The Peace of Christ

Do you have a Bible? Would you open to John chapter

John 20 · chapter mention

20? We're going to start in verse 19

in a few moments. Let me pray for us while you're

turning. Lord Jesus, we ask you to do for

us what you did for your apostles, what you promised to

do for your church, that you would send the Holy Spirit and

that He would be to us comfort. He would be quipping.

He would be your presence among us.

You're you're uniting us together into one body by your

spirit. And so Lord, we just confess

this as Trey prayed, if you're not here and if you're not

blessing, we are wasting our time.

We're spinning our wheels. But when you come and when you

move amongst your people, change, transformation, grace,

reformation can happen. And we ask you for nothing less

than that word. So we ask you to take up your

word and teach us. We ask it in Christ's name.

Amen. So last week we gathered at the

cemetery to remember that Christ is risen from the dead.

And it's really important that we understand Paul.

Paul said taught that that the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

the bodily resurrection of Christ, is the lynchpin of

Christianity, so that if that one doctrine is pulled out, the

whole thing falls like a House of Cards.

He says if Christ has not been raised from the dead, we are of

all men, most to be pitied. Not just to be pitied, but most

to be pity because all of you are hanging your eternal hopes

of salvation on something that didn't happen, on a man who

couldn't make good on his word. If indeed Christ has not been

raised from the dead. And so if Christ hasn't been

raised from the dead, this is the very last sermon you'll ever

hear me preach. This church is closed.

Let's all go home and find a different hobby.

We can do something as ludicrous as rooting for the Cowboys.

OK, That's about as good as we're going to do.

But because Christ has been raised from the dead, the first

fruits of the resurrection, we have a real, a real hope.

And so we need to, as Christians, we need to think

about the year in terms of as it relates to not just the birth of

Christ at Christmas where we celebrate that, not just the

crucifixion at Good Friday where we remember that, but on Easter

Sunday. Easter Sunday needs to be the

defining fact of our existence. And so we are in our second week

of remembering the resurrection of Christ, and we are going to

look at a text where John in a lot of ways answers a lot of the

naysaying of the naysayers who say that Christ didn't raise

from the dead. And we get to we get to dwell

richly upon this text. I'm going to have three kind of

big ideas and then a whole bunch of other things as we work our

way through. But the first thing I want to

show you from this text is that the body that Christ laid down

for us is different in many ways from the body that he raised up.

It's different in many ways, but it is essentially the same body.

The body that he laid down for us is is different in many

different ways. In many ways from the body that

he raised up, body he lays down versus the body that he raised

up. They're different, but they're

essentially the same. So look in verse, look in verse

19. Let me call your attention to a

few things. We'll read verses verses 19 and

and 20, maybe to 21. On the evening of that day, the

first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples

were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and

said peace be with you. And so I would just say in

passing, they, they're afraid and so they've locked themselves

in. And the text does not indicate

that Jesus somehow is a master lock picker.

The idea is he walked through the walls like he, he has a body

that doesn't, that's not held back by locks.

It's not held back by your sin, your desire to not have anything

to do with Jesus. He gets to just go through those

things. And Jesus came and he stood

among them, and he said to them, peace be with you.

So the risen Christ, when he comes to his people, he speaks

peace to them. And when he had said these

things, I want you to watch the, the, the relationship between

Christ saying peace and then how he founds that invitation or

that blessing on them. When he said this, when he said

peace to you, he showed them his hands and his side, right?

Your peace was secured by the wounds of Christ and by no other

means. And so if I were to say, hey,

like peace to you, you should say, who are you?

How can you tell me to have peace?

Like you don't know what I'm going through.

You don't know what I'm stressed about.

You don't know the real problems I have for Christ.

When he comes to us and says peace, He gets to show us the

scars. And I would ask you, what

problem do you think you have that the scars on the body of

Christ has not already overcome? There, there, there are none.

In the end, these scars have overcome all things.

He, they, John goes on to tell us.

Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord, he comes

to them, speaks peace, show them, shows them his scars.

And instead of them panicking and thinking back to just a few

hours earlier where they had all deserted him, where some of them

had denied him panic like, Oh well, what are we going to do

now when they see the Lord they were, they were glad.

And Jesus said to them a SEC again, peace be with you, as the

Father has sent me, Even so I am sending you.

