For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
“Reflection helps us listen to our life, previewing and reviewing our days with thanksgiving. However, if we are not practicing any of the myriad options for the discipline of reflection, we miss so much of what the Lord has in store for us to receive from his generous and loving hand. The more we attend to the practice of reflection the more we ultimately learn, discover and receive from God.
There are countless ways to practice reflective disciplines: journaling, photography, creative arts, holy conversations, pausing, noticing, attending, wondering, and pondering. We can reflect alone and in the quietness of solitude, and we can reflect with a loved one in the daily-ness of our relational connections. We can sit with a single verse or segment of the biblical text; hold that verse(s) prayerfully or interview the text in an exploratory fashion.
The key to unlocking this spiritual practice is recognizing why we do so. I would suggest that the singularly most important reason is because we are generally a forgetful people…The pinnacle call to remembrance comes when Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper as a reflective practice…The life, death and resurrection of Jesus is wrapped up in this incredible time…We remember and we give thanks, over and over again, in similar fashion each time. Why? So that we never ever forget.”
Stephen Macchia in SILENCIO, 47th edition, “Reflection: Remember & Give Thanks” a resource of Leadership Transformations, Inc., November 2016.
As I think about “inheritance” in biblical terms which comprises passing on a place, teaching a trade, and sharing our faith with our children, helping them learn to reflect with gratitude comes into view as a vital exercise that must be included.
For Jenni and me, sitting in quietness and solitude and thinking about the implications of a Bible verse are life giving daily disciplines. Sammy loves to experience the wonder of God’s extravagance in creation, while Sophie loves to journal. What about you? Do you have a daily practice that helps you reflect on all that our generous God is doing around you and for you?
Macchia rightly notes that perhaps the greatest reflective exercise is the Lord’s Supper. It’s my favorite part of church every Sunday. When we are in Denver we attend Bridgeway Community Church, as our son, Sammy, helped plant the church just over two years ago.
Each week we proclaim the same three short statements in the service so we never forget them: “Christ died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.” When we pass on our faith to our children as an inheritance, sometimes it comes back to bless us. I know that part of the service blesses Jenni and me every week!