Midweek Message (Dec 15-Dec 22)

A Reflection by Chris Bodden:

To tell the truth, I had never really been able to get my head around Advent (or Lent for that matter), something that has happened but is still yet to come. I have always been eager to engage in the practice, but just couldn’t quite get there in my head.

But now, my life has become “advent,” in a certain sense. As many of you know, Rebekah and I have been in the process of adopting a child for the last year and three months. Many of you have asked me “How is the process going?” And to that, I responded with something like, “Just waiting” or “Nothing yet.” From July to November, there was nothing we could do. All the paperwork was in and we were just waiting to be matched with a child.

You are probably thinking “that’s just regular waiting.” But wait, there’s more! A few weeks ago, Rebekah and I were matched with a child. She is a lovely one-and-a-half-year-old who is currently staying in an orphanage in a city in northwestern China. We know how this ends.  We would be happy to go any pick her up today if we could, but we need to get one more round of paperwork approved before that can happen. We are stuck in the already, but not yet.

So, as we prepare our hearts and home for our daughter’s arrival, I think back to the incarnation. I thank God for our coming daughter, and I thank God for teaching me how to grasp Advent more fully through this experience – to trust in what has been accomplish and to hope for what is to come.

“Mary”

A Poem for Advent

By Arianne Braithwaite Lehn

Waiting time is pregnant time.
Hold,
Hope,
Trust.
Possibilities and promise push
my soul to its outer-rim,
making haven in the uncomfortable.

What lies beyond beckons
to what grows within.
“Come…”
Creaking, groaning, stretching,
the womb grows and Hands shape my soul.

I cannot expand any further,
it hurts too much.
This rim.

It’s the limit.

Then pain and grace interlock fingers,
holding me fast in perfect embrace.
I breathe into birth
and cry my
raw, new melody.

Midweek Message (Dec 8-Dec 14)

Reflection by Annabelle Cleeve:
It is a great pleasure to be able to write this week’s midweek message, and it is strange coincidence that I also wrote one at exactly this time last year! I remember because we had just had the Christmas pageant and I wrote something about the children teaching us to look at the nativity through their eyes.

Last Sunday they did another great job. A very big thank you is due to the children and adults who worked so hard to bring everything together, especially to the adults who actually took part!

This year we did a more spontaneous nativity than we have in previous years. The introduction asked us to imagine that we were experiencing the scenes for the very first time. How would we have felt if we had been there? Would we have understood the significance of what was going on?

The Israelites had been waiting for their Saviour for a long time, and it seems significant that the second Sunday in Advent is one traditionally associated with preparation and waiting.

“Advent symbolizes the present situation of the church in these “last days” (Acts 2:17, Hebrews 1:2), as God’s people wait for the return of Christ. The church is in a similar situation to Israel at the end of the Old Testament: in exile, waiting and hoping in prayerful expectation for the coming of the Messiah. Israel looked back to God’s past gracious actions on their behalf in leading them out of Egypt in the Exodus, and on this basis, they called for God once again to act for them. In the same way, the church, during Advent, looks back upon Christ’s coming in celebration while at the same time looking forward in eager anticipation to the coming of Christ’s kingdom when he returns for his people. In this light, the Advent hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” perfectly represents the church’s cry during the Advent season.” (https://www.christianity.com/christian-life/christmas/what-is-advent.html)

O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
The captives from their prison free,
and conquer death’s deep mystery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Midweek Message (Dec 2-Dec 7)

Reflection by Spencer Musick

In the extremely mediocre 2006 comedy film Talladega Nights, there is a scene where the main character named Ricky (played by Will Farrell) is saying grace before dinner. He peculiarly addresses his prayer to “the dear Lord baby Jesus” prompting his wife to interject and admonish him that “Jesus did grow up, you know. He had a beard.” What makes this scene stand out in an otherwise pretty forgettable movie is the juvenile nature of Ricky’s conception of Jesus. He responds to his wife that “he likes the baby Jesus the best,” and so he wants to keep praying to him. I am often confronted with the fact that many adult Christians, while meaning well, would benefit from growing from a more juvenile conception of what Advent and the Incarnation are all about to a more theologically formed one.

