SPEAKER_00: So let's make sure we're respectful and polite and we are good listeners.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna hand it over to Mr.
SPEAKER_00: All right, thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Of course.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad to see y'all this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Are you doing okay?
SPEAKER_00: You cannot.
SPEAKER_00: You are very well behaved.
SPEAKER_00: I hadn't gotten to see all of you together.
SPEAKER_00: All right, raise your hand if you're in kindergarten.
SPEAKER_00: That's the front.
SPEAKER_00: All right, first grade?
unknown: First grade, first grade.
SPEAKER_00: First grade.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay, first grade.
SPEAKER_00: And then second grade, so kind of making our way back.
SPEAKER_00: We forget.
SPEAKER_00: Third grade, fourth, and then fifth.
SPEAKER_00: Very good.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all are great.
SPEAKER_00: All right, I don't know how far you had to drive today to go to church, but I drove about an hour and a half.
SPEAKER_00: I know.
SPEAKER_00: Do y'all know where Montgomery is?
SPEAKER_00: That's where I, you know, sort of live and sort of live here.
SPEAKER_00: And so I um had to drive here this morning and I was texting Miss Beth.
SPEAKER_00: Is that what they call you?
SPEAKER_00: Is that Miss Beth?
SPEAKER_00: Saying, I'm on my way, I'm on my way, I'm on my way.
SPEAKER_00: So I was trying to really hurry.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let me, we're gonna talk about the Lord's Supper.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna talk about what goes on in church at that time, and what are all those older people thinking about and what are they uh praying about and things like that that when we're singing when we take the Lord's Supper.
SPEAKER_00: So the first thing I want you to do is don't say it out loud, okay?
SPEAKER_00: This is just in your mind, and I'm already thinking of my answer right now, but I'm not gonna say it out loud.
SPEAKER_00: What is the best gift you've ever received?
SPEAKER_00: Just keep it to yourself, just keep it to yourself.
SPEAKER_00: You might be thinking about Christmas, it might be a birthday, um, but it could have been just something from your mom and dad, or your grandparents, or friend, or I am gonna say mine, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Because mine was, well, really, it was with my whole family, and it was when we got a puppy on Christmas morning, and it was just like my that my children were your age, they were actually in first grade and second grade, and so we all cried and we were just so happy, and that dog's name was Annie.
SPEAKER_00: So I think about that just being one of the greatest gifts ever for my family.
SPEAKER_00: All right, just think about that.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to um don't say it out loud again, but we're gonna come back to that, okay, at the end.
SPEAKER_00: So that's the greatest gift that you think you've ever received.
SPEAKER_00: Now, let me tell you about just a little part of a story that's the greatest story that was ever told.
SPEAKER_00: Um, you can raise your hand for this.
SPEAKER_00: Who was the greatest story that was ever told about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Very good.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus and his entire life.
SPEAKER_00: But when it was coming toward the end of his life, and he had been with his disciples for three years, they had all lived together, and I think they slept outside a lot under the stars, and I don't know where else they slept, but they ate a lot of meals together, and Jesus was teaching them for three whole years.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's a that's a pretty long time.
SPEAKER_00: But when it came to the end, he was gonna eat one last meal with them.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so just think about that.
SPEAKER_00: I won't think about our own lives, but just think about the very last time he was gonna eat together with his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: So he tells two of his disciples to go ahead of him and go into the town and find a room called the upper room.
SPEAKER_00: You may have heard that before.
SPEAKER_00: Go find the upper room, tell the person who owns the upper room that the master, Jesus, is coming and he needs to have a meal there with his disciples, and they needed some time to prepare for the meal.
SPEAKER_00: And so they do that.
SPEAKER_00: And it's just like Jesus had said it was going to happen.
SPEAKER_00: The man was there who owned the house, who owned the upper room, and the disciples got all the things that they needed for the meal.
SPEAKER_00: It's a special meal because it was called the Passover meal.
SPEAKER_00: So the Passover meal was very, very important to Jesus and his disciples and the Jewish people because that's when God had brought them out of Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: And so they celebrated the Passover.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody messed with the Passover, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Because the Passover had to be eaten a certain way.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know all the details, I didn't look all that up for this right now, but there were certain things they had to eat, like something that they had to eat something that was bitter, I do remember that, and something you know, bitter in their mouth because that reminded them of how bad it was to be in slavery all those years.
SPEAKER_00: So they did all these little things to remind themselves of Egypt and then how God had passed over, the angel had passed over, and not killed the children, the firstborn of the Egyptians.
SPEAKER_00: And so they they were, of course, looking back on that, um, it would be very sad to think about the slavery they were in, but they were very happy that God had delivered them.
SPEAKER_00: So that's what Jesus was going to do with his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: And it was a Thursday night.
