THE SUPPER

J.N.Darby

How can a Christian stay away from the Lord's supper? It is to excommunicate oneself. The Lord's supper is a token of pardon; the memorial of the love of Jesus. Christ is spiritually present with His own, but He is also absent, and we wait for Him. By partaking of one loaf, we show that we are one body, and I cannot cut myself off, excommunicate myself from the body of Christ. In the Lord's supper Christ desired to express His love, to remind us of His love; it is a necessity of His heart. The token of the love of Christ - the Friend who has died for us - the absent Friend - must be precious to us. He deigns to be one of us, separated from us for a little while, but finding His joy in making us happy.

From The Christian Friend 1887