Communion at Thanksgiving

Today of all days we come around this table thankful for continuously being unburdened from failure, mistakes, and sins. That relief rests on what this bread and cup represent. God continues to forgive us on the condition of our continuing to repent of our moral failures. Cleansing from sin is the flip side of considering us clean like the One who died for us.

Participating in this repeated observance reminds us of God’s repeatedly overlooking what would otherwise estrange us from him. We recall again the way the apostle John puts it, “Christ’s blood continues to ‘cleanse’ us from all sin,” from all our sins (1 John 1:7).

Relief from what can burden us down lifts us up to keep trying to be like the One we remember here, the One we thank for the motivation for good that comes from the hope that lies in him.