis 15:1-11
  • Exodus 24:8
  • Joshua 8:30-35
  • Isaiah 54:10
  • Jeremiah 31:31
  • Zechariah 9:11
  • 1 Corinthians 10:1-4
  • 1 Corinthians 11
  • Hebrews 6:12-20
  • Hebrews 8-10

ILLUSTRATIONS:

InView Media 1.10.21 Album

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  1. Any important decisions, or declarations, you’ve made over a meal? What was it about? Why did you conduct it there?
  2. What is the significance of Jesus introducing them to the Supper he’d encourage them to partake of often during the Passover Meal?
  3. How would you describe your preparation for participation in communion? (No shame if you’ve never thought of that before!) What recommendations--if not urgings--do we have from Paul from 1 Corinthians 11? How might this passage and this sermon alter the way you think of, prepare for, and participate in communion in the future?

QUOTES:

  • . . .there is no secure place of permanent rest in this world for the pilgrim people of God whose calling is to “proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” - Fleming Rutledge
  • “The Kingdom”
    It’s a long way off but inside it
    There are quite different things going on:
    Festivals at which the poor man
    Is king and the consumptive is
    Healed; mirrors in which the blind look
    At themselves and love looks at them
    Back; and industry is for mending
    The bent bones and the minds fractured
    By life. It’s a long way off, but to get
    There takes no time and admission
    Is free, if you purge yourself
    Of desire, and present yourself with
    Your need only and the simple offering
    Of your faith, green as a leaf.
    —R.S. Thomas

BOOKS / DOCS

SERMONS / TALKS: