The Lord's Supper at Good Shepherd

This morning (Sunday, 4/20), Good Shepherd celebrated the Lord's Supper for the first time since moving into her new building near route 7 in Herndon! Just as with so many other things when moving into a new facility, our celebration was not without its small confusions and missteps. However, at the end of the day, the Gospel was proclaimed and Jesus' body and blood was "given for us for the forgiveness of sins". A good day!

Since last summer (2007), I have had the privilege of assisting in worship in new ways at Good Shepherd. At that time, we were moving into a period of vacancy as our previous pastor, Rev. Monte Frohm, entered into a much deserved retirement. Our lay minister, Tim Christiansen (now back at Prince of Peace in the Specific Ministry Pastor program), suggested to our vacancy pastor, Rev. Ben Nass, that I be given the opportunity to serve as a lay assistant. This service has included leading portions of the liturgy, reading the Gospel lesson, and assisting with distribution of communion.

My favorite duty has been assisting with communion: being the Lord's instrument as He presents His body and blood to my brothers and sisters; proclaiming that "this true body and true blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, strengthen and preserve you in the one true faith unto life everlasting" as the communicants depart from the table; announcing a baptismal blessing to young children who come forward with their parents and siblings; bringing the body and blood to those unable to approach the chancel on their own; seeing the range of emotions and thoughts play out on the members' faces throughout.

Given all of this, you can imagine that our congregation's first communion Sunday in our new sanctuary ranks right up there for me with the first worship service in the building!

I understand that I may not have the opportunity to assist with conducting the divine service for a while once I begin seminary this summer. I am truly disappointed about this; however, it will certainly give me one more thing to look forward to!