So the body that he laid it down for us on Good Friday is

different in many ways from the body he raised up, but it is

essentially the same body. His real body was not discarded,

it was transformed into something more.

Same, but more OK, he's the same old Jesus.

They recognize him straight away, right?

They don't, they don't see him and say, what is this weird

ethereal ball of gas here that's come to us?

Well, they see him, they see Christ.

They they recognize him even though the doors are locked.

Jesus came and stood among them. And some of the other gospels,

when that happens, they conclude what you and I would conclude,

if the doors are locked and somebody just sort of passes

through them or appears among us, what are we going to assume?

It's a ghost? It's a ghosty.

That's the, it's, it's Jesus's spirit.

It's not his body. But they find out that it's not,

it's not his ghost, it's a real resurrected body.

And he proves that by saying, give me something to eat, like

give me a snack. And he eats, he eats with them.

So the biblical conclusion of these things is that Jesus is a

real man and that it's it's not that he's a ghost, but it's that

we are all ghosts. Real men can walk through

ghostly walls. He's the only real substantial

person. CS Lewis said that this thing,

this material world that we know of is the shadow lands and that

heaven is the real place. It's more material than here.

It's more real, it's heavier, it's denser.

And so let me just try and sink this down into your soul as a

comfort that if we could go to heaven at this moment, in

whatever dimension or or place we would have to go, whether

it's like on a spaceship, we just have to go a really long

time or we got to go to a different dimension.

Don't get me to lion. I don't know.

I don't know where it is. But if we could go there and if

we were permitted to stroll up onto the throne of God and see

the one who is seated at his right hand, we could touch him,

we could bump into him, we could feel it.

He's not a ghost, he's not a cloud.

He's a real man that can be poked and prodded.

Though you would not dare, right?

Nor would I. And he can still to these this

day, brothers and sisters, he can still say, peace be with you

and hold his hands out and say, see the scars of your redemption

and worship. It's beautiful, beautiful.

When the eternal Word of God took on human nature, human

flesh, he took it on forever. He is still the word made flesh

still. He is still the God man who rose

from the dead and ascended into the heavens.

He is real and essential humanity.

He is humanity and, and, and the truth, the biblical truth is

that humanity, when he ascended, humanity ascended with him.

He has redeemed human nature itself.

So now, just like what happened to Adam happens to us, So what

has happened to Christ happens to us also.

So think about this with me. This is the argument of Romans

5. I'm telling you, you have reaped

the consequences of Adam's transgression, and you ought to

say that ain't fair. I don't.

I don't know what it's like to be a perfect man in absolute

innocence in a garden that has a million yeses and one no, and

then to choose to rebel. I don't.

I've never done that. I've been fallen from the womb

and I've been in a world, doing life in a world where there's a

bajillion ways to sin and only one thin line of righteousness

to walk. That's not fair.

That that guy acted on my behalf and that I read consequence from

him. But before you scream that's not

fair, you should also know that in the same way you reap the

consequences of Adam's sin, you reap the rewards of Christ's

obedience. So as we shout, that ain't fair.

Say it about Good Friday too. Say it about the resurrection

too. Say it about the ascension too,

and the reward that that Christ has received from his Father.

That will be the reward of the bride of Christ as well, dressed

in robes of his righteousness. It's not fair, but He did it on

behalf on your behalf, and therefore it really is yours.

What Adam deserved has become our experience.

And let all God's people say Amen.

We have all known sickness, death, brokenness, weeds,

vanity, all of it. That's Adam's stuff, that's our

experience. And in the same way what Christ

deserves, we will all enjoy what the seeds that Christ has sown.

Never forget this. The Bible tells the absolute

gospel truth when it says you will reap what you sow.

The only caveat to that is that those who are in Christ will

reap what He has sown. And blessed be His name forever.

You get his reward by faith. It's beautiful.

OK, Second, His body was raised with all authority, not some

authority, not the potential to one day possess all authority.

His body was raised with all authority.

Listen to this. When he said this, he showed

them his hands and his side, and the disciples were glad when

they saw the Lord. And Jesus said to them, Peace be

with you. Watch as the Father sent me,

Even so I am sending you and we ought to stop and say, what in

the world does that mean? The Father sent the Son to

redeem the world as he sent us to redeem the world.

