This morning, when I went to my computer to print out my notes for this sermon, I got an error message. My printer would not work this morning. And I don’t know what that means. I don’t know whether it was something that is from above or whether it is something in my operating system that isn’t working, but for some reason, I don’t have any notes this morning. And that doesn’t necessarily mean this is going to be any shorter than usual. We are going to celebrate the Eucharist, the remembrance of Christ, what he did for us. It is a very fitting thing that we should remember the sacrifice that our Lord willing went to for us. And I think if we look at the Old Testament scripture we read back in Exodus 12, we see the beginnings of a remembrance. If you think about the whole story of Exodus, you see God delivering His people through His own power from Egypt, from an oppressive regime, into a land that was set aside for them. It is a real type, if you will, a paradigm, I have used that word twice this morning. It is a for shadowing of Christ’s salvation for us. Our deliverance is shown in the type of the Hebrews when they went out in faith and followed Moses to the Red Sea and had their backs to the Sea when the Egyptians came upon them. And though no power of their own, through God’s own power, He provided them a salvation from the onslaught of the Egyptians. That is exactly what we commemorate. The passover also commemorated the passover of the shadow of death from this people that God set aside for himself. The ritual slaughtering of this lamb and putting the blood on the door posts, just reinforces the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who was the perfect lamb. If you read on in Exodus, if you go on up to around verse 24, God has some more instruction. (Exodus 12:24 -27) 24."Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. 25. When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. 26. And when your children ask you, `What does this ceremony mean to you?' 27. then tell them, `It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.'" So we can take comfort in knowing that we indeed are protected in just that way with the blood of Jesus Christ because he shed that on the cross for each one of us. He is a very personal Saviour. He didn’t go to the cross for a group of people. He went to the cross for Bob. And He went to the cross for Milt, and Carrie, Bill and Julie and Donna and Tony and Zac. He went to the cross for each one of us because He is a personal Saviour who indeed loved us enough to give His life for us. In the book of John it says that perchance give their life for a friend, but the one who gives his life is the one who is truly blessed. God definitely wants each one of us to partake of this salvation because he sent a holy spirit that speaks to each and everyone of us. I think it is extremely fitting that we do this in remembrance of Him. As we take the bread and we take the cup, I think we need to examine ourselves. This is what Paul is trying to tell the church in Corinth. They would come together in a feast and there was a definite separation in society. They had a real cast system where the richer people didn’t associate with the lower class. So when they came together for what they called their agape meal which was what they called the Lord’s Supper, some people brought a lot of food and they went ahead and ate their own food. It wasn’t like our carry-in dinners where it was set out for everybody, everybody kind of keep with their own group and ate what they brought. And some people couldn’t afford to bring anything but a crust. Paul is rebuking them and saying, "examine yourself, look at yourself, where you and your bounty are feasting over here, and you are letting your brothers go without." He said, if you are going to do that, you can do that at home. You don’t have to come here and eat because you have already got the food at home to eat. I think we just need to realize that indeed we have something that needs to be shared. That thing we need to be shared is different than just food, it is spiritual food. We have the gift of salvation in Christ that is in us now, if you have accepted Jesus Christ as in you. That is the thing we need to share with others. Today, as we come forward and remember these things and partake of the elements of communion, let us know that we are doing something that is a remembrance. First of all, it is a remembrance. But it is also a communion with God. We are meeting Jesus Christ right here because we are partaking of truly his blood and his body. And also, just as in the Old Testament where covenants were sealed with blood, we are making a covenant with him also that we will be His. That we will remember that He gave his life for us, that He sacrificed for us out of total love. It is also a testimony. We are coming forward before God and saying that we accept His sacrifice. We accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and we do this by coming forward and partaking of the body and blood of Christ. Now, realize that this is symbols. Some people think that in some mystical, magical way the bread and the wine get trans-substantiated into the actual blood and body of Christ and that is not it. That happens within you. When we come up here, we will remember, that Christ’s body was broken for us so that we would have life everlasting. That His blood was shed for us so we could be free from the sin in our life. His blood covers all that sin. And as we partake of those things, let us first of all, search ourselves and realize that there is no way we can be perfect enough to be worthy of this, but that because of God’s great love and his sacrifice, we can come before God and partake of these things, and enjoy the great gift that is ours through Jesus Christ. So, I invite you all to come forward as the ushers come to your row and come up if you want to. You can kneel or stand, but I would encourage you all to come. All are invited to the great feast. We indeed, this day, will joyously invite you to come and partake. All are invited to the supper of the Lord.

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