Order of Daily Prayer for Individuals and Families
- Old Testament: Zechariah 11:12-14
- Epistle: 1 Corinthians 11:23-32
- Gospel: John 13:1-15, 34-35
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
St. Paul writes to the church in Corinth that He delivered to them what He had received from the Lord, “that the Lord Jesus, on the night when He was betrayed took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, “This is My body, which is for you. Do this this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way also He took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the New Testament in My blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” (1 Cor 11:23-26)
I’m at something of a loss this holy week. I’m not able to deliver to you very much of what I have received from the Lord. We cannot celebrate the Lord’s Supper together as brothers and sisters, as the Body of Christ. How often did we take that for granted before? How often did we inwardly groan when we walked in to church and saw the communion vessels set on the altar? The very thought of an extra fifteen minutes in this place was unbearable. Now what would we give to be able to gather again? We told the Lord that we did not want His gifts more often, because it would make them less special. Now our Lord has taken His gifts away. It is God who establishes the authorities that have limited our ability to gather. It is the Lamb who opens the seal that sends forth the pale rider to kill with pestilence.
How much would we give to be able to join our voices with other people who love Jesus? But now we find ourselves in exile. And like the people of Israel in their captivity in Babylon, the songs just don’t sound right when we are exiled by ourselves. “How shall we sing the Lord’s songs in a foreign land?” (Psalm 137:4) they wondered. How shall we sing them by ourselves? we wonder.
Our church services are reduced to something you can scroll past, right after the memes about “Repost if you remember when phones had cords?” and right before “post something purple from your picture roll” comes this purple reminder of remember when we used to be able to go to Church.
Tonight is a night that shows us what we are missing. Like the disciples who were all scattered like sheep by the end of this night, we have each been scattered to our own places, hoping to evade death. We are missing gathering together, and we miss the gifts that we are used to receiving. We miss the Body and Blood of our Savior. Jesus says, “Come to Me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” He says to the weary, “Take eat, this is My Body, given for You! Take drink, this is My blood, shed for the forgiveness of Your sins.” He says to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise Him up on the last day. Whoever tastes and sees that I am Good, abides in Me and I in him.” Let the words of Jesus increase our hunger for His gifts so that we may receive them in joy when He once again permits us to enter His house.
Hope in God, for we will again praise Him! Our salvation and our God.
Let us learn from our Lord in this time of exile. We pray that He would wash us and make us clean, our hearts, souls, strengths, and minds, that we might have our share with Him. In this time, and especially in these three days we examine our lives, our homes, our families, our church, our community, and confess where we have not lived in the light of God’s Word, where we have brought death to ourselves and others by our lust, our sloth, our greed, our anger, and our pride. Wash us clean. And restore to us the joy of your salvation, O Lord. And strengthen us, that we may love each other as you have loved us. Pray with your families. Read God’s Word together. Prepare to join in the heavenly feast in His Kingdom.
Already we see His love at work. We pass on of the gifts that we have received from the Lord. People are delivering food to those who need it. Working to make sure that the sick and aged are cared for, that we have food to eat and water to drink. People who still have jobs and income seeking to help those who have seen theirs taken. And, though we may not be washing each other’s feet, we are washing our own hands in love for our neighbor. And in the love we show in earthly things, may it awaken a desire for the greater gifts which lead to life that has no end, life that was won for our Savior who laid down His life for us. Amen.