SPEAKER_00: All right, let me ask you this.
SPEAKER_00: Um, don't say it out loud, but just think.
SPEAKER_00: Um have you ever seen your mom, or maybe been your dad too, or it might have been your grandparents, but you go to their house or you're at your house and they're preparing a big, big meal, and then they start putting things on the table, like green beans and butter beans and corn, and then maybe a turkey if it's Thanksgiving, and then um raise your hand if you've ever helped set up the table, like forks, knives, spoons, napkins.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: So everybody's done that.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what these disciples went to do.
SPEAKER_00: They went to prepare the table.
SPEAKER_00: Just like, well, it wasn't just like this, but that's why we call this a table.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Now here's something.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure you'd be that interested, maybe the adults in here, but it's not an altar, okay?
SPEAKER_00: And that's why it's very important that we see the legs on this table, because an altar doesn't have legs, but a table does have legs.
SPEAKER_00: And so the reason it's not an altar is because we're not re-sacrificing Jesus on the cross every time we take this meal.
SPEAKER_00: So it's very important, it's a table.
SPEAKER_00: There was a man in history who actually went around to make the point and got a stick and just hit all the all the legs of the table underneath, just because he was, he just wanted everybody to know there's a table and not an altar.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: So when people come up here, they come to the table.
SPEAKER_00: But when Jesus ate his ate this last meal with his disciples, they were at a table, but they didn't sit in chairs.
SPEAKER_00: So when you think about, again, going back to thinking about how you set things up for your mom or dad or grandparents, probably had a lot of chairs around the table, right?
SPEAKER_00: Well, they didn't have chairs.
SPEAKER_00: They had chairs back then, but they didn't eat a chairs.
SPEAKER_00: They reclined.
SPEAKER_00: And they would get on one arm like this, on their shoulder, like that, and then they would eat with this arm.
SPEAKER_00: And they would, and that's what, so that's what they were doing.
SPEAKER_00: Just trying to let you picture that.
SPEAKER_00: At this point, there's 12 of them, and Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And they're probably just talking like you would at a meal, too.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Jesus was leading them through all these different things to eat.
SPEAKER_00: But I don't know how long they were there, but I'm there, they were friends and they talked, and I'm sure they were, in fact, we know some of the things they were whispering around the table, but they were just no doubt they were they were having a good meal together, okay, and enjoying each other's fellowship.
SPEAKER_00: Just as, oh, by the way, this is when Jesus washed their feet.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of things went on in the upper room.
SPEAKER_00: They sang together.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, but at some point during the meal, remember when I said a minute ago, nobody ever would mess with the Passover meal.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but Jesus did.
SPEAKER_00: Because what we say is he was the fulfillment of the Passover.
SPEAKER_00: So that's what he was about to tell them.
SPEAKER_00: Now, let me tell you this, um, because in case I forget.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever seen um, and maybe you've seen it in real life or you've seen it on TV?
SPEAKER_00: I think I've seen it on cartoons before.
SPEAKER_00: Um, in fact, I think I've seen Bugs Bunny do it before, but there would be a tray.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just say there's a tray with a big turkey underneath it, and then they take the top off, and everybody's like, ooh, you know, that's gonna be so good, and it looks so good.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's gonna be okay for you when you're in church and you see me take this off, and you see me take this off, for you to always remember, wow, that is the meal that we get to eat as Christians.
SPEAKER_00: So it's gonna be a little bit different in church today if you hadn't um, or if you if you remember how it's done, because these things are new for our church.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna take this off today during church, and there's bread.
SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be a loaf of bread there, and then this cup that has juice, or sometimes it has wine in other churches.
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus ate the meal, he had wine and he had the bread and all the other things.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and I'll end up taking these off too, but we always keep them covered beforehand during the service, and then after the service, you might pick up on this and notice too that the elders and myself at these tables, we put these back on.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not really sure why, but we do it out of reference, okay?
SPEAKER_00: And um, so Jesus that night, in fact, what we'll say is the night he was betrayed, okay?
SPEAKER_00: So most of us think that was Thursday night after the meal.
SPEAKER_00: They went out to the garden and Judas betrayed him.
SPEAKER_00: And you remember how he betrayed him with a what kiss?
SPEAKER_00: He did.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he was acting like they were, you know, great friends, but he had already betrayed Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: All right, so it was that night in the middle of the meal, Jesus took the bread and he broke it just like this.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, not just like this, but I'm sure he broke it into pieces.
SPEAKER_00: And what he said is what shocked them, because he said, This is my body broken for you.
SPEAKER_00: And then he said, Do this in remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_00: Now they didn't understand it as much as you understand it, because you know what happened the next day.
SPEAKER_00: You know that he went on the cross and they pierced his side and they put nails into his hands and feet.
