Bernard’s Watch and the Lord’s Supper

When I was a child there used to be a children’s programme called Bernard’s Watch, I wonder if you remember it? (Check it out on Youtube, you won’t be disappointed!!)  The idea was simple: Bernard had a magical stopwatch that could pause the world. Everyone froze - except him. It always used to fascinate me as a child, imagine being able to pause the world and stop everything whenever you felt like it! 

A few weeks ago during a family holiday we visited a church in Surrey, it was a great church, friendly, lively, welcoming and modern but one moment in the service really stuck out to me. After a couple of songs the leader explained that we were going to break bread together, nothing usual there, that is part of what we expect in church. What was different on this occasion was the sense of awe and seriousness that surrounded it. 

The leader at the front took the time to explain all about communion, focussing on the significance of it. After a short explanation the leader invited us all to be quiet, calm and reflective before taking the bread and wine. For a good two or three minutes, the room fell completely silent as people were encouraged to examine themselves.…all of this whilst the children were still in the room! 

What had started as a lively time of worship suddenly became still, almost as if someone had pressed Bernard’s watch.

Interested to see how this was received by the little ones I sneakily opened my eyes and looked at my 8 year old daughter Eden concentrating greatly with her eyes closed as she held the tiny bit of bread in her hand. In that moment, I realised this wasn’t just quiet, it was meaningful. Even a child could sense the weight of what we were doing. This moment of self examination really brought home the significance and serious nature of the Lord’s Supper in a way that maybe I personally have got out of the habit of appreciating. 

At Jubilee we regularly take bread and wine during our worship time, but I’ve become guilty of at times seeing it as an add on or dare I say it an inconvenience getting in the way of the worship time.  

When we read in the Bible the story of the Last Supper, it’s a serious moment. Jesus is about to be betrayed, this is his last meal with his closest friends, he is fully aware of the pain that lies ahead of him as he suffers and dies for the sake of humanity. Before that moment though, before the arrest and the beatings, before the cross, before Judas’s betrayal or Peter’s denial Jesus stops.

He takes bread. He takes wine. And He tells His disciples to marvel at what it means:

This wasn’t an afterthought, it wasn’t an add-on, it was significant, a moment to pause before the storm.

The significance of the Lord’s Supper was not lost on the Apostle Paul either as he writes firmly to the church in Corinth accusing them of taking the Lord’s supper in an unworthy manner due to divisions in the church. (1 Corinthians 11). Breaking bread is serious business and it requires self examination.

Sometimes I wonder whether the informal nature of churches like ours can cause us to lose some of that sense of holiness. Not because we’re doing anything wrong, but because familiarity can quietly dull significance.

Was it intentional that the Last Supper came as a moment of calm before everything unfolded? I think so. It reminds us that in the middle of life’s noise and busyness, Jesus is worth stopping for.

When life is moving at a million miles an hour, when things feel overwhelming or uncertain, the invitation is the same: pause, reflect, and fix our eyes on Him.

Of course self examination doesn’t just have to wait until we are about to break bread - we should always be looking for opportunities to pause, check our motives and ensure we are behaving in the correct ways, but the Lord’s supper does give us a perfect excuse to do just that! 

There is something about the act of confession that we often miss, ensuring that we put things right before God before we take the bread and wine… after all as it says in 1 John 1:9 ‘If we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness’ 

So here’s the challenge: recapture the seriousness of the Lord’s Supper. Don’t rush it, don’t sideline it, make it central to your walk with God. It might just offer a much needed period of calm in the storms of life - no magic stopwatch required!