To be sure, this image of the infant Christ is one of great importance to the larger story of Christ’s life and ministry. It reminds us that Christ took on human form and shared every bit of vulnerability and humanity that you and I experience. It is an especially useful tool in teaching the younger members of the Christian community about God’s closeness to us and care for us as expressed in the gift of Jesus. But while it is *an* important part of the story, it is *not* the most important part of the story.

Nor is the *historical event* of the Incarnation what we are really preparing for or awaiting in this season of Advent. We are preparing for and anticipating God breaking into the creation, and this is something that (at one and the same time) is both past, present, and future. God *has* broken into the creation in the person of Jesus. God continually breaks into the creation through the work of the Holy Spirit and Christ’s body on earth now, which is the universal church. And God *will* one day decisively break into the creation and tear down the boundary between heaven and earth, reordering and perfecting everything. This is what Advent and the Incarnation are all about.

So as the kids at COGS reenact the events surrounding Christ’s birth for us this Sunday, let us remember what exactly it is we are celebrating. We not just observing and remembering a historical event. We are rejoicing that God’s love for the creation and His people remains every bit as incessant and unstoppable *now* as it was at the moment when Christ’s earthly life began.

Prayer (taken from the 1979 Episcopal Church Book of Common Prayer, for the First Sunday of Advent)

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Midweek Message (Nov 25-Dec 1)

Midweek reflection by Pastor Shawn:

Thanks to a certain American holiday, this week some of us are focusing thankfulness, which is a good practice. To that end, here's a prayer of thankfulness from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer:

Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have done for us. We thank you for the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life, and for the mystery of love.

We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for the loving care which surrounds us on every side.

We thank you for setting us at tasks which demand our best efforts, and for leading us to accomplishments which satisfy and delight us.

We thank you also for those disappointments and failures that lead us to acknowledge our dependence on you alone.

Above all, we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ; for the truth of his Word and the example of his life; for his steadfast obedience, by which he overcame temptation; for his dying, through which he overcame death; and for his rising to life again, in which we are raised to the life of your kingdom.

Grant us the gift of your Spirit, that we may know him and make him known; and through him, at all times and in all places, may give thanks to you in all things. Amen.

Midweek Message (Nov 18-Nov 24)

Reflection by Pastor Shawn:

Lately at COGS we’ve been talking about resurrection, new life, heaven, and the new heavens and the new earth. It’s been very encouraging to see our current lives in the light of that very bright future to come.

In conversations about all this, some questions were raised to me: in the resurrection, what about my loved ones? Will I still recognize my sister, my uncle, my mother? We will remember each other? Since everyone will have the closeness and intimacy of being perfectly united together by the Holy Spirit in the full presence of God, will I still have my family that I have today?

Good questions.

Let me tell you about the East Company. The East Company is the 506th Infantry Regiment of the United States Army. They started as an experimental airborne regiment created in 1942 to jump from planes into hostile enemy territory, and they were involved in important missions during WWII in Europe, including the Battle of the Bulge. You might know of them from the TV series, “Band of Brothers”.

During the war these men formed strong bonds. Through boredom and chaos and horrors and death and senseless violence and rescue missions and trench warfare—they walked through it all together. Different personnel had different ranks and different roles, of course;—majors and colonels, captains and first lieutenants, on down to sergeants and privates—some gave orders and others obeyed, some made decisions that others carried out, some cooked meals and others treated wounds. But they were welded together by their experiences.

And those bonds last a lifetime. Even after the war, they carried with them a bond that time and distance and return to civilian life couldn’t tarnish. They remained connected, even though their wartime roles didn’t apply anymore.

Major Richard Winters wrote a memoir about his experiences with the East Company. He details how a soldier under his command named Floyd Talbert wrote to him many years later, just before Floyd died. Talbert wrote, “Dick, you are loved and will never be forgotten by any soldier who ever served under you. You are the best friend I ever had…you were my ideal, and motor in combat…you are to me the greatest soldier I could ever hope to meet.”

This, I think, is a helpful way to understand our relationships in the resurrection. We will still remember our friends and family and the history we’ve had with them, but those relationships will not govern our new resurrection existence. The marriage relationship, the parent-child relationship, the sibling relationship—all of these will be superseded by the bonds of the resurrection life.

