Read
Nehemiah 7-8
Consider
What is the first thought that goes through your mind when you think of bread? Imagine yourself in a bakery and perusing through all the varieties they offer. The fragrant smell may give you an automatic sensation of hunger or memories of tasting and enjoying your favourite baked goods. It is a work of genius to consider how in some cultures, such as Chinese, they fill their buns with savoury meats or sweet custard and coconut. Sometimes even both! A pineapple BBQ pork bun, anyone?
Bread can fill our stomachs and provide a pleasant experience for our taste buds. On the other hand, when used in the context of a practice such as communion, eating bread takes on a deeper meaning and significance. It represents the body of Christ, broken on the cross and given to us, so that our relationship with God would be healed and we can be forgiven and freed from our sin. When connected to the remembrance of Christ, partaking bread as part of communion becomes a sacred practice for the people of God.
The same can be said about worship. We can see our Sunday services as a rote religious event that a Christian is expected to attend. Or we can see how God gathers us as a worshiping community and gives us these practices to regularly recenter our lives in Him and His story, recognize His action in and among us, and to respond with joy and celebration, even in the midst of challenges. We hope you’ll join us as dive back into the book of Nehemiah and explore the significance of worship in community.
Pastor Jon
