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"Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, 'Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.'" -Numbers 11:4-6

This is from today's TLH lectionary reading. While meditating on this, a contemporary relevance occurred to me. So many "Christian" congregations treat the Lord's Supper with such disdain. It is as if they are crying, "Lord, when we were in bondage we had multimedia presentations, entertaining music, and such uplifting 'practical sermons', but instead of giving us all of these niceties you have left us this message of your cross, which is such a downer and this dreadful supper of mere bread and wine." So the word of salvation, the message of the cross of Jesus Christ, and our Lord's Supper, where he gives his church his true body and blood, is replaced by "contemporary praise medleys" and revivalist-styled altar calls. It seems that the church visible will forever have dissenters in its midst, a "stubborn and stiff-necked people" who reject the very means of grace which God has appointed for humanity's salvation, longing for the days when action-adventure movies, self-help messages, and "energetic" music satisfied their fleshly appetites.

And just to be fair, there are some of us on the other end of the spectrum who are entertained by incense, chant, beautiful vestments, and altar choreography. Whenever these things become more important than the message of the cross in Word and Sacrament, it is of no better a consequence.

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"...a congregation of soldiers in the mud or a rural congregation with a celebrant in coveralls celebrating Eucharist is ultimately more liturgical than Solemn Vespers beautifully sung in the most elegant gothic church with the finest vestments!" -Arthur Carl Piepkorn