Gordonsville United Methodist Church is part of the Three Notch'd District of the Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church

At the Table of Memory and Promise

On Sunday, we stand in a sacred moment in the Christian year — All Saints Sunday.

It’s a day of holy remembering.
We speak names that still echo in our hearts.
We give thanks for parents, mentors, teachers, friends, grandparents, and children whose faith shaped ours.
We remember those who showed us what love looks like, what forgiveness feels like, and what grace sounds like in everyday life.

Some of those saints lived long ago and have names written in Scripture.
Some shared pews with us, prayed beside us, and laughed in our kitchens.
Some are people we never met face-to-face, but whose example changed us.

And now, we gather at a table where all of them feel very near.

The Table of Memory and Promise

On the night Jesus shared the Last Supper, He sat at a table much like ours — a table set for remembering.
It was Passover, the meal where God’s people remember deliverance and salvation.

Jesus picked up that ancient tradition and gave it new meaning:

“This is my body, given for you.”
“This is my blood of the covenant, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

In that moment, Jesus was holding together three realities:

  • The past — God’s faithfulness and saving work

  • The present — Christ’s presence and grace now

  • The future — the promise that one day we will feast with Him in God’s kingdom

That is the heart of Communion.
It is not just looking back.
It is not simply a symbol or memory.

It is a moment where Christ meets us
giving strength, forgiveness, comfort, and courage for the journey ahead.

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist tradition, called Communion “a means of grace.”
He believed grace doesn’t simply remind us of God — grace changes us.

At the table, God pours grace into hungry hearts.
We do not come because we are perfect — we come because we need Jesus.

A Family of Saints, Seen and Unseen

All Saints reminds us that we do not walk this faith alone.

In Communion, we join:

  • the saints we have loved but who now rest in God,

  • Christians worshiping across the world today,

  • and believers who will come long after us.

The church is bigger than what we can see.
The family of God stretches beyond time and space.

When we stand at the table, there is a sense — deep and mysterious —
that heaven is close.
That love never dies.
That those who shaped us in faith are still part of us, still cheering us on.

“Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…”
— Hebrews 12:1

They finished their race.
By grace, we will finish ours too.

Christ Invites Us Still

So today, when we gather for Communion, we come with grateful hearts:

  • Grateful for saints who taught us how to pray

  • Grateful for those who cared for us in hard seasons

  • Grateful for those who showed us faith in action

  • Grateful for the God who welcomed them home — and welcomes us now

The table is not only about who has gone before.
It is also about who is here today — you.

You who are weary.
You who are seeking.
You who are grieving.
You who are hopeful.
You who need grace, strength, and mercy for the road ahead.

And Jesus still says:

“Come. This is my table. This is my body and blood.
This is grace for you.”

Today, may we come remembering.
May we come rejoicing.
May we come hungry for Christ and filled again by His love.

And may we look forward to the day
when all God’s children gather at one table,
every tear is wiped away,
and faith becomes sight.

Until then, we walk together.
We remember together.
We receive grace together.

And by God’s grace,
we will one day feast with all the saints in glory.