This might be concerning at first—you mean my sister will no longer be my sister?—but upon reflection, I think it’s actually comforting. Whatever joy and intimacy and love we have in our current family relationships will be outshined by the new resurrection relationships we have among God’s people. When God’s children are all resurrected in the end, we’ll live as brothers and sisters in the presence of our Father, with our brother Jesus, in the unity of the Spirit.

Midweek Message (Nov 11-Nov 17)

Reflection by Pastor Shawn:

Last week’s midweek reflection considered how to read the Bible. I discussed the two main steps: exegesis, where we discover what it meant for the original audience “then and there”, and contextualization, where we apply what it means for us “here and now”.

This week I’d like to look at one specific genre of the Bible. Genres are important to consider when interpreting because the genre sets how each part of the Bible communicates. Scripture is written in different literary genres—historical narrative, Hebrew poetry, the prophets, gospels, epistles, and others. Let’s focus in on how we interpret and apply the epistles.

Some key questions with interpreting an epistle: what is the historical context? Why did the author write the letter? What was happening? How does the author learn about the situation? What was the author’s relationship with the recipients? What was their history? Answering these questions is a good start to figuring out what’s going on in the letter. Then, read the whole letter! That’s how we read letters today, and that’s how we should read epistles in the Bible. Try to get the big picture. Only then should you focus in on a smaller passage to try to figure out its meaning.

Contextualizing an epistle might seem easy at first, but looks can be deceiving. We all (should) ask, “what does this mean for us, here and now?” When it comes to epistles, the biggest question is this: what in the passage is only for the particular culture of the author and the recipients, and what in the passage applies to them in their culture and to us in our culture?

Now, sometimes it’s obvious. For example, no one think the Bible is telling us, today, to go to the city of Troas so we can bring Paul’s cloak from Carpus’ house to a Roman prison (2 Tim. 4:13). Or consider 2 Tim 2:3, which says that we should join in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus—something all Christians should do.

The tricky part is when it is not obvious. We need to be consistent—we need principled reasons why do some parts apply directly to us, while others only apply indirectly, and others only apply to the 1st century. Added to the difficulty is that we all bring to the text our theology, our church traditions, our culture, and our existential concerns. These often help us, but sometimes they can mislead.

One of the biggest challenges is when the situation in the 1st century is very different than the 21st century. For example, consider 1 Cor. 11:17-22. At the church in Corinth, the rich were abusing the poor during their meetings and were excluding them from the bread and the wine of the Lord’s Supper. They would get drunk and full of food. The poor were left out. This doesn’t happen today. So what does this passage mean for us?

A helpful consideration is if there are any principles that might apply to us, even if the particular situation is different than ours. So with our example, the principle is that Lord’s Supper is about unity, not about indulging: everyone is an equal at the table.

Another challenge is to discover when what is written in an epistle applies directly to us and when it doesn’t. Here are some guidelines. First, we need to put this passage in the perspective of the central message of the entire Bible. Women wearing head coverings (discussed in 1 Cor. 11) is not a main theme is God redeeming us through Jesus Christ. Similarly with speaking in tongues, for example. Second, it is often helpful to distinguish between what the Bible sees as inherent moral issues and what it does not. Inherently moral issues apply to all cultures;—things such as sexual immorality, adultery, idolatry, drunkenness, greed, abuse of the poor, etc.—these are always wrong. But things like foot washing, holy kisses, women’s head coverings, women teaching in the church, etc—these are not inherently moral issues. Third, if what is being said in an epistle is not uniform with what is said elsewhere in the New Testament, that’s usually a clue that it is limited to that particular situation. Examples of uniformity: the demand that Christians always love; Christians cannot seek revenge or retaliation; strife, murder, stealing, sexual immorality are wrong; we should be humble; etc. Some examples where the New Testament is not uniform: women’s ministries in the church (Phoebe is a deacon, Junia is an apostle, Priscilla is Paul’s co-worker; but in some places women are forbidden to speak in church); if Christians can keep their wealth (in some places they are told to give it all away, but in others it seems like there were rich Christians in the churches). Fourth, we must consider the cultural options available to the New Testament writer. With some issues, there were different options in the culture, and yet the New Testament writers always take one position. For example, having a mistress was very common in the 1st century Gentile cultures, but not accepted in Jewish culture. But the New Testament is very clearly against adultery. However, with some issues the culture only presented the author with one option, and that means we cannot assume that the author would always support that option in every time and place. A good example is slavery. Paul does not try to overthrow the institution of slavery—that was not an idea really anyone had at that time. That was not an option for Paul. However, what he says about the equality that we all have in the gospel does prepare the way to get rid of slavery.

