Text: 1 Corinthians 11:23–26
Every covenant has a memory. Weddings have vows couples return to. Faith covenant has moments we remember during the year not because we forget the facts, but because remembering shapes who we are. The Lord’s Supper is one of those moments, one of those covenants.
In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul reminds the church of what he himself “received from the Lord.” And what he shares is not a new idea. What Paul shares is not a private revelation. What he shares is a sacred memory entrusted to the church.
Today, as we prepare to renew our covenant with God, this text reminds us that Communion is not just something we receive it is something we enter, remember, and live.
Paul begins the memorial of Communion with these words: “For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you…” Before talking about commitment, surrender, or obedience,
Paul starts with what he received. every covenant between God and his people begins not with our promise to God, but with God’s gift to us.
Wesley, the founder of Methodism understood this deeply. That is why the Covenant Renewal Service he introduced in 1755 and he strongly encouraged regular renewal, never begins with what we will do, but with what God has already done for us.
We do not come to the table because we are worthy. We come because of what Christ has already done for us and because Christ is inviting us. Therefore, we can say that the covenant God does with us is first received before it is renewed.
Paul is careful to remind us of the setting of the first Holy communion: “On the night when he was betrayed…” The night of the covenant, we celebrate today was not a night of celebration, or a night of victory. It was a night of betrayal.
Covenant faith is not forged in comfort. It is revealed in faithfulness under pressure. Jesus does not wait for loyalty from his disciples before offering himself for them. He even gave bread to the one who will deny him and the one who will betray him. That is worth it for us to remember today. Because covenant renewal is not about pretending we’ve been faithful, it’s about coming as we are before a faithful God. Communion table reminds us of the truth about human brokenness and divine mercy.
Jesus says: “Do this in remembrance of me.” When the Bible asks us to remember, this is not about a passive memory, or nostalgia. Biblical are always memories inviting us to participate.
Therefore, to remember Christ and what he did is to re-enter and re-live the story: It is to remember his self-giving love for us; to remember his obedience and surrender to the will of the Father. At Christ Communion Table, remembering is an act of recommitment too. When we renew our covenant today, we are not making a new promise. We are stepping back into the promise God has already made.
Paul reminded the church in Corinth, and to us today, that the cup is not just a symbol. “This cup -Jesus said- is the new covenant in my blood.” A covenant always binds two or more parties together through conditions. However, this covenant we celebrate today is sealed and kept not with conditions, but with Christ’s own life.
Wesley called this free grace. Grace that not only forgives but also transforms. That is why the Covenant Prayer -we will pray later- is so honest and so bold: “Put me to what you will…
let me have all things… let me have nothing…”
Paul says that every time we eat and drink at the table, we proclaim. Therefore, sisters and brothers even when we come to take it silence and in a solemn manner, Communion is not silent: It preaches, it proclaims that Christ has died, that Christ is risen, that Christ will come again. And when we leave this table, our lives are meant to echo that proclamation wherever we go. This covenant is not just renewed in worship and in sharing bread and juice— it must be lived in how we love, forgive, serve, and obey.
Today, we will renew our covenant with God not because we are strong but because Christ is faithful. Not because we have kept our promises but because Christ has kept his.
As we pray Wesley’s Covenant Prayer and as we come to the table, we are doing two things at once: We are receiving God’s grace again and we are offering ourselves to God. So come to the table not with fear, but with trust. Come—remembering, proclaiming, and living the covenant until he comes. Amen.
