Samples...

Have you ever been in the grocery store when they have vendors passing out samples of a new product? Maybe you were at the mall, outside Chick-Fill-A obtaining a small piece of a tasty nugget or at the deli when they give away free tidbits of cheese? If you were to try hard enough, you could eat a small meal for nothing but once you get home, you are starving! I must ask just how fresh are those samples? Some of them must have been sitting there all day, occasionally re-stocked for appearance sake. Is there someone who monitors that?

A sample is gives you a small taste of something much larger and much better than anything you have had before. As I look into my own life, I'm ashamed of how satisfied I have been in the past with merely getting samples of the vast table that God has prepared before me. Yes everything does indeed relate to Him and I'm thankful He has brought to mind the small things I never really noticed or just didn't pay much attention before.

I have become increasingly aware of how traditional church methodology is much like the sample counter. There is the offer to taste the 'good life' but you can only have it small pieces (i.e. weekly services). Oh, you can have the whole thing but you have to do something for, you have buy it, earn it or do some other performance-oriented thing. This is what gets you to come back week after week but, as time passes, you begin to starve on those tiny tidbits and, all the while, your desire for more grows day by day. I don't think that is actually what God had in mind for personal relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ. It is sad to me to see the number of ways our sample mentality has trickled down into every aspect of what we call Christianity and church. The entire outline of a Sunday morning is full of samples:15-30 minutes of worship, 5-10 minutes of announcements, prayer requests, etc., 5 minutes for tithes and offerings then 30-45+ minutes for a sermon. It seems like a 'take fest', a time where we go to get something from the Lord, rather than to give ourselves to Him.

My biggest aggravation, however, must be with Communion. First of all, I must point out I treasure the gift of being able to partake of Communion. It is not something I take lightly but I do have questions as to our methods with the elements. I wonder why we have these little tiny pieces of bread (or wafer), cut into small, even squares and why we drink grape juice from those little plastic cups. Everything is exactly the same, all of it measured out carefully and neatly. That seems so far from how each individual relates to Christ in his/her own life where nothing is the same. Our methods seem to be only for neatness and convenience, rather than for personal intimacy.

When I read the scriptures about the Last Supper, I see huge differences between that Communion and our own. Jesus broke the bread and, unless I am mistaken, the disciples shared the same cup of wine that Jesus drank from that night. I'm not being petty about the modern 'elements' and I'm not insisting someone bake bread every week for the 'special' services. Instead, my point would be to call attention to the way we tend to partake of Communion. Again, going back to the scriptures, Acts tells us the disciples gathered together daily and broke bread. It kind of shows us a new picture of the New Testament church was indeed nothing like the model of church we see today. Personally, I view this is a reminder to constantly examine our hearts before the Lord and is another example of learning to 'die' daily. Oh Lord, help us!

Jesus' body was torn violently and blood poured from His side - there was nothing neat or measured about His death. For some, perhaps the square wafers are enough and a little splash of grape juice is fine. But for me, I am tired of the samples being measured out for me and I am no longer content with scraps from the Master's table. Part of the freedom we now have in Christ is the freedom to be partakers with Him, of His will and His divine plan. I want ALL of Jesus, I NEED all of Jesus! So give me the whole loaf of bread and the whole bottle of wine, for I am desperate for the wholeness I can only find in Him!