This was Passover-night; the anniversary of "the night much to be remembered", when the Lord God of Israel led Israel out of Egypt. Jesus kept all the Passovers; and specially He desired to keep this, the last of the long series of memorable nights in which Israel commemorated the grand deliverance.

The roasted lamb disappears, and in its place come the bread and wine; the symbols of the new and better covenant. It is with these that we have to do in the ordinance of the supper. And, as of the Passover, so of the supper, Jesus is all.

I. The taking of the bread. It is bread that He takes; one of the Passover loaves; made of the produce of the soil - earth’s wheat, sown, watered, springing up and ripening here. For He took not the nature of angels, but He took the seed of Abraham. Himself the Incarnate One, the Word made flesh He presents to us. He is very man, of the substance of the virgin, of the flesh of man, true seed of the woman, true Son of Adam; not angelic, but human, thoroughly human in His nature; completely man in everything but sin; for that Passover loaf was without leaven (yeast).

II. The thanksgiving. The other evangelists call it "blessing." The meaning is the same. He "gave thanks" and He "blessed;" not the bread, but God; for "it" is not in the original Greek text. He praised God in connection with this bread. Jesus gave thanks for the bread, and specially for that of which it was the symbol. He gave thanks to the Father for His now almost completed work, and for all that that work was to accomplish.

III. The breaking of the bread. He broke the thin Passover loaf in pieces, that thereby He might compete the symbol. For the breaking was a most important part of the feast. The bread was to be broken before it was eaten. Not a bone of Him was to be broken, and yet His body was to be broken. The "bruising of the heel" and the "breaking of the body" were the two expressions used to denote His suffering work as the substitute or sacrifice for sin. It is not incarnation merely that we have in the supper, but death - sacrificial death; the body broken by the burden of our guilt laid upon Him. Christ crucified is the alpha and omega of the Lord’s Supper. It is His cross that is set before us there; His cross as the place where our guilt and our curse were borne.

IV. The giving. In many ways Christ gave Himself to us; but here it is specially as the sin-bearer that He does so. It is His broken body that He presents to us. This is His gift to us. That broken body, with the sin-bearing work which it accomplished, He gives to us. It is the gift of His love; the love that passeth knowledge.

V. The world of explanation and command. The explanation is, "This is my body, given for you." The command is, "This do in remembrance of me." Thus, we learn these two things (1) that it is the body of Christ - Christ on the cross - that we have so specially here; my flesh is meat indeed;" (2) that the Lord’s Supper is a memorial of Christ Himself; not a sacrifice, but the memorial of a sacrifice. That bread is to be received by us in remembrance of Christ. It fixes our eyes on Jesus only.

Such is the first part of the supper; that concerning the bread or body of the Lord. The second is like unto it; concerning the wine or blood of the Lord. The process is repeated. As was done with the bread, so is it done with the wine.

I. He took the cup. It was the cup of blessing. He took to Himself not only the flesh but the blood of men.

II. He gave thanks. For the wine as well as the bread He gives thanks - double thanksgiving for this ordinance.

III. He gave the cup. The cup meant for them as specially as the bread. Yes; He gave it; who then can take it away? Can man, or priest, or church take the cup from us? Does not he who takes the cup from us prove himself to be an Anti-Christ?

IV. He bade them drink. "Drink ye all of it." it is by His command that we drink. He says to us "Drink"; not look on it; but, Drink of it.

V. He interprets the cup. "This cup is the new testament in my blood." In that cup we see the covenant, the blood, the blessing, the communion. Let us fully understand it, but realize its contents.

Of these symbols - of this whole ordinance - we may say truly; (1) The love of Christ is here. It is the feast of love. The symbols tell of love. The whole scene is love. His banner over us is love. (2) The joy of Christ is here. It is not the man of sorrows that we hear in this feast. Joy and peace are here. (3) The glory of Christ is here. For though the symbols take us back to the cross, they bid us look forward to His coming and the glory. We show His death till He come.

