Once, while we were in France, a brother who had abandoned the fellowship of the Church for several weeks because of some personal problems decided to come back on a certain Sunday morning. In our congregation, there was no “invitation” song, so having asked to say a word at the beginning of the worship hour, he stood up and explained what he had been going through, confessed his sins and asked for forgiveness. In the prayer that followed, another brother implored the Lord to forgive this brother and expressed the fact that all the gathered brethren also forgave him.
Now, since in our congregation the responsibilities for each service (song leader, speaker, Lord’s supper, etc.) were always decided months before, it happened that this repentant brother, newly restored to his relationship with God and his Church, was actually scheduled to serve the Lord’s Supper that very Sunday, though he did not know it when he arrived that morning. (In our small congregation, one person was all it took to perform this service.) When he learned of it, he stood up in front of God’s people and, with humility and thanksgiving, served us the Lord’s Supper, that unequaled reminder of God’s love and forgiveness!
It was a case study on the wonderful mercies of God, who forgives his repentant children and puts their sins behind him. And this is the awesome God we are coming to worship this Sunday morning!
Charles White