We need to think carefully about that.

Are we a bunch of little Christs that have been sent into the

world? What do you mean Jesus?

And then he goes on in verse 22, a text that frankly we just want

to read over and pretend like it's not there.

And when he said this, he breathed on them and said,

receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any,

they are forgiven them. What in the world does that

mean? And he says if you withhold the

forgiveness of any, it is withheld.

What in the world as the Father sent me, Even so I am sending

you, if you forgive, it is forgiven.

If you withhold, forgiveness is withheld.

Now we are a Protestant church. We love our Catholic brothers

and the Lord. Even though theologically

there's, there's, there's great error there.

There's also great error where we sit too.

But we have to as Protestants, we have to wake up here because

we are so eager not to fall into the error of papalism that we

robbed the New Testament of a clear teaching here.

Papalism, right. This is what what triggered the

Protestant Reformation, what triggered one of the many things

that triggered Martin Luther to say, hey, something's not right.

We need to talk about this, that the Pope is saying, hey, if you

will, I have the authority to, to remit your sins.

So if you'll just pay me, I'll remit your sins, Luther said.

If you have the authority, why wouldn't you just do it without

cost, right. So the the famous line when when

a when a coin in the copper rings a soul from purgatory

springs under the preaching of John Tetzel and Martin Luther

said that's not right, that's not biblical.

And so we as Protestants have fallen into the other ditch as

though as though forgiveness that Christ hasn't given the

church any authority whatsoever concerning forgiveness.

But the but the problem is the New Testament teaches these

things. Has Christ given the church the

authority to forgive or withhold sin?

Has Christ given us the authority to forgive or withhold

sin? The answer is yes, he has.

So let me explain. Peter, who by the way, is right

here hearing these words, seeing the risen Christ, he heard him

say, whatever you forgive will have been forgiven.

Whatever you withhold, it'll be withheld.

He told very normal, everyday believers like you and like me,

these words he said to them. But you are a chosen race, a

royal priesthood. What does it mean to be royal?

It means to be kings and Queens, those who in other texts of

Scripture are said to be ruling and reigning with Christ, Right?

You think about Paul, who is talking to the Corinthian church

and, and people in the Corinthian church are suing each

other, right? Mr. Roy is suing me for

something. And and so I hire a lawyer and

we're just fighting it out in the courts.

And somebody comes and says, why are you doing that?

Why are you going to the pagans? And Paul says, don't you know

that? He says, can anybody in the

church arbitrate? Don't you know that you will

judge the angels? And most American Christians say

no, as a matter of fact, I don't know that.

Do you tell what are you talking about?

Peter says. You normal believer, you're a

royal priesthood, kings and priests, those who mediate

between God and men. Now, of course, there's only one

mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.

There's only one Redeemer, but that Redeemer has the authority

to delegate some of his authority, and he has to the

church. Peter says you're a holy nation,

the people for God's own possession, that you may

proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness

into his marvelous light. First Peter 29 John the Apostle

John who was right here, who saw the risen Christ, heard these

words taught to his disciples, and he said these things to

normal believers. Listen and I quote grace to you

and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come.

Not a great word. John still is preaching peace

because he heard the risen Christ that peace be with you.

So he says grace to you and peace from him who is and who

was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before

his throne and from Jesus Christ.

Listen to these words. Grace and peace from Jesus

Christ, the faithful witness, the first born from the dead,

the ruler of the kings on earth. Hang on, John, you don't mean

that. Surely you don't mean that

Christ is in real authority here on earth.

You don't mean that. Jesus was telling the truth when

he said all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to

me and John is living like that's a reality.

When he says he is the ruler of the kings on earth, He goes on

to him who loves us. Is it precious to you that

Christ loves you? Yes, He says another thing to

him who has freed us from our sins by his blood.

Don't you love that Christ loves you and has freed you from his

sin? Yes, we do.

But you know what? There's an and there's a third

Christ has done three things Him who loved us and has freed us

from our sin by his blood and made us a Kingdom priest to his

God and Father. To him be glory and dominion

forever. Amen.

Christ has made us and the King James renders that verse, kings

and priests to God. He did not send us into the

world to redeem it, right? We're not to die on the cross to

pay for the sins of the world. Paul does say some things about

filling up the sufferings of Christ.

