Pastor Aaron Brown

“While they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, and said, ‘Take; this is my body.’ He took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. I assure you that I won’t drink wine again until that day when I drink it in a new way in God’s kingdom.’” – Mark 14:22-25

I look down at the scar on my wrist, and I remember the pain of a fire scorching my skin. I was 12, and that day I learned the cost of carelessly playing with fire. The cost of ignoring the wisdom of my parents.

I look into this cup, I see the deep red of the wine, and I feel the pain of love poured out on the cross. The cost of my careless indulgence in disordered desires. The cost of humanity ignoring the ways of Yahweh.

I look now to the bread, the tearing of the skin, and I feel the pain of Christ’s body broken for me. This is the cost of reconciliation. This is the way back to restoration.

I take the cup and the bread, and I let it break my heart in grateful empathy for the cost of the cross. I let the love embodied here bring healing and restoration to all areas of my life. A scar forms on my heart to remind me of the cost.

Forgiveness.

“He was pierced because of our rebellions and crushed because of our crimes.He bore the punishment that made us whole; by his wounds we are healed” – Isaiah 53:5