Tag Archives: Lord’s Supper

FIVE COMMUNION MEDITATIONS ON 1 JOHN 2:1-2, NUMBER TWO — CHRIST OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS

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FIVE COMMUNION MEDITATIONS ON 1 JOHN 2:1-2 – NUMBER 2 CHRIST OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS Jack Cottrell — Summer 2017 An old familiar hymn goes like this: “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus! What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus!” Another stanza in this hymn says: “This is all my hope and peace: nothing but the blood of Jesus! This is all my RIGHTEOUSNESS: nothing but the blood of Jesus!” Another hymn says, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and RIGHTEOUSNESS.” Another stanza puts it this way: … Continue reading →

FIVE COMMUNION MEDITATIONS ON 1 JOHN 2:1-2 — NUMBER ONE: “I NEED A LAWYER!”

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FIVE COMMUNION MEDITATIONS ON 1 JOHN 2:1-2 – NUMBER 1 “I NEED A LAWYER!” Jack Cottrell — Summer 2017 Crime stories are a popular genre for books and TV shows. From them we learn that when a suspect is arrested and is being questioned about a particular crime, one of the first things he or she says is “I need a lawyer!” The “right to counsel” is guaranteed in the U.S. by our Constitution. When charged with a crime, you have the constitutional right to have a lawyer to assist in your defense. The Sixth Amendment says (among other things), … Continue reading →

SIN-EATER — OR SIN-BEARER? A COMMUNION MEDITATION

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SIN-EATER – OR SIN-BEARER? A Communion Meditation – Jack Cottrell QUESTION: Do you think it is acceptable for someone giving the communion meditation to just read or otherwise relate what someone else has written? ANSWER: Of course it is! That is why someone like me goes to the trouble of writing and publishing such meditations! In fact, here is one I just prepared and shared with my congregation recently: From time to time in modern fiction we see a character called the “sin-eater.” One story that many remember is a 1972 episode from “The Night Gallery” called “The Sins of … Continue reading →

The Father’s Sacrifice: A Communion Meditation

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THE FATHER’S SACRIFICE — A COMMUNION MEDITATION BY JACK COTTRELL In the late 1970s, my family and I visited with the missionary family of Samuel Gonzalez in Merida, Mexico. This is located in the Yucatan Peninsula, the narrow pointy eastern projection of Mexico that points out toward the state of Florida. This was the northern edge of the homeland of the Mayan Indian group, and we saw many of the ruins of the Mayan culture. One place we saw was the famous Mayan pyramid known as Chichen Itza. Within a short walking distance from the pyramid is one of the … Continue reading →

Whatever WHO Wants? A Communion Meditation

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WHATEVER WHO WANTS?? A COMMUNION MEDITATION by JACK COTTRELL Christmas is a time when many of us focus on what WE want for ourselves. How many times do we hear (and ask) the question, “What do you want for Christmas?” This is not necessarily wrong. But it reminds me that we live in a time and a culture where people assume they can have whatever they want, say whatever they want, or do whatever they want. This made me want [!] to Google the phrase, “I can do whatever I want.” Here are some interesting results from my brief search: … Continue reading →

What Was Nailed to the Cross?

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WHAT WAS NAILED TO THE CROSS? (A Communion Meditation by Jack Cottrell – November 2014) Back on March 23 (2014), when giving our order of worship, our Sunday bulletin indicated that our Communion Hymn would be “Burdens Are Lifted at Calvary.” Only instead of saying “Burdens Are LIFTED at Calvary,” it said “Burdens are LISTED at Calvary”! Well, this was obviously a typographical error, to be sure. But when I saw it, the first thing I thought of was Colossians 2:13-14, which (in the ESV) says that God has “forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt … Continue reading →

What Are You Wearing? A Communion Meditation

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“Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece. So they said to one another, ‘Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be’; this was to fulfill the Scripture: ‘They divided My outer garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.’ Therefore the soldiers did these things” (John 19:23-25a, NASB). This makes me wonder what happened to the tunic (the inner layer of clothing). One … Continue reading →

WHOSE NAME WAS ON THE CUP?

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WHOSE NAME WAS ON THE CUP? A Communion Meditation Jack Cottrell, July 2014 [For a recent communion meditation at the church where I serve, I brought a prop to the pulpit with me. It was a fairly large coffee cup that had a name engraved on it: the name of my wife, Barbara. I held the cup prominently in my hands as I gave the following thoughts:] In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me” (Matthew 26:39, ESV). What WAS that cup? What was IN that cup? In Bible … Continue reading →

What’s Supposed To Change in the Lord’s Supper? A Communion Meditation

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I was baptized when I was ten years old, and began taking the Lord’s Supper the very next Sunday. Shortly thereafter, one Sunday I noticed that the juice in my communion cup tasted – very different! It was not good and not sweet, like normal grape juice. Rather, it was much more bitter, and quite sharp to the taste. Being an inquisitive child, I began to wonder: what does this mean? Why does this taste different? I was just a kid, but I knew that the Lord’s Supper involved some very sacred realities. I thought to myself, maybe we are … Continue reading →

“A MAN MUST EXAMINE HIMSELF”: A COMMUNION MEDITATION

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[This is a communion meditation I gave at the First Church of Christ, Greendale, IN, Oct. 6, 2013.] Just so you know, I definitely AM allowed to take communion today! I say this because I am holding in my hand a genuine COMMUNION TOKEN (which was a gift to me from my friends, Bill and Donna Jo Tucker). This token is oval in shape, about the size of a semi-squashed quarter. It verifies that I have been found worthy to partake of the emblems of the Lord’s Supper! At least that was its function when it was first issued. On … Continue reading →