Fencing
the Table and Prayer at the Lord’s Supper
As we come to the Lord’s Table
tomorrow I thought it beneficial to share some aspects of the service.
Firstly there is the “fencing” of
the Table. Too often this becomes a harsh
diatribe detailing those who are forbidden to come. In the Free Church of Scotland our problem is
not so much excluding those who should not come but encouraging those who
should come and do not do so. I have used traditional Presbyterian sources, but
reworked the language a little.
Secondly, I have appended the prayers before and after the distribution
of the bread and wine which are found in Knox’s Book of Common Order. I have not updated the language but simply
include them as models and examples.
Fencing and Invitation:
“God’s
Word tells us that before we come to the Lord’s Table we are to examine
ourselves – that it is an ordinance for those who know Christ as Saviour and
follow him as Lord. It is not to be
approached by those who do not profess Christ nor by those whose lives disown
Christ. It is an open table for all who truly know Christ and belong to his
Church and I invite all who are baptized, who have professed faith and who
belong to any biblical church to join with us at this Table.
Examine
your own consciences, therefore, to know whether you truly repent of your sins,
and whether, trusting in God's mercy, and seeking your whole salvation in Jesus
Christ, you are resolved to follow holiness, and to live in peace and charity
with all men.
If you
have this testimony in your hearts before God, I announce and declare that your
sins are forgiven through the perfect merit of Jesus Christ our Lord; and I invite
you, in His name, to His holy Table.
And
although you feel that you have not perfect faith, and do not serve God with
such zeal as you ought, but have to fight daily against the temptations of your
fallen nature; yet if, by God's grace, you are heartily sorry for these
weaknesses, and earnestly desire to withstand all unbelief, and to keep all His
commandments, be assured that your remaining sins and infirmities do not
prevent you from being received by God in mercy, and so made worthy partakers
of this heavenly food.
We do not
come to this Supper as righteous in ourselves, but we come to seek our life in Christ,
acknowledging that we lie in the midst of death. Let us, then, look upon this
Sacrament as a remedy for those who are spiritually weak, and consider that the
worthiness our Lord requires of us is, that we be truly sorry for our sins, and
find our joy and salvation in Him. United with Him who is holy, even our Lord
Jesus Christ, we are accepted by the Father, and invited to partake of these
holy things which are for his true children.”
Knox’s
Prayer before Communion:
O FATHER of mercy, and God of all
consolation, seeing all creatures do acknow-ledge and confess Thee as Governor
and Lord, it becometh us, the workmanship of Thine own hands, at all times to
reverence and magnify Thy godly Majesty, first, for that Thou hast created us
to Thine own image and similitude, but chiefly because Thou hast delivered us
from that everlasting death and damnation into the which Satan drew mankind, by
the mean of sin," from the bondage whereof neither man nor angel was able
to make us free,but Thou, O Lord, rich in mercy, and infinite in goodness, hast
provided our redemption to stand in Thine only and well beloved Son, whom of
very love Thou didst give to be made Man like unto us, in all things, sin
except, that in His body He might receive the punishment of our transgression. by
His death to make satisfaction to Thy justice,
and by His resurrection to destroy him that was author of death,"
and so to bring again life to the world, from which all the whole offspring of Adam
most justly was exiled.
O Lord, we acknowledge that no
creature is able to comprehend the length and breadth, the deepness and height
of that Thy most excellent love, which moved Thee to show mercy where none was
deserved to promise and give life where death had gotten the victory, to receive
us into Thy grace when we could do nothing but rebel against Thy justice.
O Lord, the blind dulness of our
corrupt nature will not suffer us sufficiently to weigh those Thy most ample
benefits yet, nevertheless, at the commandment of Jesus Christ our Lord, we
present ourselves to this His Table, which He hath left to be used in re- membrance
of His death, until His coming again, to declare and witness before the world, that
by Him alone we have received liberty and life, that by Him alone Thou dost
acknowledge us Thy children and heirs, that by Him alone we have entrance to
the throne of Thy grace, that by Him
alone we are possessed in our spiritual Kingdom, to eat and drink at His Table,
with whom we have our conversation presently in heaven, and by whom our bodies
shall be raised up again from the dust, l and shall be placed with Him in that
endless joy, which Thou, O Father of mercy, hast prepared for Thine Elect
before the foundation of the world was laid. And these most inestimable
benefits we acknowledge and confess to have received of Thy free mercy and
grace, by thine only beloved Son Jesus Christ, for the which therefore, we Thy
congregation, moved by Thy Holy Spirit render Thee all thanks, praise, and
glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
Knox’s
Prayer after Communion:
MOST merciful Father, we render
to Thee all praise, thanks, and glory, for that it hath pleased Thee of Thy
great mercies to grant unto us, miserable sinners, so excellent a gift and
treasure, as to receive us into the fellowship and company of Thy dear Son
Jesus Christ our Lord, whom Thou deliveredst to death for us, and hast given
Him unto us as a necessary food and nourishment unto everlasting life. And now
we beseech Thee also, O heavenly Father, to grant us this request, that Thou
never suffer us to become so unkind as to forget so worthy benefits, but rather
imprint and fasten them sure in our hearts, that we may grow and increase daily
more and more in true faith, t which continually is exercised in all manner of
good works, and so much the rather, O Lord, confirm us in these perilous days
and rages of Satan, that we may constantly stand and continue in the confession
of the same, to the advancement of Thy glory, who art God over all things,
blessed for ever. So be it.
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