Pastor's Letter

Dear Church Family,
“Let us break bread together . . . “
One of the greatest joys of my first month in Rupert has been sharing fellowship and meals with many of you. Your hospitality has been a tremendous blessing, and Rupert is already beginning to feel like home. There is something sacred about breaking bread together. Whether it's around a kitchen table, at a church potluck, or during Sunday worship, meals draw people closer.
It's no surprise, then, that so much of Jesus' ministry happened around a table. He ate with friends and strangers, saints and sinners. He fed the hungry, welcomed the outcast, and shared countless meals that revealed God's grace. On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus gave His disciples one final meal and told them, "Do this in remembrance of me."
The earliest Christians took those words to heart. They gathered to hear the Scriptures proclaimed, and they gathered around the Lord's Table. In time, those two acts of worship became one service—what we know today as the Service of Word and Table. First, we listen as God speaks through Scripture. Then we respond by coming to Christ's Table with thanksgiving, remembering His saving love and opening ourselves to His transforming grace.
John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement called it Holy Communion "the grand channel   whereby the grace of his Spirit was conveyed to the souls of all the children of God." Wesley encouraged Christians to receive Communion often because he believed Christ meets us there. As we receive the bread and cup in faith, God nourishes us, strengthens us, forgives us, and shapes us more fully into the people He calls us to be.
Wesley was also convinced that Holy Communion was a means of God’s converting grace. A modern   example can be found in the book, Take This Bread, which tells the story of Sara Miles, an atheist journalist whose life was transformed after receiving Communion in an Episcopal church. At Christ's table, she encountered God's grace in a way that changed her faith, her priorities, and her understanding of the church's mission.
As we continue our journey together as a church family, I hope we will treasure every opportunity to gather around both the Word and the Table and I hope we'll continue to gather around many other tables as well. The meals we've already shared have reminded me that Christian fellowship doesn't begin when worship ends. It continues wherever God's people welcome one another, tell their stories, laugh together, pray   together, and simply enjoy each other's company.
Thank you for welcoming me so warmly into this congregation. I am grateful to be among you, and I look forward to many more opportunities to break bread together—in our homes, in our fellowship hall, and, most importantly, at the Lord's Table.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Desi