In August of 1742, a crowd of 50,000 gathered in Cambuslang, Scotland, for an outdoor communion service amidst the revivals of religion then erupting all throughout the Western world. In America, the Great Awakening had begun with the preaching of Jonathan Edwards in Northampton, Massachusetts, and the English evangelist George Whitefield.

Yet the broader context of the revivals was the practice of intense communion “seasons” by Scottish Presbyterians, as well as the Puritans of England and New England, throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and indeed which persist to the present day in the Highlands and on the Isle of Lewis. Revivals in Scotland were frequent in older times, and, as the Dictionary of Scottish Church History & Theology says, “(they) were usually associated with the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.”

These occasions typically began with preparatory preaching services Thursday through Saturday nights. The messages were cross-centered, Christ-focused, and soul-searching. Sunday morning communion was administered and Sunday and Monday evenings thanksgiving services followed.

The theological context of intensive communion seasons is the understanding of the Lord’s Supper as a sacramental meal, which as such, has signifying and sealing functions. The latter of these means that communicants “seal” their covenant with Christ at the Table. The Supper is that place in the life of the church where Christ and His people seal, in the sense of ratify or confirm, their mutual commitments and obligations, all in the context of shared fellowship. Consequently the Lord’s Table became that place where church members would do their business with God.

It is not surprising that the “Camp Meetings,” usually associated with Methodism, grew out of the Scottish Communion season. What became an “altar call,” summoning the children of the church, the backslidden, the unconverted, and even the faithful to affirm or reaffirm their repentance and faith in Christ, originated as a call to the Table.

We would like this season of cross-centered, Christ-focused, soul-searching meetings to become a regular feature of our congregational life. More than that, we are praying that it will become a means of reviving our church, and reviving our community.

This explanation of the Scottish Communion Season was taken from the Independent Presbyterian Church in Savannah, Georgia.

Schedule

Thursday, Oct. 17

Called Day of Fasting and Prayer

Friday, Oct. 18

Dinner at 6 p.m. in the Bailey Building

Worship at 7 p.m. in the sanctuary

Sunday, Oct 20

The Lord’s Day Morning Worship at 10 a.m.

(Celebration of the Lord’s Supper) 

A covered-dish lunch will follow the morning worship service.  

The Lord's Day Evening Worship at 5 p.m.