WOV #790, “Praise to You, O God of Mercy”
Devotion
Suggested as today’s closing hymn, the refrain affirms God’s faithfulness, love, and the fact that God remembers his “covenant of life with us.” In scripture, remembering means much more than just calling something to mind, as in, “Do you remember what you had for dinner last evening?” Instead, the biblical understanding of remembrance means participating in a past act by re-telling it in the present.
So we do that today. In our gathering around the altar, we break the bread and drink from the cup, heeding Jesus’ words, “Do this in remembrance of me.” And in that moment, the Christ who was present with those first disciples is just as truly present with the disciples of your congregation and mine. This is what Martin Luther meant when he said that in Holy Communion, Christ Jesus is truly in, with, and under the bread and wine. This, too, is amazing grace!
Prayer
Open our hearts to you this day, O Holy Spirit, and flood us with that divine grace as it comes to us in today’s preaching of the Word and the breaking of the bread and drinking of the cup. In the name of the Risen One, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.