The Body of Christ

I was attending a worship conference at a local Christian college and as part of the final worship service we celebrated the Lord's Supper. I had been born and raised in a Christian church, so the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was very familiar to me.

I had seen it celebrated a number of ways; the passing of a tray with small communion cups and small pieces of bread; served with a common loaf and cup; services where the people came to the front and were served one by one; celebrations where small groups gathered at the front and celebrated communion together. I even attended a coffee-shop service where the elements were set out at the beginning and people took the bread and wine at any time during the service as a personal time of communing with God.

At the conference worship service we came forward row by row to meet two people staged in the center of each aisle, one with a loaf of bread and one with a cup of wine. I walked down the aisle and met a man holding the loaf.

"The body of Christ, broken for you," he said quietly.

I tore a small piece of bread from the loaf and stepped to a woman holding a silver cup of wine. I carefully dipped my bread in the cup.

“The blood of Christ, shed for you, Jim,” the woman said softly.

I was startled. What kind of miracle was this? I had never met this woman. How could she possibly know my name? My eyes began to water as I ate the wine-soaked bread. A sudden realization washed over me, a wave of wonder; the body of Christ, the blood of Christ, for me. Jim. Broken, shed, for me. Jim.

The words sunk deep into my head, deep into my heart, penetrated the very depths of my soul.
Barely holding back my tears I returned to my seat and thanked God for a love so great He had died for me, for Jim.

It wasn’t until I got home that I realized how the woman knew my name; I was wearing a large conference tag with my name clearly printed on the front.

But knowing the secret didn’t lessen the impact. Christ died for me. His body broken, His blood poured out, for me, for Jim. And the next time I served Communion I made sure to tell everyone I served the same thing.

“Christ’s body, broken for you, John, for you, Kim, for you, Charles, for you, Elaine.”

The Lord’s Supper has never been the same since.