This Maundy Thursday we sang a new Communion hymn titled, "What Is This Bread?" (LSB 629).  They copyright on the song is 1991, which is very new in our LCMS circle.  To put it into perspective a bit for some of you uber-contemporary folks, this hymn is across the page from a hymn by Thomas Aquinas dated in the late 13th century.  Anyway, this is a great hymn, with a beautiful tune and lyrics that teach a wonderfully rich, unashamedly Lutheran theology of the Lord's Supper:

What Is This Bread?

What is this bread?

Christ's body risen from the dead:

This bread we break,

This life we take,

Was crushed to pay for our release.

O taste and see--the Lord is peace.

What is this wine?

The blood of Jesus shed for mine;

The cup of grace

Brings His embrace

Of life and love until I sing!

O taste and see--the Lord is King.

So who am I,

That I should live and He should die

Under the rod?

My God, my God,

Why have You not forsaken me?

O taste and see--the Lord is free.

Yet is God here?

Oh, yes! By Word and promise clear,

In mouth and soul

He makes us whole--

Christ, truly present in this meal.

O taste and see--the Lord is real.

Is this for me?

I am forgiven and set free!

I do believe

That I receive

His very body and His blood.

O taste and see--the Lord is good.

There are many wonderfully rich truths taught in this short hymn.  In fact, one could use it as a great catachetical tool to teach the basics of a Lutheran understanding of the sacrament.

As we were taking Holy Communion on Maundy Thursday evening, however, I was struck by a line in the third verse, "My God, my God, why have You not forsaken me?"  It is a subtle twist on Jesus' words from the cross and Psalm 22...and it echoes the recurring sentiment of my sinful heart.

There is no direct reply in the verses that follow, which is fine, because the sin-burdened heavy heart does not need a theological treatise on God's presence with us.  What follows is better--the promises of God, through the Word, that he is both ever-present with us and that we are forgiven and freed from our sins.  Amen.  Thanks be to God!