SPEAKER_00: So, in a way, they broke his body for you and me.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't break any of his bones, but they broke his body.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's what he said of them.
SPEAKER_00: And they knew something different now was going to be happening with the Passover meal because it wasn't gonna ever be the same.
SPEAKER_00: So he said, This is my body.
SPEAKER_00: And then they had faith in him and they trusted him, and then he took the cup, and this is important.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know exactly how it went then.
SPEAKER_00: I'm guessing they poured it and then they had their glasses.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, correct me if I'm wrong to the adults, but I'm sure they passed around the cup and they took it one at a time.
SPEAKER_00: I think they probably all had their cups in their hands, but he said, he said, Um, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, and by the way, he had prayed first.
SPEAKER_00: He thanked God for it, and we always do that at church.
SPEAKER_00: We do it as much like Jesus as we can.
SPEAKER_00: But he took the cup and he said, This is a new covenant, which means they had all these old covenants with Moses and Abraham and David, and they were all part of one big covenant, but now Jesus was going to be this new covenant.
SPEAKER_00: He said, This is the new covenant, and he said, In my blood, and everybody can understand this, which is shed for many.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, now when you think about that, when you hear the minister say that, you can say in your mind, it was shed for me.
SPEAKER_00: That his blood was shed for me.
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus told the disciples, drink from it all of you.
SPEAKER_00: And so the minister will say that when he's when we do that.
SPEAKER_00: And then that's when uh I'll be standing up here, or Mr.
SPEAKER_00: John, and we um we'll say those things, and we take the bread and we eat the bread, and we take the juice and we drink the juice.
SPEAKER_00: All right, now go back to the greatest gift you were ever given.
SPEAKER_00: Just be thinking about it.
SPEAKER_00: And I told you I've got my greatest gift too.
SPEAKER_00: I think about different things that were fun, even when I was your age.
SPEAKER_00: All right, but let's think about it this way.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to look up here.
SPEAKER_00: This is the greatest gift you've ever been given.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Not this cup that's plastic, and not this little loaf of bread and these little chiclets.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we call them around the office.
SPEAKER_00: Um, not this bread, okay?
SPEAKER_00: But what it represents, what it means when I look at this and I know Jesus died and his body was broken and he shed his blood to take my sin on him.
SPEAKER_00: That's the greatest gift ever.
SPEAKER_00: He took all my sin as if he was a sinner, and then he gave me all his good deeds, as if I've been a perfect child my whole life, or a perfect adult my whole life.
SPEAKER_00: Do y'all understand that?
SPEAKER_00: That as a Christian, when you stand before God, it's as if you've never lied, never cried mad, never got angry, never pushed anybody, never did anything wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Because you stand there forgiven, forgiven by God for everything you've done wrong.
SPEAKER_00: And those are the people who are invited to come up here and eat the meal.
SPEAKER_00: The non-Christians, they're not invited to take this meal because they have to believe in Jesus to take the meal.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: I'll give, well, let me give you three real quick, I can tell you, if you can remember these three things, when you come up here, or when you when you begin to take the meal, your parents, this is what I want, I wonder tell you what what your parents and maybe your brothers and sisters are doing, they're praying and they're remembering what Jesus did.
SPEAKER_00: That's past, okay?
SPEAKER_00: They're also looking around and having fellowship or communion with everybody around them and Jesus and even people in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: I know that sounds kind of strange, but that's true.
SPEAKER_00: When we worship in here, we're joining everybody in heaven, angels, everybody.
SPEAKER_00: And then we're also looking forward to the day when Jesus comes back and he's gonna have another meal.
SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
SPEAKER_00: You know, he drank wine when he was on earth, but he has not had any wine to drink until he comes back.
SPEAKER_00: One day he's gonna drink wine again, but he's waiting until he comes back when we're all together in heaven with him at a meal.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: All right, I know Miss Beth said that we could have some questions if you have questions.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
unknown: Are we allowed to eat the bread to eat?
SPEAKER_00: No, you're not, okay, that's a great question.
SPEAKER_00: You're not allowed to eat it as a child until you get to a certain age, which we're saying probably fourth grade.
SPEAKER_00: I think we've had some third grade.
SPEAKER_00: Correct me if I'm wrong on any of this.
SPEAKER_00: Um, so fourth grade, fifth grade, sixth grade, and up, because, and this is why, because we want you to be able to really understand what you're doing.
SPEAKER_00: Now, you may have asked Jesus in your heart, and you may be a Christian, but this is there are some warnings that go with this meal.
SPEAKER_00: So you do have to be a certain age to be able to think about the things I've even told you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: So I I know it's kind of hard to watch it, and but it's a good thing to watch and then look forward to being able to do it one day.
SPEAKER_00: She's giving me a look like, why?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, what's your question?
SPEAKER_00: Some churches do it that way.
