Not meeting tonight for the Lord's Supper is a great loss for us as a congregation. To have a "holy communion" between God and between our fellow man is essential to our well being as His people. This truth of "communion", or lack of it, was accentuated by an email of a brother pastor here in Minnesota. He writes on a pastor's forum of what happened when a member of his congregation was admitted to the hospital with a COVID-19 diagnosis. He writes:
"The husband took his wife to the hospital where they were met at the emergency entrance. They told him to wait in the car and that they would call him. They called 20 min later and told him to go home because they were admitting her. He didn’t get to talk with her. They called again a few hours later to tell him that they were putting her in the ICU and they called again to let him know they were sedating her and putting her on a ventilator. I tell you this because from the moment they took her from the car, her husband had no contact with her and hasn’t even been able to talk with her. This is creating a sense of helplessness because he and their daughters can’t be there to support her. It is also creating guilt for not being there. None of these things are their fault but they are understandable reactions and I am sure the situation will be similar if your people have to be admitted."
What a word of deep sorrow and separation! Let us shower this and all other families suffering the effects of this terrible virus. Thankfully the pastor goes on to describe how the Lord has comforted this family and how the church is actively seeking to minister to them.
We are reminded what comfort it is that our Lord is always with us, even in the distress and disease of our sins. And we bless the Lord that He faithfully come close to us in a very special way in Holy Communion. I would pray that as we look forward to individual Confession/Absolution/Holy Communion on Saturday (11am-7pm), we would give thanks for the great mystery of God's Holy Supper. In it we are bound closely to Him and His great work of salvation! I pray that the following video might help us look forward to Saturday with true hearts of faith and wonder!
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