When it comes to interpreting and applying the epistles, like all of Scripture, we need humility. This is a challenging task, and we can be wrong. That does not mean we should give up—we must have conviction, but we also must be open to being corrected. Also, we need each other. To contextualize, we need to hear from other perspectives and cultures. We need lots of different voices in the conversation.

Midweek Message (Nov 4-Nov 10)

Reflection by Pastor Shawn:

Lately I’ve been in several different discussions about the Bible with several different types of people. It’s been enjoyable, and these are important conversations.

Recently I’ve put together a short introduction about how we should interpret the Bible. Generally I think it’s better to *show* how to interpret the Bible than it is to talk about doing it. You don’t learn to ride a bicycle by discussing centrifugal force and ball bearings. You watch people do it, and then you try it yourself. But sometimes it’s worth talking about the principles of interpreting the Bible. So here goes.

There are two steps to interpreting the Bible: exegesis and contextualization. Let’s start with exegesis. The term literally means “to lead out”—it’s about bringing the meaning out of the text of the Bible (rather than reading meaning into the text). But the term isn’t important; the idea is. Exegesis is about what a Bible passage meant “there and then.” In exegesis, we carefully study Scripture and try to understand the original meaning the author intended. To do this, we must understand their history, language, and culture.

But here’s the thing: that’s hard. So we need the help of experts. There are Christians who have devoted their lives to studying the original languages of the Bible. Some are experts in the ancient cultures and societies of the Bible. Now, you don’t have to become an expert yourself in order to understand (who has time for that?!?). But we should listen to other Christians who are experts. They produce helpful books, articles, and lectures. My point is that God has given these scholars to us, the church, as a gift. I’m one of these scholars and I’ve made some modest contributions. I can tell you that these scholars work very hard to help us all understand the Bible. So we should use their work—Bible commentaries and theology books.

Ok, so we enlist experts to help us. But then how do we do exegesis? Well, perhaps the most important thing is to recognize that different parts of Scripture are written in different genres: narrative history, genealogies, laws of all different kinds, poetry of all different kinds, proverbs, prophecies, riddles, drama, biographies of different figures, parables, letters, sermons, and apocalyptic writings. Interpreting each of these genres means we must understand the rules of that genre. Unfortunately, unpacking those details is too much for this reflection.

Apart from the details of each genre, we can discuss some general principles. The main principle is to read the text carefully and ask the right questions. Sometimes you might be able to answer those questions, sometimes you might need to turn to the experts. There are two basic kinds of questions you can ask: questions about context and questions about content.

First, let’s consider questions about the context. This divides into two parts: the historical context and the literary context. The historical context, of course, is different for different parts of the Bible. This is about the time and culture of the author and his original readers. This can include geography, political events and powers at the time, the reason why that part of the Bible was first written, and other factors. For example, think of the book of Amos. Amos is about how God cares about justice in society. During Amos’ time, the Israelites were engaged in all sorts of unjust practices. Their society had become oppressive and abusive to the poor and the weak. Unless we understand that historical context, we won’t understand what Amos is saying. For another example, think of Jesus’ parable of the lost son in Luke chapter 15. The father runs to his lost son who has returned. In that time and culture, a respected man did not run. But the father runs, and that is really important to understanding the point of the parable. To answer most of the questions about historical context, we need outside help. We are not experts. So, use a Bible dictionary. Get some good commentaries. They really help a lot.

The literary context is about understanding how the part fits into the whole. How does the verse your reading fit into the context around it? This is the most important task in exegesis. You do not need the help of experts to do this. Sometimes they are helpful with this, but you can learn to do it yourself, too. Here’s how it works: words only have meanings in a sentence, and usually a sentence in the Bible only has clear meaning in relation to the sentences before and after it. We can understand the context when we trace the author’s train of thought. What is the author saying and why does the author say that right here? What did the author say before this? What did the author say after this? How does all that determine what this sentence means? This is how we can try to find out what the original author intended to say. This is a skill we develop.