SPEAKER_00: The church I came from did it that way.
SPEAKER_00: Um, half the time we did it, half the time we came up here, and then other times we would pass it down the row.
SPEAKER_00: So same thing.
SPEAKER_00: It's the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: So okay.
SPEAKER_00: Great question.
SPEAKER_00: And people have been arguing about that for about 500 years.
SPEAKER_00: The answer's no, it's not really his body, but oh, how could I explain this to y'all?
SPEAKER_00: It is um, let me tell you what some people think.
SPEAKER_00: Some people think his body's all around it, and it really is part of his body all around it.
SPEAKER_00: Some people say it really doesn't have anything to do, it's just it's just a memory.
SPEAKER_00: We in our church believe that yes, oh, this is hard to explain, but spiritually, like the Holy Spirit lives in us.
SPEAKER_00: So the Holy Spirit, yes, really does let us have our fellowship and communion with Jesus and his body that's in heaven, even.
SPEAKER_00: So that's that is a deep, good question.
SPEAKER_00: But it's because of that we really are having fellowship with Jesus, even though he's at the right hand of the Father right now.
SPEAKER_00: So okay.
SPEAKER_00: Well, sure, question Trinity Presbyterian.
SPEAKER_00: That's a good question.
SPEAKER_00: So y'all know where I've come from.
SPEAKER_00: I came there, I grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, and I've came from Montgomery, Alabama.
SPEAKER_00: I'm an Alabamian now.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, back road.
SPEAKER_00: I think we probably named it Good Friday.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know when we started calling it Good Friday, but the Good Friday would be the part that he died on the cross for us.
SPEAKER_00: It's good news.
SPEAKER_00: That's probably why we call it Good Friday, because it's good news.
SPEAKER_00: And then it's even better Sunday, because he was raised from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: So if anybody, any parent that wants to add anything that I'm not answering right, let me know.
SPEAKER_00: That's good.
SPEAKER_00: I feel I'm at Presbytery right now.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: Another good question, because not every fourth grader or fifth grader or sixth grader can just come up here.
SPEAKER_00: You you to be able to come up here, you have to go through a booklet with your mom and dad.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: And there's 16 lessons.
SPEAKER_00: It takes a little while.
SPEAKER_00: It might take you two or three months or longer to go through it with your mom and dad that explains everything I've been talking about and what it means to be a Christian and what it means to be a member of a church.
SPEAKER_00: And so, yeah, that is a very good question.
SPEAKER_00: Not just because you're in fourth grade, you come, but it's after you've done that with your mom and dad.
SPEAKER_00: You talk to somebody, a minister like me or Mr.
SPEAKER_00: John, an elder.
SPEAKER_00: And so there's a problem, don't be scared of any of that though.
SPEAKER_00: You'll you'll know when it's time to do it, and it is a great joy.
SPEAKER_00: It's fun, even.
SPEAKER_00: So, okay.
unknown: Um, I I was gonna say uh my grandmother and grandfather went to the state church in the year.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's was it the grosses?
SPEAKER_00: Or what's your grandmother, or is it the what are their last names?
SPEAKER_00: Is it Wyom.
SPEAKER_00: That was the other name I was gonna ask.
SPEAKER_00: I know your grandfather and grandmother really well.
SPEAKER_00: I've been to their house, hung out with them.
SPEAKER_00: So that's good.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know your Uncle Jackson?
SPEAKER_00: I baptized him.
SPEAKER_00: So well, because he was a baby.
SPEAKER_00: He was he came along a little bit later.
SPEAKER_00: Um so anyway, okay.
SPEAKER_00: Wait, you've had a turn.
SPEAKER_00: All right, do you have a question?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's good.
SPEAKER_00: God, that's so good.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: What'd you say last?
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
SPEAKER_00: Well, very good.
SPEAKER_00: He was um died on Friday and raised to life on Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: I know it.
SPEAKER_00: That's exactly right.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all gotta let me stay.
SPEAKER_00: I wanna be the preacher here for a while.
SPEAKER_00: I want to.
SPEAKER_00: Stay forever.
SPEAKER_00: All right, I'm gonna pray.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna pray.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna pray I get to stay.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's let's bow our heads, close our eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Dear Father in heaven, thank you so much for Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for sending him to this earth to die for us.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you that he rose from the dead and that he's alive today, seated at your right hand, and that we actually get to have kind of what's a funny meal with just bread and juice.
SPEAKER_00: But we know it's a meal, and we're very, very thankful that we get to remember him and all you do for us.
SPEAKER_00: And thank you for every child in this room.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for their being so sweet to me and listening so well and having good questions.
SPEAKER_00: And I pray you bless them.
SPEAKER_00: them and their mom and dad and their grandparents and pets and everybody Lord that's in their house.
SPEAKER_00: And we pray in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.