We say, what does that mean? What does that mean?

He didn't send us into the world to redeem it.

We don't do the same work, but we have been sent by Christ.

Listen to me, brothers and sisters, to apply that same

work. What Christ finished on the

cross and in the resurrection, He sent us to apply it to the

world, to mediate it, to spread it into the corners.

But the manner of His sending is the exact same.

And this is where I you, you, you, you got to track with me.

Here we have been. So the manner of the sinning,

Christ says, as the Father sent me, so I send you.

And we would say, well, how did the Father send you?

Well, the New Testament says that we have been crucified with

Christ. The New Testament says that

through baptism we've been buried with him and raised up

with Him. Ephesians 2 says that we have

been seated with Him in the heavenly places and that our

union with Christ as a heavenly people, the Book of Revelation

calls us a heavenly city, That He has sent us from heaven into

the earth in order to reconcile the earth to her Creator, her

Redeemer, and her Lord. Paul says you know you're doing

life on on the earth, but he says your life is hidden with

Christ and God. Fix your mind on those things.

We are, in no uncertain terms, a heavenly people.

Doing life upon the earth. So we've been sent by God as his

bride, as the heavenly Jerusalem descending out of heaven to the

earth to bring the grace and the mercy of Christ to people.

We have been sent from heaven to earth and we've got to wake up

because we don't know what the church is anymore.

Like that's just fundamentally not understood in the Church of

our day. The majority of American

Christians think that heaven and earth are still estranged and

that what we are doing is awaiting his return to write all

the things in a single day. The New Testament teaches

something very different. I meant to say as as as Trey was

praying for us, I meant to to introduce this sermon by saying

it's not even you don't even need me to preach because he

said everything that needs saying.

But this is the idea. He must reign.

Christ must reign until he has destroyed every enemy, and the

last enemy to be destroyed is dead.

He is reigning now, He is destroying enemies right now

through his church, and he will reign until every enemy is

destroyed in the very last one. Not the first, which is the

typical eschatology of the American church is like the

first eschatological event is the resurrection of the church

in the rapture. No, the the last enemy to be

destroyed is death. So the question, how does Christ

destroy his enemies? He's reigning until he destroys

his enemies. How does he do it?

Well, he reconciles them to himself or he casts them down in

destruction. But he does this in answer to

the prayers of his people. I, I, I don't have time to, to

defend this, but I'm just going to make a statement and I'll

invite you to go study. We, we RIP a verse out of

context. Jesus and passionately tells his

disciples, look, if you have the faith of a mustard seed, you can

say to this mountain be thrown into the heart of the sea and

it'll and it'll work. And we think Everest.

We think old Baldy, right? We think mountain Christ is in

no uncertain terms. He's saying this is the Kingdom

of Israel, the rebel, apostate Kingdom of Israel that's going

to betray me and crucify me and then spend the next 40 years

denying me and killing my people, martyring my people.

He says, you can say in my name, Lord, cast them down, grant them

repentance or cast them down. And within a generation the

mountain, the Kingdom of Israel, was torn to the ground.

So death will be destroyed as the last in a long line of

enemies to fall. The apostate nation of Israel

was the first to fall in 70 AD. The Roman Empire followed a

couple 100 years afterward at the conversion of Constantine,

and then it was the Pagan W the darkened E the African rebels

that all fell to the Lordship of Christ.

The indigenous new world either repented or were and were saved

or perished in their paganism. But listen to me, all of these

fell to the lordship of Christ, mediated to the world through

His Church, and many, many more enemies will rise, but they will

all fall. And when at the very last Christ

has defeated every other enemy through the Church that He has

built by His own hands, he will put a final end to death

himself. Everybody in both senses of the

word, meaning everybody who's ever lived, but also everybody,

every human being, soul embodied.

Everybody will rise from death to judgment, the just to eternal

life and in their resurrected bodies, in the unjust to eternal

destruction in their resurrected bodies.

And when I say just and unjust, don't hear those who have their

stuff together and those who do not have their stuff together.

Just according to the to the to the body of a biblical scripture

is those who have been justified by faith in Christ.

Those are the just who will rise to the resurrection and to

eternal reward. Those who have denied Christ,

who are outside of Christ will rise bodily to destruction.

