There is a similarity between our worship liturgy and the holiday liturgy many families will follow this week.
Each Lord’s Day our service drives toward the communion table. The call to worship, our confession of sin, and the Word’s work of consecration prepare us to share together in the communion of Christ. Unlike many services that prepare for and respond to the centerpiece of the sermon, we think the sermon centers our hearts for sake of the Lord’s Supper. The Savior brings us together, unites us, and we give thanks.
On big holidays, such as Thanksgiving, there is usually a lot of prep work, all of which points to a shared table. There is shopping and cooking, there is traveling and decorating, but it all aims to bring people together to share food, and especially this week, to express thanksgiving.
But both the Lord’s Supper and your holiday supper are subordinate ends. They are ends, we’re trying to get there, but we’re not trying to stay there.
Communion is a uniting in fellowship, to the end of the glory of God, and also as we continue to glorify God in our thankfulness for Christ and fellowship one another beyond Sunday. The Thanksgiving table isn’t intended to be a tall rug that covers all bitterness and hurts and offenses until the leftovers get put in the fridge when we can go back to being grumpy with one another. No, it is a time to renew thanks for sake of prolonging thanks.
Communion makes communion better. Thanksgiving makes thanksgiving longer, if we do it right. Even the marriage supper of the Lamb will be a feast that kicks off eternal feasting. So we drive to the point where we can really get going.