The bulletin on the Sunday before we celebrate the Lord's Supper brings an announcement that we are to prepare our hearts for the occasion. So, what are we supposed to do? Are we supposed to read the Bible more, confess sin more, think more about the Cross, or something else? 

The Westminster Larger Catechism is helpful here when it reminds us in questions 161 and 162 that a sacrament is a means of growing in our salvation not because of any power found in the pastor or in the elements themselves. Instead, the working of the Holy Spirit and the blessing of Jesus through the Lord's Table is where the power is found. The elements are signs that exhibit before our eyes the grace of God toward us. By faith they seal, or mark us, as belonging to Jesus and that we are people for whom Jesus has taken the punishment of death we deserve.

Focus on the Gospel

That means that in order to prepare for taking the Lord's Supper we simply focus on the gospel. We remember His work rather than look for a feeling of worthiness through attempts to confess all the sins we can remember or by trying to pray and read long enough to feel more spiritual by the time we come to the Table. We are asked to examine ourselves. But not in order to clean ourselves up for Sunday. Instead, it's to make sure that we are living based on the gospel and that we are not actively engaging in hidden or open sins. We examine ourselves to see if we have become self-righteous and hard towards others, if we are forgiving those who have sinned against us, and asking forgiveness of those we have offended. That also leads us to consider the unity that is ours with our fellow believers in Jesus and His Church. 

Preparing for the Table means that we seek to renew our commitment to walk faithfully with Jesus and consider whether we are serious in our pursuit of Jesus or just going through the motions. Preparation for the Table is a time of serious meditation and prayer but it is not meditation and prayer that makes the The Lord's Table more effective. Meditation and prayer open the eyes of our hearts and minds to see more clearly what Jesus has done, to see the constant and abiding love of our Triune God, and to recognize the moving of the Spirit in our lives.

Our time of preparation can focus on any of the various themes that relate to the Gospel of Jesus. It can be a time of re-reading the narratives of the Cross or any other part of Scripture. It can be a time of looking at or singing hymns about the Cross of Jesus and its effect for us. It can be a time of discussion of the gospel within our families and even whether our family sees anything in us that is not gospel based. Finally, it is a time that causes us to repent of what we need to, to give thanks, and to enjoy again the words that are placed over our sin: "It is finished." And it is a time to enjoy the words placed over our lives: "I have loved you with an everlasting love," and "I am with you always."