LS-44-The Privilege of Communion
The Privilege of Communion
"Send us a set of communion vessels; we shall need it some day." So Mary Moffat wrote from Bechuanaland, Africa, to a friend who had asked whether she could send anything of use. That was in 1827, says their biographer, when the missionaries were living in the midst of danger, and were almost in despair of seeing any change in the people. But, weak in body though she was, Mary Moffat was strong in faith, and did not falter. It took a long time to communicate with the old country in those days. A year passed before the friend got the letter. A second year had gone before the gift reached its destination in Africa. In that year, 1829, there were a number of enquirers after salvation, and six of the natives were selected for baptism--the first fruits of the mission. They were to be received into the Church on a certain Lord’s day, and on the Friday before this was to be done, the communion set arrived. The converts were baptised with feelings of deep gratitude, and in thankfulness and joy missionaries and converts knelt together that evening to commemorate the death of our Lord.
John G. Paton, describing the first communion service held on the island of Anima, New Hebrides, wrote: "It was Sabbath, 24th October, 1869, and surely the angels of God and the Church of the redeemed in glory were amongst the great cloud of witnesses who eagerly peered down upon the scene, when we sat around the Lord’s Table and partook of His body and blood with those few souls rescued out of the heathen world. For the first time, the Dorcas Street School Teachers’ gift from the South Melbourne Presbyterian Church was put to use-a new communion service of silver. They gave it in faith that it would be required, and in such we received It. And now the day has come and gone. For three years we had toiled and prayed and taught for this. At the moment when I put the bread and wine into those dark hands, once stained with the blood of cannibalism, now stretched out to receive and partake of the emblems and seals of the Redeemer’s love, I had a foretaste of the joy of glory that well nigh broke my heart to pieces. I shall never taste a deeper bliss, till I gaze on the glorified face of Jesus Himself."
It was but natural that the moment of deepest joy felt by the missionaries in their work was the moment when they met at the Table of the Lord with the converts they had won. Here, where the soul enters into the most intimate communion with the Redeemer, all the hopes and joys and glad realisations of the Divine blessing seemed to be gathered up in the experience of His worshipping people. Is it not also true of us that some of our richest experiences of the Divine grace have been in those moments when, as now, we have fellowship with one another, in Him, in this privilege of communion?