How important is communion and shouldn't it be offered weekly?
Thank you for asking this question. Many churchgoers seem to put their mind on automatic pilot during the celebration of the Lord's Supper. They may never question its importance or why it is celebrated monthly rather than weekly.
The institution of the Lord's Table is mentioned in each of the Gospels and in 2 Corinthians 11:23-34. It is important because Christ commanded us to celebrate it. He thought it was important for our spiritual growth. The real question is, why is and how is the Lord's Table an encouragement to our spiritual growth?
The Lord's Table is a picture of God's grace given to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It reminds us that our connection with God has been secured only by Christ death on the cross in our place for the punishment of our sins. It also pictures our continual need to trust in Christ for the daily provision of his grace and strength and help and comfort. The Shorter Catechism, another constitutional document of our church, explains that a sacrament is a holy regulation established by Christ, in which Christ and the benefits of the New Covenant are represented, sealed, and applied to the believers. This means that when we celebrate the Lord's Table, we are drawing close to God and experiencing the continued impact of the Gospel for our own spiritual health.
When Christ instituted the Lord's Table, he did not specify how frequently the church should celebrate it. Some churches celebrate the Lord's Table once a week and some may offer it every day. The collective wisdom and practice of the larger Church has positioned the celebration of the Lord Table on a monthly cycle. In that way is not done so frequently that its impact is taken for granted; nor is it so infrequent that we forget its meaning. We are encouraged to prepare for each celebration of the Lord's Table by prayer, confession of sin, reflection on the Lord Jesus Christ and his death for us, and by a renewed focus on serving him.
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What do we as a church believe about Communion and its meaning?
As you might know, there are four different interpretations of the Lord's Table. The Roman Catholic approach teaches that the bread and juice become the actual and literal body of Christ and blood of Christ. This is called transubstantiation. The Lutheran Church teaches that the bread and juice are not changed into the body and blood of Christ, but that Christ is present in and with and through the bread and juice. The Reformed view, the Presbyterian view, is that Christ is present spiritually in the celebration of the Lord's Table, but that the elements themselves remain as they are. The Baptist church views the Lord's Table as only a commemoration of the death of Christ. These four interpretations are stated with very broad strokes, and much more could be said about each one.
Trinity would fall within the Presbyterian perspective on the Lord's Table. We would understand that this sacrament pictures God's grace in Christ death for our sin. We would affirm that those who participate in this sacrament, draw close to God and experience Christ's spiritual presence and ministry to them, strengthening them, feeding them spiritually, and deepening their experience of his presence. [top]
I was baptized as an infant; should I be re-baptized?
Often this is a question asked by someone who was raised in the church, baptized as an infant, and then, at a later date, experienced a genuine conversion to Christ. Out of that conversion, comes the natural question of whether it would honor Christ and give testimony to the conversion to be re-baptized.
There is no evidence in the New Testament of a re-baptism. When Paul talks about those doctrines that unify the church in Ephesians 4:4-6, he says. "There is one body and one Spirit-just as you were called to one hope when you were called-one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all, who was over all and through all that in all. Notice that he mentions one baptism as a unifying expression of those who have become followers of Christ. The church at large has interpreted this to mean that if you are baptized as an infant, you do not need to be re-baptized. In our Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 28, it says that "the effectiveness of baptism is not tied to that moment in time in which it is administered. At the appointed time, according to God's will, the grace promised in baptism will be conferred by the Holy Spirit to the one who comes eventually to faith in Christ. The sacrament of baptism, therefore, should be administered only once to a person."
At Trinity we have tried to be sensitive to the request of our members. On occasion, we have honored the request for re-baptism, explaining that it is not a second baptism, but a renewal of the intent of the original baptism. [top]
What does the Bible teach about divorce and remarriage?
Thank you for this difficult question. It is difficult for number of reasons; first, it is difficult because students of the Bible have disagreed on its answer; second, it is difficult because the experience of divorce has been extremely painful for many, many people, and sometimes the church has addressed this issue in a callous manner, coming across as extremely judgmental and harsh; third, our desire is to be gracious and redemptive in dealing with the issues of divorce and remarriage, and such an approach requires great wisdom and sensitivity.
Matthew. 19:1-9 gives a defining answer to your question. First of Jesus begins by repeating the creation mandate, that it is God's ideal for marriage to be a lifelong commitment to self giving love between one man and one woman. Secondly, Jesus indicates that God did provide divorce because of the hardness of a person's heart. But this was not God's purpose from the beginning. Thirdly, Jesus indicates that divorce is permissible, though not required if there has been marital unfaithfulness. Much discussion has focused on what he meant by marital unfaithfulness-did he only mean adultery? Did he mean behavior that would break the marital bond, such as abandonment, physically or emotionally, or abuse, either physically or emotionally, or some type of sexual addiction to affairs, or pornography?
Trinity as a church would encourage every married couple to stay within their marriage, to seek God's help and our help to work out their marital problems and never to look at divorce as an alternative. However, we know that divorce does take place, that marriages are broken beyond repair, and that the legal divorce is often only the outward confirmation of an inner death of the marriage. If a couple divorces, we would encourage them to work at reconciliation and restoration of the marriage. At Trinity, we handle couples who want to be remarried on an individual basis, certainly with grace and compassion.
The Westminster Confession of Faith, one of the constitutional documents of our church, in chapter 24, makes these statements: "marriage is a union between one man and one woman, designed of God to last as long as they both shall live. It is the divine intention that persons entering the marriage covenant, become inseparably united, thus allowing for no disillusion saved that caused by the death of either husband or wife. However, the weaknesses of one or both partners may lead to a denial of the marriage vows. Such separation or divorce is accepted as permissible only because of the failure or one or both of the partners, and does not lessen in any way, the divine intention for indissoluble union. The remarriage of divorced persons may be sanctioned by the church, in keeping with the redemptive gospel of Christ." [top]
