Christmas Service and Communion at Missouri Veteran's Home 12-12-10 Lou Hodapp, speaker

Well, it’s good to be here again with you veterans. This is one great facility to care for our Missouri veterans.



We are here this morning to consider the Christmas season and to receive communion. This is the season when we give gifts to each other in the way that the three wise kings brought gifts to the baby Jesus. It is a spiritual time of the year in spite of the fact that many in the world have made it very worldly in practice.


You know, receiving communion and the Christmas season fit together very nicely. Christmas and communion have a common theme. They are both “Celebrations of Remembrance” – remembering birth and remembering death. At Christmas, we are reminded that God in the Person of Jesus Christ was born into the family of man SO THAT WE, you, I and everyone may be reborn into the Family of God.


And as for communion, it is again a reminder that Jesus Christ died for OUR sins SO THAT we may be reborn into the Family of God.


First, let’s consider history before Christmas. Things looked pretty bleak for the human race. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, had blown it big time. They had made a choice for independence rather than the dependence that their Creator and Father God had asked for.


God said that life was now going to be hard for the woman and the man. But then that same Father said that another would be coming in human form, one who would be different. In this way the Father spoke on our behalf when He addressed Satan about the coming Seed of the woman and about us, His stolen children.


The prophet Isaiah told us that this different Person wouldn’t have a human father or come by human conception, but would be born of a virgin. He would be a Savior and a Conqueror.


Then the apostle Paul came on the scene and the whole purpose would become clear. In Galatians chapter 2, verse 20, my favorite verse in the Bible, Paul said about himself and, by extension, about all Christians, “I am crucified with Christ – nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.”


This Christmas, amidst all the activity of the season, let’s dwell not so much on His coming at Bethlehem (as important as that event was), but rather on His coming to live within us. If you surrender to Him as Lord, that’s where He belongs – WITHIN YOU!


Have you been saying, “I just can’t seem to feel the Christmas spirit this year”? That’s too bad. You are really saying that you feel no joy that Jesus came into the world. You are confessing that His presence in the world is not a reality to you. And beyond that, as a Christian yourself, you are ignoring the joy of the indwelling Christ who cleans up our lives.


Jesus! Born in a barn! The Son of God came to this material world within a dirty animal home. His first bed was an animal manger. Jesus could hardly have picked a more lowly place to dwell. You know, animals may be dirty on the outside but they are clean within as far as God is concerned. They are without sin. Humans without Christ may be clean on the outside but they are dirty within. Upon accepting Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of your life, Jesus sweeps out the uncleanness of your manger life and comes to dwell within you in a living union.


Maybe this year was not the best on a human level. We all have had Christmases in which sickness or relationship problems have resulted in the time of year not being quite as joyful as in previous years. In those cases, what we can do is concentrate on making it pleasant for others.


Christmas is not only a celebration of Jesus’ birth but a reminder of hope for the year ahead.


2010, for many people has not been a good year materially – the economy way down, home foreclosures, jobs lost. What more can you say about it. But our lives are not all material. They are more importantly spiritual. Let Jesus have a new birth in your life and become important to you this coming year. No matter the problems we may face in the future, our living union with Christ can bring us HIS peace and joy. In a few cases, Jesus takes the problems away so that they no longer exist. But in most cases, the problems remain for us to live through. But Jesus can bring us through them without anxiety and fear and, believe it or not, with peace and joy. The Bible says that He will not leave us or forsake us. What more can we ask for?


Now let’s talk about communion. Jesus Himself gave the reason why He established the taking of bread and wine.


Much is made today about the ability to remember things. Books are written about memory techniques. The ability to remember names and faces is a great factor in business success. We all wish that we could remember other people’s names and things about them better.


Practically every memory technique that you hear about involves the subject of “association”. Some of these talented “rememberers” say that when they first hear about something which they wish to remember, they associate the name, the face, the event, with some other common thing or event. This helps them to recall the thing they want to remember.


Well I believe that Jesus Christ understood the principles of memory association very well. And this is what communion or “the Lord’s Supper” is all about.


I’m going to take the liberty now of stating what I think Jesus had on His mind as He was eating at that Last Supper. Something like this:


“Here are my closest followers feeding their faces. This is something my followers everywhere will be doing every day – eating. I’m not going to be eating with them, living with them, teaching them much longer. But I want them to remember me. My followers now and of the future are going to get busy with things of the world and will tend to forget everything I mean to them. I don’t want them to forget what my death means in saving them from the penalty of sin.


Look at this bread. My followers are going to be eating some of this every day of their lives. When they take it into their mouths daily at mealtimes, I want them to think about my body, broken in death. They can associate eating the bread with my body death FOR THEM.


Look at this wine. They are going to be drinking some of this at their mealtimes also. As they raise that cup to their lips daily, and swish that wine into their mouth, I want them to think about my blood being spilled in death. They can associate drinking wine with my bloody death FOR THEM.


This is the best way I can think of to keep them IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME.”




Do you see what I mean, veterans? I believe that this communion event was meant by Christ to be a simple memory association. It was Jesus’ way of getting Christians to remember Him, in the confusion of the world, at least three times a day.


When you eat and drink your breakfast, your toast and coffee, remember His body and blood. When you eat and drink your lunch, for instance a sandwich and fruit juice, remember His body and blood. When you eat and drink dinner, a dinner roll and wine with your entrée, remember his body and blood. We can even pray a blessing before eating in thankfulness that we CAN remember!


It is certainly good, proper and uplifting to assemble together for a “Communion Service” as we are doing today. And you veterans have played a part in keeping freedom of worship in this country. Worshiping God in prayer or music together and then partaking of bread and wine or juice together is a fine way to increase our awareness of Christ’s importance in our lives. And that is what we are going to do here this morning.


But I really believe that Jesus had in mind a DAILY association of food as symbols about Him. After all, Jesus used symbols of physical things to represent Himself many times. He said He was the vine and we are the branches. He said He was the Light of the world – the Shepherd of the flock – the Bread of life – the source of living waters.


Nowhere in the gospel does it say that communion must be taken in a group. But it is good that we do this.


Before we go on. If you have never really accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord, let’s do that now. Just pray along with me in your heart:


Father – To the best of my ability, I accept Jesus as Savior from my sins and want to make Him the Lord of my life. Strengthen me to live as you would have me live. Amen. A simple but powerful prayer!


We can go ahead and start to distribute the elements now. This is an open communion. Anyone who is a follower of Jesus Christ is welcome to participate.


When you receive the wafer and the juice, please wait until all have received and then we will partake together.


Let’s sing a hymn now – You all know “O come all ye faithful”.


O come all ye faithful
Joyful and triumphant
O come ye O come ye to Bethleham
Come and adore Him
Born the king of angels
O come let us adore Him
O come let us adore Him
O come let us adore Him
Christ the Lord.


Let’s silently think now about Christ’s death for us and the meaning of communion.


All right. Let’s read from the Bible. The apostle Paul said, “For I received from the Lord what I also pass on to you. The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is my body which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” Let’s eat together.


“In the same way, after supper He took the cup saying. “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”


Let’s drink together.


You see – Jesus himself said that this is all about remembrance of His death for us.


Let’s finish this celebration with a prayer.


Father – we DO remember. Thank you for the birth of Jesus and, through Him, making us your children by a new birth. And by this communion we DO remember how Jesus paid the penalty for our sin by His death on the cross. We thank you that we have these remembrances of Jesus. The world causes our spirituality to leak out requiring recharging. We want to grow as your children. And you have promised that the Holy Spirit would accomplish this. We love you and thank you for all that you’ve done and all that you’re going to do. In Jesus name, Amen.

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