Next, let’s consider questions about the content. “Content” is about what words mean and how they are being used in each verse. It is about grammar and how the words fit together in sentences. The questions about content are questions we often ask about a passage of the Bible. For example, who is the passage talking about? What are they doing? These questions are much easier to answer when you have understood the context.

The second step in interpreting is called contextualization. In this step, we seek the relevance of the Bible for today. What does it mean “here and now”? We can’t do contextualization without first doing exegesis. We first must figure out what it meant “then and there” before we can see what it means “here and now”. We take the original meaning and bring it into our context. We contextualize it to us.

Contextualization is a very complicated process. We must understand the details of the passage we are reading. We must also understand the whole of the Bible, how the big story goes, and how that one passage fits into the big story. We must understand how all the ideas and concepts in the Bible fit together—that is what theology is.

When we do contextualization, we must also understand our culture. We must be good readers of culture and we must be good readers of the Bible. A famous theologian named Karl Barth once said, “Take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible.” What he means is that we should do both exegesis and contextualization, but we should take the meaning of our Bible and apply it to our context. We should not do it the other way around.

Midweek Message (Oct 28-Nov 3)

Reflection by pastor Shawn:

This week the gospel reading is John 11:17-27. This week I stumbled across a poem by Franz Wright, which he translated and adapted from the original notebook fragment written by Rainer Maria Rilke in Spain in 1913. For the reflection this week, I suggest you read John 11:17-27 and then read this poem entitled, The Raising of Lazarus.

Evidently, this was needed. Because people need

to be screamed at with proof.

But he knew his friends. Before they were

he knew them. And they knew

that he would never leave them

there, desolate. So he let his exhausted eyes close

at first glimpse of the village fringed with tall fig

trees —

immediately he found himself in their midst:

here was Martha, sister of the dead

boy. He knew

she would not stray,

as he knew which would;

he knew that he would always find her

at his right hand,

and beside her

her sister Mary, the one

a whole world of whores

still stood in a vast circle pointing at. Yes,

all were gathered around him. And once again

he began to explain

to bewildered upturned faces

where it was he had to go, and why.

He called them “my friends.” The Logos, God’s

creating word, — the same voice that said

Let there be light.

Yet

when he opened his eyes,

he found himself standing apart.

Even the two

slowly backing away, as though

from concern for their good name.

Then he began to hear voices;

whispering

quite distinctly,

or thinking:

Lord,

if you had been here

our friend might not have died.

(At that, he slowly reached out

as though to touch a face,

and soundlessly started to cry.)

He asked them the way to the grave.

And he followed behind them,

preparing

to do what is not done

to that green silent place

where life and death are one.

By then other Brueghelian grotesques

had gathered, toothlessly sneering

across at each other and stalled

at some porpoise or pig stage

of ontogenetical horrorshow, keeping

their own furtive shadowy distances

and struggling to keep up

like packs of limping dogs;

merely to walk down this road

in broad daylight

had begun to feel illegal,

unreal, rehearsal,

test — but for what!

And the filth of desecration

sifting down over him, as a feverish outrage

rose up, contempt

at the glib ease

with which words like “living”

and “being dead”

rolled off their tongues;

and loathing flooded his body

when he hoarsely cried,

“Move the stone!”

“By now the body must stink,”

some helpfully suggested. But it was true

that the body had lain in its grave four days.

He heard the voice as if from far away,

beginning to fill with that gesture

which rose through him: no hand that heavy

had ever reached this height, shining

an instant in air. Then

all at once clenching

and cramped — the fingers

shrunk crookedly

into themselves,

and irreparably fixed there,

like a hand with scars of ghastly

slashing lacerations

and the usual deep sawing

across the wrist’s fret,

through all major nerves,

the frail hair-like nerves —

so his hand

at the thought

all the dead might return

from that tomb

where the enormous cocoon

of the corpse was beginning to stir.

Yet nobody stood there —

only the one young man,

pale as though bled,

stooping at the entrance

and squinting at the light,

picking at his face, loose

strips of rotting shroud.

All that he could think of

was a dark place to lie down,

and hide that wasted body.

And tears rolled up his cheek

and back into his eyes,

and then his eyes began

rolling back into his head ...

