Question:

How can we prepare for the remembrance meeting?

Before making some suggestions on how to prepare for the remembrance meeting, let us remember that this is not a meeting where we plan in advance to bring out certain hymns, or to read a certain portion of Scripture. Nor do we decide in advance that we are going to pray. There are meetings where those things are suitable. For example, if one is going to take a gospel meeting or a teaching meeting, then it would be quite proper to determine these things beforehand, but in a remembrance meeting we are gathered by the Spirit of God and we are to allow the Spirit to lead “whomsoever He will.” We do need to be in the proper spiritual state though for the Spirit of God to use us and there are certain things we can do to be in such a state. The following comes to mind:

(1) Abide in Christ and in His love. In John 15:1-9 we are instructed by the Lord as to this. To “abide” is to “continue.” Thus to abide in Christ and in His love is to continually have Him and His love before us. If we are conscious of His presence moment by moment, and are perpetually enjoying His love, we will be spiritually prepared to remember Him when we come to the remembrance meeting.

(2) Self-judgment. In 1 Corinthians 11:28 we read, “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.” This portion of Scripture is dealing directly with the remembrance meeting and we learn that we must examine (or JUDGE) ourselves before we eat and drink the Lord’s Supper. This means that we are to examine our life to see if there is anything in it inconsistent with the privilege of remembering the Lord. In other words, there should not be any unconfessed sin before partaking of the emblems at the Lord’s supper. If upon examining ourselves, we detect a sin in our life (like unforgiveness towards someone, or maybe we lost our temper resulting in harsh words spoken to someone), we should immediately confess it (see 1 John 1:9) and then go to the remembrance meeting with a clear conscience. This will help us to be in the proper spiritual state for the meeting.

(3) “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Colossians 3:16). The more we know God’s Word, the more prepared we will be to be used of the Spirit of God in the remembrance meeting (see the last question and answer on this point). It is the Word that presents Christ and His death to us. We have Him and His work in type and prophecy (in the Old Testament), as well as the historical accounts of His sufferings in the gospels, and many teachings strewn throughout the New Testament epistles. The more acquainted we are with these, the more prepared we will be for the remembrance meeting. (See Luke 24:26,27, 44-46 in this regard.) I might just add here that although the sisters will not be used to give out Scripture, or to pray, or raise a hymn, they too will be more prepared to remember the Lord by heeding these suggestions.

(4) “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). I do believe this verse is teaching us to always be ready to pray, and of course if we are always ready to pray, we will find ourselves praying often. If we are accustomed to habitual prayer, we will find it easy to pray when we come to the remembrance meeting. There are times of silence during the remembrance meeting and I think this is an ideal time for anyone to pray. And then there will be times when the Spirit leads a brother to pray audibly. But whether we pray silently or out loud, we need to be in the attitude of prayer, and this can only be learned as we give heed to this simple exhortation each and every day of the week.

(5) Be acquainted with our hymn books. In Ephesians 5:19 we read, “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” The singing of hymns to the Lord is an act of worship and the Spirit of God often leads the saints to worship the Father and the Son through hymns at a remembrance meeting. It stands to reason then that the more acquainted we are with the hymns which speak of Christ and His death at Calvary, the more prepared we will be for this meeting.

(6) Have the glory of Christ before you. If a believer is to be led by the Spirit, he/she must have the glory of Christ as his/her primary object. We do not come to the remembrance meeting to display ourselves in any way, but we come there to think on Christ and to bring glory to His Name. We want Him to be seen and to be praised. This is paramount if we are to be prepared for the remembrance meeting. Think of Mary when she anointed the Lord with her ointment of spikenard (John 12:1-3). She had one object before her: Christ and His death. I believe she was oblivious to those around her; Christ filled her vision and nothing else. If we were all prepared in this way for the remembrance meeting, the Lord would receive much more glory than we usually see, and we would be supremely blessed.