The scripture that Ross read this morning may seem to be a little unusual as we come to the Lord’s table to share the Lord’s Supper.

Those verses talk clearly about Jesus and his love for children. I chose those verses to remind all of us that unless we come to Jesus with the simple love and simple understanding of a child, we may miss the joy and wonder of experiencing his very real presence among us.

Romans 8:16 says, "The spirit himself testifies that we are God’s children". So, no matter our chronological age this morning, we are all children, children of our Heavenly Father.

This morning, I want to invite each of you to become as a little child. What that means is that I am asking you to free yourself from the uproar that may have occurred in your home just trying to get here this morning.

Release yourself from the fears that grip your hearts, fears about health, finances, relationships, careers and family.

Lay down all the things you didn’t get finished yesterday - and the plans you are making for the rest of this day.

If you and I are to become as a little child, we have to get rid of all the extra baggage. If we don’t we may miss a personal encounter with Jesus this very morning.

This is a very special day. You and I have been personally invited by Jesus himself to share this meal. Throughout my Christian life the Lord’s Supper has always had a place of deep reverence for me. The symbolism in these elements of the body and blood of my Savior, and his personal invitation to me to share in that have been a point of deep connection for me.

There have been times that I have felt less connected than others. But that was usually due to the "baggage" that I brought to the table with me.

Today as we prepare for the Lord’s Supper, I want to share a very personal and very holy experience of the Lord’s Supper.

Through the innocent questions and thoughts of my five-year-old granddaughter, Ambria, I experienced the mystery and the holiness of the Lord’s supper in a fresh way.

Some of what I will share with you will bring a smile to your faces, maybe even a laugh. But I want to tell you there was no silliness that day. There was complete innocence and wonder and honesty in Ambria’s thoughts and her questions. I became as a little child - and together we entered into the presence of Holy God.

This morning, God is inviting you to join him at his table. Listen as I share with you the Lord’s Supper through the mind and heart of a five year old.

I had picked Ambria up at day care one afternoon and on our way back to the church, I stopped to purchase grape juice in order to prepare the Lord’s Supper elements for our Hispanic congregation. I had a feeling the questions were about to begin. I was right.

Ambria’s first question was, "Memaw, just what are we going to do with this grape juice?" As we pulled up at the church, I turned around and looked at her and said, "We are going to prepare the Lord’s Supper with the grape juice".

The wheels began to turn in her little mind, I could almost see them turning. As she and I walked in the back door of the church, she looked up at me and asked, "Memaw, is the Lord going to have turkey for supper?"

There was not a hint of silliness in her voice. It was a question straight from her heart. I knew that she had not ever experienced the Lord’s Supper and for that reason, had no idea what it was about. The next hour we spent together will always be one of the most memorable and holy times in my life.

I answered Ambria’s question about the turkey by saying to her, "I think the Lord might have had turkey for supper when he lived on the earth a very long time ago, but the supper we are going to fix this afternoon is a different kind of supper". That answer was acceptable.

The questions began about what kind of supper it was, who was going to eat it, where they would eat it, could we stay for supper, and a host of other questions. I was getting excited by this time as I watched her little face and eyes get that look of wonder. It was as if she knew she was about to find something special and could hardly wait.

As I pondered how to answer her question about the turkey and still respect her innocence, God’s presence became very real to me and I realized I was about to be involved in teaching my granddaughter about the meaning of the Lord’s Supper.

It was an humbling moment as I quietly asked God to guide my words so she could understand at least some of the importance and holiness of what we were about to do.

As she and I began to gather the trays for the juice and the bread, the little plastic cups and the flat wafers, the questions began again.

"What are we going to do with these plastic cups and where is the grape juice and is this really bread?" I said to her, "We are going to take all of these things down the hall to a room and I will tell you about every one of these and what they mean. Will that be o.k.?"

The answer came immediately. "O.K. Memaw, I think I really need to know about this!"

How long has it been since you and I "really needed to know" about the events in the life of Jesus that brought us to faith?

Even the preparation for the Lord’s Supper was holy that afternoon. Simple things like Ambria carefully putting the cups in the trays and me pouring the juice into them, making sure that we had divided the wafers evenly between the trays, these simple and routine tasks took on a new meaning. I began to realize that the preparation for this meal is an act of worship in itself.

I was reminded by Ambria’s desire to make everything "look pretty" as we prepared the meal, that God asks me and he asks you to prepare our hearts for worship before we come to his table.

Matthew 5:23-25 clearly instructs us how to prepare ourselves to worship God.

" So, if you are standing before the altar in the Temple, offering a sacrifice to God, and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there beside the altar, Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God".

When we had everything ready, I asked Ambria if she was ready for me to tell her what all this meant. She said to me, "Yes Memaw, I just need to know".