Those who have never repented and trusted on Christ.

So Christianity one O 1 Jesus Christ has all authority, and

with that authority He has sent us into the world to convert it,

to disciple it, to baptize it, and to bring it to the obedience

of faith. That is what we are doing.

That's the purpose of the church.

That's the mission of the church.

His people in His name have authority to raise up and cast

down kingdoms. They have the authority in His

name to forgive sin. And by forgiving sin, it's

announcing His forgiveness. It's telling, as your elders do,

you've repented, and I'm telling you on His authority, you're

forgiven. They have the authority to hold

nations accountable for their sin.

And if these things sound bizarre to you, please reread

the Great Commission number one. And please reread these words.

If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven.

If you withhold the forgiveness from any, it is withheld.

I give you the keys of the Kingdom.

Whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven.

Whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in

heaven. What does that mean?

It means authority, delegated authority.

Thirdly and lastly, his body does not need to be examined for

more proof in order to be believed upon.

Look in verse 24. He says now Thomas, one of the

12 called the twin, was not with him when Jesus came.

It's just worth saying in passing, we call this guy Gavin

Thomas, right? We, we, we nicknamed him

according to his very worst day. Why don't we call David David

the adulterer? Why do we call him King David?

Why do we not call Peter the denier of Christ right?

Why is why is Thomas the only one who gets named after his

very worst day? I don't know.

It's unkind, but he's very brave.

In other texts of Scripture, this guy is is staunchly loyal,

but his heart was broken when he saw his Messiah, his hero

crucified. And so you need to hear the

despair on these words. Thomas was not with them when

Jesus came. And so the other disciples told

him, we've seen the Lord, but he said to them, unless I see in

his hands the mark of the nails and place my finger into the

mark of the nails, place my hand into his side, I will never

believe. That's not pride and rebellion,

that's just despair. Have you ever been there,

Christian, where you look at your experience and you say, I

cannot muster faith, I cannot muster what God wants from me,

what he requires of me. I can't muster love.

I can't muster joy unless God shows up and does something for

me. That's the idea.

And in verse 26, eight days later, his disciples were inside

again. Thomas was with them, although

the doors were locked. And Jesus came and stood among

them and said the third time in the same text, peace be with

you. Do you think there's a theme

here? Peace, peace, peace be with you.

And then he said to Thomas, you disbelieving turd, I told you,

what's wrong with you? No, he says put your finger here

and see my hands, put out your hand and place it in my side.

Do not disbelieve, but believe, Thomas answered, my Lord and my

God, please don't postulate some Mormon blasphemy here.

That when Thomas said this, what he said Mormon, Jehovah's

Witness, Muslim like like to Christ, my Lord, my, my teacher,

my boss, and then he turns to God and says, my God, no, this

is Thomas looking at the resurrected son of God and

saying you are Lord and God deity.

I'm in the presence of almighty God, my Lord, my God.

And Jesus said, have you believed because you've seen?

Blessed are those who have seen who have not seen and yet have

believed. So notice very important what

the text does not say. The text does not say that Jesus

said, place your finger in my side.

And Thomas, with fear and trepidation, investigated the

body of Christ by feeling for himself.

He doesn't. He doesn't need that anymore.

There's no indication in the text that Thomas touched him

before believing. So what Thomas thought he

needed, he didn't really need. This is not a text affirming the

belief that Christ must be examined before we will believe.

Rather, Thomas is gently rebuked for not believing the testimony

of his fellow apostles without seeing it's a common mistake we

make in our culture, right? We people will say if he would

just reveal himself to me, if he would just show himself to me, I

would believe. Listen to me.

No you won't. No you won't.

Did the Jews who saw him on the tree believe where God was,

manifesting His glory to the world, lifting up his Son under

the sin of the world, bearing our sin, revealing His mercy,

His justice on the cross? Did the Jews see that in belief?

No, they did not. No, the the Roman, the Roman

guard that watched him after we just ripped his back open and

publicly shamed him in front of his mother and his enemies.

And he's been mocked, he's been spat on, he's been denied, he's

been made fun of. All of these things.

This Roman guard says, you know what kind of a guy responds to

that by saying, father, forgive them, They don't know what

they're doing. Nobody talks like that.

What do you say with gritted tea, Father?

Strike them down, Kill them now. I want revenge.

