Zach Young, Director of Music Ministries
Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer, and we enjoy the opening of swimming pools, the smell of grilled meat wafting through the air, and a break from the usual routine. As grateful Americans, we must not let this weekend pass without considering the purpose of Memorial Day: to remember and honor the sacrifice of brave soldiers who gave their lives fighting for freedom and defending our homeland. But we must not settle for mere memories. Parents and grandparents, it is on us to instruct our children about this important day. As President Reagan said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” Remembrance such as this goes deeper than glancing at a statue or thumbing through a history book. It is a call to action, an urge to participate in the preservation of freedom, motivated by the past deeds of our forebears.
In a similar but far more significant way, God calls His people to remembrance quite often in Scripture. Throughout the Old Testament, we see that worship revolved around remembering the covenant that God made with His people and the events that enlivened that covenant, namely, the liberation and rescue from Egyptian bondage (the Exodus).1 We New Covenant believers also have an event to remember, and Jesus Himself told us how to do so when “He instituted the sacrament of His body and blood, called the Lord’s Supper, to be observed in His Church, unto the end of the world, for the perpetual remembrance of the sacrifice of Himself in His death.”2
If the Passover meal was the central act of corporate worship for Old Testament believers, then the Lord’s Supper is the central act of corporate worship for Christians. This was practiced for much of church history, and only recently has communion been relegated to the margins across much of the western evangelical church. Worship that is called “Christian” but omits the Lord’s Supper fails to center on what makes it Christian: Christ’s saving work on the Cross to rescue us from sin and death. Let us be grateful for the emphasis on Word and Sacrament that marks our worship here at Stephens Valley Church.
Just as many generations of Jews were not literally present at the Exodus, yet were called to “remember” it, none of us was literally present at the Crucifixion. We have no actual memory of the event. So, Jesus gave us a reenactment, a multisensory engagement with tangible symbols, and promised to be “present to the faith of believers in that ordinance, as the elements themselves are to their outward senses.”3 Did you catch that? Communion is not merely a memorial, like a static gravestone or monument, but a participatory meal with Christ, who spiritually nourishes us with His own body and blood. At the Table, He is present as Server, Sustenance, and Savior. What a beautiful truth to celebrate every Sunday when we receive the bread and cup.
1 Examples include Deuteronomy 6:12, Joshua 4:7, Psalm 77:11–12, Isaiah 46:9, et al.
2 Westminster Confession of Faith 29.1
3 Ibid. 29.7
Three Thoughts from Zach
Zach Young, Director of Music MinistriesUsually when I write a newsletter article, I have a single topic to expound upon. Today, I
