Hands and Hearts
While Donna and I were away from home not long ago we worshiped with another congregation composed of people of “like precious faith” (2 Peter 1:1). In accordance with the teaching of the New Testament, a part of our worship included the Lord’s Supper.
The man who led us in prayer that particular Sunday used an expression I don’t ever remember hearing before. As he prayed, first before passing the trays that contained the bread and then later the ones that contained the fruit of the vine, he included the thought that went something like this:
As we pass these trays from hand to hand, let us also pass them from heart to heart.
I appreciate this brother for reminding me (and hopefully others) of some important things. We were reminded of the relationship that Christians have with one another and the love we are to have for one another. That person sitting next to me from whom I receive or to whom I pass that tray may or may not be a part of my physical family. He or she, though, is my brother or sister in Christ. As that tray goes from hand to hand, it should, indeed, be going from heart to heart.
I believe also that the brother’s statement also at least implied that this vital part of our worship is to be corporate/collective! However, the fact that the statement was included in a prayer suggests that the relationship with the person sitting next to me is not the only relationship involved in His statement.
Prayers are not addressed to one another. They are addressed to God.
Without going into a lot of detail, I will suggest that everything we are to do in worship has both a personal and a corporate/collective component. I cannot worship for somebody else and nobody else can worship for me. In a sense, worship is very personal. At the same time, while we may not be passing anything from hand to hand, we should be joining heart to heart as we worship.
Paul was not writing exclusively about worship as he penned the following words, but our worship together must surely be included is his admonition “…to be like minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 15:5-6)
Did you catch the last part of that passage?
While it is true that our worship has both an individual and corporate/collective component, it is not intended to glorify ourselves. It is intended to glorify God. In fact, my understanding of His word is that this is my primary purpose for everything I do.
I am thankful that the brother who made the statement that prompted these thoughts reminded me of the importance of my relationship with my brothers and sisters in Christ. I am even more grateful for the fact that he helped us to collectively remember the sacrifice that was made for each of us. It helps to be reminded of that.
Maybe it would also help if we “dusted off” an old statement that I remember hearing in the past, but have not heard recently. As I remember it, this did not happen all of the time, but it did happen often enough to have made an impact on me and for me to remember it. On some occasions, a brother would say something like this before we prayed or sang together:
Let’s all join our hands and our hearts.
AUTHOR: Jim Faughn