That's how Pastor Will prays. Christ does not like that.

Many people saw Christ on the cross and when he gave up the

ghost without any whiff of a resurrection, they said, this is

the Son of God. It benefited the Jews not at

all. They said blasphemer.

They said, actually, we want some more proof and we'll

believe in you. They said to him.

They mocked him Hey, you've saved other people save yourself

come down off the cross and then we will believe in you.

Those people that said that to Christ deserve the judgment that

fell upon them and so we need to see the text is not showing us

that Thomas believes because he was shown proof they the test is

showing the the text is showing that while Christ is gracious to

show Thomas these things everyone, you and me, everyone

has an obligation to believe God without seeing Blessed are those

who have not seen and yet have believed.

Thomas is not your example, but we are to learn from Thomas that

Christ overcame every skepticism because he really did raise

bodily from the dead and then we are to repent of our sin and

trust him right now and we are to demand no further proof from

the risen Christ. There's no more waiting to see.

Christ is the resurrected Lord, and if He wants to reveal

Himself to you, that's his prerogative.

He could show up to you right now if he wanted to.

It's his, it's his choice. But if you wait to believe until

Christ shows up, that will likely be your damnation.

Do not wait. You have been warned.

And so now let me comfort you. Be comforted in that.

If you struggle, so did the apostles.

Super comforting. Keep looking to Christ.

Be terrified of prideful skepticism, but bring humble

doubts to the Christ who's more gracious than you can ever

imagine. Thomas says unless he shows I'll

never believe and Jesus shows up and he doesn't look and he says,

come on Bubba, like look and see.

We also need to be careful that the testimony of the apostles

and the track record of the victory of the gospel in the

world has removed any excuse for you and for me and for anyone

anywhere in the world. They have no excuse for not

believing upon Christ. Our slowness to believe in Jesus

is not a safe slowness. Today, if you hear His voice, do

not harden your heart, repent of sin and trust in Christ.

Don't wait till tomorrow. Don't wait for more proof right

now. Cast your faith, cast your hope

upon Christ, and be saved. And so here we come again to the

Lord's table, where all his covenantal goodness is displayed

and distributed to us in a broken bread, and the wine

poured out. And just like his physical body

underwent A rending so that it might rise up the same body but

made more glorious, so this bread remains bread and the wine

remains wine. But it has all been raised up

into something so much more glorious than mere bread and

wine. This is no mere memorial.

It isn't a reminder snack. Please understand this.

It's not a reminder snack. Let's think of Jesus while we

eat this bread and wine. Perish the thought.

At this table, by the promises of Christ, by the power of his

Holy Spirit, and by the gift of faith at this table, we

participate in the body of Christ.

That's what's going on. There is mystery here, profound,

real mystery, delightful mystery, dangerous mystery, but

only dangerous to those who would come in an unworthy

manner, failing to discern the body of Christ that's here.

So in the words of Aslan, to breathe a horse.

Now, Bree, you poor proud, frightened horse, draw near.

Nearer still, my son, do not dare not to dare touch me, smell

me, hear my Here are my paws, here is my tail, these are my

whiskers. I am a true beast.

Christ, brothers and sisters, is a true man, and this is his true

body, and this is his True Blood, and we are his true

people, and he has given us his peace.

If you've been baptized into covenant with the Triune God,

this is your table. So come to Christ here receiving

the peace that the resurrected Christ would have you enjoy.

Listen to me. He said it three times.

I'm going to say it 4 Peace to be with you, peace to be with

you, peace to be with you, peace to be with you.

He is risen now come and welcome to King Jesus.

Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you for

being the author and perfector of our faith.

Thank you that your resurrection has proved that what you

promised, you performed. And now we have peace with God,

having our sins forever forgiven, having been reconciled

to you by faith, having ascended with you into the heavenly

realms, having been seated with you at the right hand of the

majesty on high, now having been sent down by you into the earth

to reconcile it. We need power, we need

provision, we need you to feed us today.

And so we ask you to meet us at the table by the power of your

Holy Spirit, that as we eat and as we drink, that we would truly

participate in the body of Christ.

Would you, would you draw us near to yourself and Lord, in

words that that we can understand?

Would you speak peace to us? Yes.

Again, yet again, we ask that in your name, Amen.