I don’t think we do enough teaching on the meaning of the Lord’s Supper and the way we come to the Lord’s Table. And I would urge that as there must be understanding through teaching and learning, so there must be involvement. I don’t think we can ever say too much about the importance of an active exercise of mind and heart at the communion service. I am sure it demands more of our minds and hearts than is demanded of us when we come to a Bible or prayer service.

Holy communion demands of us private preparation of heart before the Lord before we come to the table. We need to prepare ourselves for fellowship with Jesus Christ the Lord, who meets us in this ceremony. We should think of Him as presiding at the communion table and as enthroned on the true Mount Zion referred to in Hebrews 12, the city of the living God where the glorified believers and the angels are.

We are also to learn the divinely intended discipline of drawing assurance from the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. We should be saying in our hearts, "As sure as I see and touch and taste this bread and this wine, so sure is it that Jesus Christ is not a fiction but a fact, that He is for real, and that He offers me Himself to be my Saviour, my Bread of Life, and my Guide to glory. He has left me this rite, this gesture, this token, this ritual action as a guarantee of this grace; He instituted it, and it is a sign of life-giving union with Him, and I’m taking part in it, and thus I know that I am His and He is mine forever”.

There is no new or additional grace given in the Lord’s Supper.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones

In the Lord’s Supper there is the eloquent reminder that there can be no true participation in the merits which flow from Christ’s atoning death except through such a faith as effects a personal union with Him; a faith consisting not merely in the mental acceptance of His sacrifice as a historic fact, but a faith which mystically feeds upon Him, the living sacrifice as He now exists in heaven.
Geerhardus Vos

The regular misweek meeting for Praise, Prayer and Bible Study restarts Wednesday 8th September at 7.30pm in the Session Room.

Everyone is most welcome to come to this informal but informative meeting week by week as we approach the throne of grace to offer our petitions to the Lord, to praise Him and to learn more of Jesus, our Saviour and Lord.

We have the opportunity to deepen our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, to pose questions (and hopefully to get answers), with the aim of coming to a fuller appreciation of what Christ has done for us and what our response to Him must be.

The new 2011 - 2012 session will begin this month when the Company commences enrolment as follows:

Anchor Boys (Boys aged 5 - 7 years)
Thursday, 8th September at 6.45pm in the Old Church Hall

Junior Section (Boys aged 8 - 10 years)
Thursday, 8th September at 7.45pm in the Old Church Hall

Company Section (Boys aged 11 - 17 years)
Thursday, 8th September at 7.30pm in the Old Church Hall

All Boys will be made most welcome and we trust that both old and new members will enjoy the activities of the Company over the next few months.

Last session ended with our Holiday Weekend to Moffat which was once again a successful venture. During the weekend, the Company Section had an excursion to the Leadhills Narrow Gauge Railway and the Junior Section visited the Burns Museum and Mausoleum in Dumfries.

We look forward to a successful session ahead and would ask that you encourage any Boys that you may know to come along to The Boys' Brigade.
Jim Kerr (Captain)

With the summer holidays over we are now preparing for our new session.

New Session Tuesday 6th September:
Explorer section P1-P3 at 6pm in Old Hall
Junior & Brigader sections at 7pm in New Hall

We look forward to meeting with all the girls again and extend an invitation to any girls wishing to join us.

Our Annual Gift Day will be held on Sunday 4th September, 2011. Please use the envelope provided and place in the box in the Hall of Fellowship. If you are a tax payer please complete the front of the envelope to allow the church to claim back the tax already paid on your gift.
Thank you

Soup lunches are normally every second Sunday in the month.

Anyone wishing to help on these dates please give your name and preferred date to Joan Walmsley.

The Pop-In Café will once again be open for business on Saturday 3rd September at 10am.

The ladies and gentlemen of all three teams look forward to seeing all our regulars back on the first three Saturdays of the month.

warm welcome awaits anyone joining us for the first time.

Garry Swan would like to thank all who sponsored him for his Cycle Ride in aid of the Paul O’Gorman Leukaemia Research Centre in Glasgow.