There are many things I enjoy about my job, and one of them is being able to worship with churches all over America. I hear great sermons and experience great worship. But one Sunday in Surprise, Arizona, I experienced something I will never forget.
A Growing Noise
In the middle of communion, I heard a growing noise. As it came closer I realized it was the sound of the communion cups cracking. I admit I looked up to see if it was a bunch of kids, but it wasn’t. It was adults and they looked like they were doing it with purpose. As soon as the service was over I went to the minister and he explained it to me.
Breaking the Power of Sin
He said, “The cup cracking started when I decided to have communion at the end of the service and have everybody hold the elements and take them together. Before we took them I taught briefly about how communion is a weekly time we can ask for forgiveness and ‘break’ the power of sin in our lives. Symbolic of that, after we had taken the elements, I asked everyone on the count of three to crack their cups so they could experience the sounds of sin being broken in their lives.”
I was able to experience this church’s special moment because many in the church continue to remember and celebrate the power of Christ on the cross by cracking their cups each week. I haven’t had the nerve to do it yet, other than when I am in Surprise; but this is a powerful and effective way to remember what Christ did for us on the cross.
What do you do to remember the power of the cross? What can you do in addition to taking the elements as they are passed to drive home the power of the moment in your heart? Maybe you shouldn’t break your cup at your church; people might think you’ve lost it. But do remember and celebrate what Christ has done for us as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. |L
Kevin Ingram is the president of Manhattan Christian College. He and his wife Lisa have been married for 26 years and have two children: Lauren and Tyler. After graduating from MCC in 1986 he served in two different ministries in western Kansas before coming to work at MCC.
