Matthew Henry John Bartlett

I got published this week. In our church bulletin, that is:

I sat in church last Sunday morning listening to John read the preparation for Lord’s Supper and I had an idea. I thought I’d write down some of what the Lord’s Supper means to me. Maybe you’ll find some of it helpful:

When I eat the bread and drink the port, I remember the King gave up His life so that we might live. Jesus our food and drink, God’s Spirit the air we breathe: our lives’ most basic needs. I don’t eat alone. My family are here; my true brothers and sisters, and my true Father. Sometimes I remember the challenge too: I eat the broken body and shed blood and I know I’m committing myself to the same bloody path He trod. I’m supposed to be a sacrifice too. Sacrificing my life, my ambitions and goals for the sake of God, His people and His world. Living and maybe dying to bring God’s comfort to a mourning world. Where on earth will I get the strength to live like that?

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.