Peter looked across at Jesus

with an expression that seemed to say

You did it, or What have you done?

And everyone saw

how their vague and inaccurate

life made room for his once more.

Midweek Message (Oct 21-Oct 27)

Reflection by pastor Shawn:

Try this: read your Bible faster.

Before we get to that, let’s back up a bit. We’ve been talking about the Bible at COGS this week. Several people had questions about *how* we should read the Bible—what’s the best way to actually read the Scriptures?

There’s not a best way; there are different ways. There’s also a way that we tend to do it. We tend to read the Bible in snippets. Small chunks. Short passages of about 5-15 verses or so. This is our normal way for some good reasons: this is the way we read it out loud during Sunday worship services. This is the typical length of the passages of Scripture most sermons are based on. This is the size we often use for small groups and Bible studies. And this is a good way to do it. But it does have some limitations.

One limitation is that it can make it harder to see the bigger context the passage is in. We should and often do try to take the context into consideration to some degree—“What was said before and after this?” is a good question. But when we read the Bible in small chunks, we often have to make an effort to mentally “reach out” to see how it fits in, and the bigger picture is harder to grasp.

Which leads to another limitation: when we read shorter passages, we tend not to read books of the Bible as a whole. But that’s something we should be doing more often.

So how might we do Bible reading differently? One way: read it faster. Let me explain.

First, try to carve out a longer period of time. Probably something like 30-45 minutes would be good for this “faster mode” reading.

Second, try not to get tripped up along the way. Don’t stop and dissect every word. If there are a few things you don’t understand completely, let them go and keep reading. In this mode, you’re looking for the big story, rather than trying to grasp every detail.

Third, look for themes and connections that reoccur as you read. What ideas or people or events keep coming up repeatedly?

So where’s a good place to start? In the New Testament, try the gospel of John (25% of the gospel of John is the same number of words as 3 average length news articles). In the Old Testament, start with 1 & 2 Samuel.

Try it!

Midweek Message (Oct 14-Oct 20)

Reflection by Pastor Shawn:

There’s something important we can learn from our Pentecostal brothers and sisters about the Lord’s Supper.

Pentecostals are Christians who emphasize the activity and gifts of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church and in the believer, including speaking in tongues, words of prophecy, and healing. Regarding the Lord’s Supper, Pentecostals generally don’t see it as sacramental—in their view, it is not a unique way that God’s grace comes to us. Like many Baptists, their preferred term for the Lord’s Supper and for baptism is “ordinance”, since these are the two practices that Jesus commanded (or “ordained”) us to do. Pentecostals emphasize our remembering the death of Christ in the meal, along the lines of what is commonly called the “memorial” view. While the Pentecostal tradition has not given much attention to developing a detailed theological understanding of the Lord’s Supper, there is a clear pattern of being devoted to the meal as an important practice.

However, I want us to consider one aspect of the Lord’s Supper from the Pentecostal Christian tradition: divine healing. I think most all Christians recognize that God can heal and sometimes he does. But the Pentecostal movement has given special attention to God’s healing us—physically, mentally, and spiritually. They approach the preaching of the Word and prayer for healing with the expectation that God regularly—although not always—heals. Further, Pentecostals sometimes understand the Lord’s Supper as a place for healing, sometimes even calling it a “healing ordinance.”

While the Pentecostal movement is relatively recent in church history, this idea isn’t coming out of nowhere. There is an ancient Christian way of depicting the Lord’s Supper as *medicine*. The Lord’s Supper is where we find healing. This would not only include physical healing for illness, but also mental healing, emotional healing, and spiritual healing. This approach understands the meal to commemorate Christ’s death, and Christ’s death as a healing event. Here’s how the theological thinking goes: Calvary is where God restores the world broken by sin. Sin is a poison; it is a disease. When Christ defeats sin and death on the cross, he restores health and wholeness. And not just for the whole world, but also for us as individuals and as communities. The Pentecostal tradition reminds us that we should look to the crucified Christ, who we celebrate in the bread and the wine, to make us whole. He can heal what ails us—in our bodies, in our minds, in our souls, and in our hearts.

In other words, it is completely Christian to say, “There is healing at this table” when we come to the Lord’s Supper. How might our appreciation and experience of the Lord’s Supper be enriched if we came to the meal with this in mind?