Is it enough simply to
Remember, Lord, or is
There much more to it?

The discipline is useful
Some of the memories
Inspire us, is that all?

They were required, then,
To move at your
Command. Are we?

It may be, for us, that
The most important thing
Is to move our thinking.

For, as you taught, from
Our thinking springs our
Doing. That must be for you.

To praise you, Lord, for
All your benefits to us
Will, indeed, take a lifetime.

To serve you, Lord, is
A lifetime's privilege
And, oft times, a real joy.

To acknowledge you,
Lord, in public and in
Private is a great honour.

This, the earliest written, account of the Lord's supper is amazingly brief. Yet it contains all the essentials that succeeding generations have used. We should not be surprised that it has become garlanded with elaborations. Indeed we should give thanks that this memorial celebration has inspired such a wealth of music and choral inheritance. Nevertheless, we must not lose sight of the essential simplicity, and profundity, of what was done that night. We, too, need to keep in our hearts both the simplicity and the profundity of God-in-Christ sacrificed for us.

We deck ourselves with
The trappings of authority
But you, Lord, being 'Lord
Of all' were content to
Adopt the part of a slave.

We pretend to great understanding
When, all too often, all we
Have is a profundity of
Ignorance. Open our minds
That we may truly perceive reality.

And the best clue that you
Have given us is the infinite
Value of mutual Love. Oh
That we might know and
Express that Love in our lives.