Bread and Wine

Bread and Wine by Kjersti Timenes

When we receive communion at St James' the invitation often used to invite us to take part in this act of worship is...
Come to this table, not because you are strong, but because you are weak; Come, not because any goodness of your own gives you a right to come, But because you need mercy and help; Come, because you love the Lord a little and would like to love him more; Come, not because you are worthy to approach him, But, because he died for sinners; Come, because he loved you and gave himself for you.
I always find this invitation so encouraging and at the same time full of grace and truth.
Encouraging because it draws me to partake no matter how unworthy I feel I am, no matter how far away from God I think I am - the faint echo of truth in my spirit of how I do love the Lord a little is engaged. I step forward to receive the bread and the wine and this in itself is an act to demonstrate that I want to love the Lord more.
It is full of grace and truth because it is honest about the reality that no matter how I feel or how good or bad I have been or indeed anyone else in the room, we are all sinners and none of us is worthy to approach Him, And yet He died for sinners and because He loved me he gave himself up for me.
It is good to be in a church where the sacrament of communion is served regularly (every other week) and as I get older I see the depth of the liturgy, it is not cold and lifeless but rather a pathway that can bring us into a place of the reality of God.