I picked up the Bible and opened it to the book of Matthew. Ambria has been coming to church with me for about a year and is learning to love the stories in the Bible that she learns through her Sunday school class and her Wednesday night class. I explained to Ambria that the story of the Lord’s supper was in the book of Matthew in the Bible.

I began to tell her about Jesus and his disciples and the last time they had supper together before he was killed. I told her that they met in a room and sat on the floor and talked with each other before they ate. While they were talking, Jesus told them that he was gong to be killed and that he wanted them to always remember him.

As I talked, I again asked God to help me use words and thoughts that she could understand. We talked about the wafers and the grape juice being symbols of the body and the blood of Jesus. She didn’t understand what a symbol was, so we talked about that for a while. As we talked, I realized she had an understanding of what a symbol was when she stopped me and asked me, "Is it like a Dalmatian is a symbol for a fire station?" Her daddy is a fireman so that was a familiar symbol for her.

As we began talking about the wafers, she immediately wanted to know why they were flat. I told her that when Jesus had supper with his friends that night, they ate bread that was unleavened. She wanted to know what that meant. I explained to her that it was bread that didn’t have any yeast in it and that yeast is what we put in our bread to make it fluffy. She wanted to know who cooked the bread that Jesus and his disciples ate.

I then began to talk to her about what the bread stood for, what it was a symbol of. We talked about the bread being a symbol of Jesus and what he taught us while he was living on the earth. We talked about ways that we can remember Jesus and try to act like him. After we had talked about Jesus for a while, we bowed our heads and said a prayer.

BRUCE - SCRIPTURE

SERVING OF THE BREAD

PRAYER

As we have shared the body of Christ symbolized by the bread, we now come to share the cup, which reminds us of the blood of Jesus which he willingly poured out in order to cover our sins.

I remind you again that Jesus is not the guest here this morning. He is our host. We are his guests. Scripture tells us that he took - he blessed - he broke and he gave.

Jesus is not the one reclining at the table and receiving the bread and the wine. He is the one standing and serving. Perhaps we sometimes think of the Lord’s Supper as something we do for God. That’s not how Jesus intended for it to be. If it had been, Jesus would have taken his seat at the table and relaxed. But he did not.

Instead, Jesus was teaching us by his example about being a servant to each other. His lesson has not changed.

Even in the act of passing the tray of bread and the tray of juice this morning, you and I are doing that which Christ was teaching his disciples more than two thousand years ago. We are serving one another.

As Ambria and I finished our prayer after sharing about the bread, I began telling her that the grape juice was also a symbol. In my effort to keep my words simple so she could understand, I told her that the grape juice was a symbol of Jesus blood. I told her that because it was a dark red color, it reminds us that when Jesus died on the cross, he bled. We talked about how he bled when the men stuck him with a spear in his side, and how his hands bled when they put nails in them.

I wondered if she really comprehended any of this when she stopped me and said to me, "Memaw, I just thought this was a story. I saw a movie one time about Jesus and they were sticking him with a sword, but I didn’t know it was a real story. Those men were not nice to Jesus. That really was blood on his hands, wasn’t it?’

I knew that at that point she in fact understood some of what we were talking about. My heart was so moved at the compassion and wondering of a five year old. I told her that when we drink the juice is it a symbol of Jesus’ blood and that after we drink it, we say a prayer.

BRUCE - SCRIPTURE

SERVING THE JUICE

PRAYER

I picked up the Bible again and read the part that says, "When they had sung a song, they went out: I asked Ambria what song she thought we should sing together. She thought for a minute and then said, "Let’s sing Jesus Loves Me." We sang together. As we were putting all the things away, she looked up at me and said, I really wish I could come and have supper tonight with the people."

We shared the journey from "Is he having turkey" to a child’s understanding of the fundamental truth about the Lord’s Supper.

This morning, we have been invited guests of our Heavenly Father at this meal. Did you know the presence of Christ in your heart as your neighbor served you? Did you believe that what these elements symbolized - the body and blood of Jesus - were given for you? Do you understand that kind of love?

If you have not been able to connect with the Christ that we have talked about this morning, if you do not yet know him personally as your Lord and your Savior, you can change that this morning. If you have known Jesus for a long time but have grown apart from him, you can reconnect with him this morning. If you are a little child and are just beginning this walk with Jesus, he is smiling and holding his hand out to you.

As we stand to sing our hymn of invitation, number 134, whatever decision God would lead you to make - I pray that you will listen to him and then follow him.

Will you stand and sing.

Kathy Holler

Minister of Special Ministries

First Baptist Church

701 S. Main St.

Jonesboro, Ar, 72401

870-932-1872

870-932-3456

kholler@fbcjonesboro.org