June 1, 2014 WELCOME! WE'RE GLAD YOU'RE HERE We are a group of believers who simply try to follow the Bible as a guide for all we do. Everything done in our worship service is something for which we have a Bible basis. You are welcome to participate as much or as little as you wish. We will sing hymns together and we will observe the Lord's Supper or Communion together. We will also have an opportunity to give to the work of God in this area. This collection is for the members here, and if you are visiting you should not feel and pressure to give. Our lesson time will be divided into two groups. The young children will go to our classroom area in the basement where they will be taught the Bible at a level they can understand. The adults will stay in the auditorium for a lesson at an adult level. We do try to serve the community, and if you have some needs that we can help you with, mention it to one of the members. Thank you for worshipping with us.

FAMILY NEWS

CONGRATULATIONS KATIE: Katie Castaneda has her commencement this afternoon at 2:00. We have watched this young lady change from an energetic child to a beautiful young woman, and we rejoice at her achieving this vital step forward to the future.

POTLUCK TODAY: We are still having our potluck today even though many of our number will not be able to stay for it because of the commencement exercises. We will still have plenty of food, so plan to stay and eat with us.

SHULTS-LEWIS AND INDOGAN COMMODITIES REQUESTED: One of the ways we support programs for young people is to assist organized efforts in our area to serve them. Shults Lewis Children's Home in Valparaiso, who we help, has asked us to collect all kinds of sauces for them to use in feeding their children. Bring any sauce you would like and we will relieve their needs by giving them everything from barbecue sauce to Picante. Camp Indogan has asked us to collect saltines and cake mixes for the same purpose. Just bring what you can and leave it on the pew in the lobby.

TODAY'S LESSON

HEART TROUBLE
John Clayton

THE BACK PAGE

CLOSED COMMUNION?

We have encouraged questions of any kind to be asked by putting the questions in the “Question Box” in the lobby. The children have been using the box more than the adults, and our children's classes have been careful to answer the questions that clearly came from one of our kids. Recently however, we had a question that was not in a child's writing about why our communion is not closed.

A closed communion is one in which only members of the Lord's church participate. Proponents of this kind of communion cite 1 Corinthians 11:27 – 30 which talks about eating the bread or drinking the cup in an unworthy manner or without recognizing the body of the Lord “eats and drinks judgement on himself.” The context of this passage was that the Corinthians had turned the communion service into a drunken party (see verses 20 – 22). Paul tells the Corinthians to do their partying at home (see verse 34).

The communion service is a time of remembrance of what Jesus Christ has done for us, and the fulfilling the instructions of Jesus in Matthew 26:26 – 28. It is important to understand that the unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine are not sacred. The doctrine of transubstantiation which teaches that the bread actually miraculously becomes Jesus' flesh and that the fruit of the vine actually becomes the blood of Jesus, is not biblical. Jesus was still alive in Matthew 26:26 when he says “Take and eat; this is my body.” It is the memory of what Jesus did and the act of communion which is to be done in a worthy manner (1 Corinthians 11:27).

For a non-believer, eating the communion is like the child who says “I want crackers and juice too.” It is meaningless, but it is not a sin. No one is worthy of the death of Christ; but neither are we to judge who should participate, which closed communion requires. Each child of God should be a part of remembering Jesus and the sacrifice that was made for us.

— John Clayton