Weekly Communion?

Ray Van Neste offers Three Arguments for Weekly Communion:

• First, I think there is strong evidence of a pattern of weekly observance in the New Testament. 
• Second, in practical terms, in our man-centered age where so many services are shamefully devoid of any meaningful reference to the cross, could we not benefit from a move to a regular use of the Christ-ordained means for reminding us of the cross?
• Last, communion at the close of each service has a way of tying the service to the gospel.

[See also Van Neste's article "Reinvigorating Baptist Practice of the Ordinances"].

While not dealing with the issue of weekly communion, this reminder by Douglas Wilson to Let the Word Apply It to the Wound is important to keep it from becoming mere ritual:

The Word that accompanies the sacrament here is a Word that should be spoken to the occasion, to the circumstance. The bread and wine are constant; we have no authority to substitute other elements. We have no authority to adjust the sacrament itself.

But do we speak words of warning or words of comfort? Do we fence the Table, keeping some away, or do we seek to gather up the reluctant?

This depends entirely on whether we are observing the service in Thyatira, or Pergamum, or Ephesus, or Laodicea. The Word is what applies the sacramental service as it ought to be applied. To simply go through motions involving bread and wine is to invite a covenantal disaster. This is a meal with our Lord; it is not a liturgical drill.

Affirming Believers in Their Vocations

Excerpt from Gabe Lyons Calls the Church to Integrate Faith and Work:

Andy Crouch tells a story about a lady in Boston who taught Sunday school at her church for 30 years. She was also responsible for cleaning up the whole Boston Harbor, which was a nightmare for the city. But the first time she was brought up in front of her church was to talk about how she had taught Sunday school for 30 years. They never mentioned that she had been responsible for helping the entire city by leading this huge project. That's just normal. Pastors and leaders haven't thought as much, I think, about how to affirm work in their congregation. Yet that's the majority of the people sitting there, and it would relate so well to everybody to realize that the gospel is not just about showing up at church or evangelism. It also has a vocational component that demands we go out into the world and bring God's kingdom to bear in every place that we might touch or work.

On Being A Christian Lawyer

I came across an old post from Donald McConnell on What I Believe Lawyers Should Believe.

Here is a list of the ideas I would like to see lawyers believe. They are not original, but come from the ideas of a whole host of writers and philosophers and statesmen. At Trinity Law School, an evangelical protestant Christian law school, we do our best, not only to teach the law and legal thinking as they are, but also to present these ideas to the students in a persuasive way.

Among his ideas:

It is appropriate for Christians to act as advocates in the legal system, even for parties that are guilty or in the wrong, provided that they are honest with the court and with their client, and do not knowingly participate in the offering of false testimony. In representing blameworthy clients the believing attorney, as a fellow sinner saved by God’s grace, has the opportunity to be an instrument of God’s mercy and grace. But, Christians should not file or maintain lawsuits they know to be frivolous.

And:

All human beings are created in the image of God. As such they should be treated with dignity and respect regardless of status, origin, race, or conduct. All human beings should be seen as equal before the law in the sense that the law applies in the same way to them all, all are imperfect sinners, and all are entitled to appropriate due process. Lawyers should seek real due process of law for all, but should not seek special privileges or protections for genuine evil doers. Nor should lawyers advocate laws designed to shelter real evil from the reach of the law or the disapproval of society.

I found the list of ideas to be helpful, not because I am a lawyer but because it would be profitable for us to think through what it means to be a Christian in whatever line of work we are in.

Helping the Church to Pray

Michael McKinley counsels pastors on Six Ways to Help People Pray:

1. Set aside a lot of time in your gatherings to pray.
2. Pray different kinds of prayers in your gatherings.
3. Pray big prayers.
4. Put work into your prayers.
5. Tell your people that/how you are praying for them.
6. Give your people good resources.

The article fleshes out the outline.