For Lord’s Day, August 16, 2026

Dear Saints,

It has been a blessing to go through Dr. Harrison Perkins’ book, Take & Eat: Recovering the Regular Celebration of the Lord’s Supper, leading into our weekly communion together.  While there are a few more chapters to read over the next several Lord’s Days as we prepare to partake, what we most recently learned was especially helpful and something I had not earlier considered yet find very compelling!

Perkins points out how in Leviticus 24:5-9 the bread of presence was to be laid out every Sabbath day in the holy place in the tabernacle (and later, the temple). However, God’s people could not at that time access the bread marking God’s presence behind the veil. But now, as Perkins rightly makes the connection, Christ Who is the veil (Hebrews 10:20) and the bread and life of heaven (John 6:48, 51) “has overturned all that would block us from God’s presence and reopened our access to freely partake of the meal that marks God’s blessed presence. He tore the veil in two, welcoming us into the most holy place. The obstacle to the bread of the presence has been removed.”¹ This is a Biblical model and wonderful means and motivation for regular communion every Lord’s Day!

To my delight, while sleuthing through our amazing library researching another topic, I recently came across a chapter by Thomas À Kempis (born 1379 or 1380; died 25 July, 1471), entitled, “That It Is Profitable to Communicate Often,” in his The Imitation of Christ,² within the fourth main section of his book, “A Devout Exhortation to the Holy Communion.” Kempis proclaimed of communion and partaking as “Thy gift, and that I may rejoice in Thy holy feast.”³ How does he propose to do so? Frequently–just as we are instructed to partake in The Westminster Directory for the Publick Worship of God.⁴ He writes, “Without Thee I cannot be, and without Thy visitation I have no power to live. And therefore I must needs often draw near unto Thee, and obtain from Thee the medicine of my salvation ; lest haply I faint in the way, if I be deprived of the heavenly nourishment … Deal Thou therefore in like manner now with me, Who hast left the Sacrament for the comfort of the faithful.”⁵ [Emphasis Added.]

Kempis continues:

It is indeed necessary for me, who so often fall and sin, so quickly was dull and faint, that by frequent prayer and confession, and receiving Thy grace in this ordinance, I renew, cleanse and kindle myself, lest haply, by too long abstaining, I fall away from my holy purpose. For the imaginations of man are prone unto evil from his youth ; and unless some divine remedy help him, he by and by falleth away to worse things. Holy Communion therefore draweth us back from evil, and maketh us strong in good. For if I be now so often negligent and lukewarm when I communicate or celebrate ; what would become of me if I received not this healing, and sought not after so great a help? And althought I may not be fit, nor well prepared to celebrate every day ; I will endeavour notwithstanding at due times to receive the divine Mysteries, and to offer myself as partaker of so great a grace.⁶ [Emphasis Added.]

Thomas À Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, Book Four, Chapter III, “That it is Profitable to Communicate Often”

Note that Kempis provides important reasons to partake often–even if not as prepared as one should be, and actually then especially so!

May we have the same heart of Kempis for communing often and so hunger and thirst after Christ’s righteousness as we prepare to partake of the Lord’s Supper this Lord’s Day morning that we rejoice in Christ’s holy feast!

Semper Reformanda,

Pastor Grant

PS: Here is a link to the bulletin for this Lord’s Day: puritanchurch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Bulletin-PRPC.pdf.

Also, A reminder I wrote on this topic a few years ago and it can be read here: placefortruth.org/a-frequent-expression-of-love. In this post I shared this quote from our church’s good friend Dr. Richard Bacon:

Having something infrequently does not make it more special. If it were suggested that there were certain intimate relations of marriage which should be had less often in order to make them more special, that would not be a very convincing argument.  The way to make something special is by cherishing it, not by reducing the frequency. Reducing the frequency does not make something special; it just makes it infrequent.

Dr. Richard Bacon, “The Westminster Standards and the Frequency of the Lord’s Supper.”

I also quoted in my article from a book supporting the same idea, and its chapter on the topic can be read here: reformation21.org/frequent-feeding. In it, Ken Golden surveys many of the reasons we have already seen Perkins bring to our attention:

Besides the Biblical data, there are sound theological reasons for frequent communion. First, the Lord’s Supper is a means of grace. The first post in this series argued that the sacrament is “soul food and spiritual drink” based on Melchizedek’s ceremony (Gen. 14:18-20), the Passover/Last Supper rituals (Exod. 12, synoptic Last Supper accounts), the manna/bread of life discourse (Exod. 16, Jn. 6), and the contrasting spiritual/demonic tables (1 Cor. 10). If the sacrament is a means of spiritual growth, then why limit the opportunities to receive it?[4] Since Paul calls it fellowship with the body and blood of Christ (1 Cor. 10:16), we should seek such fellowship as often as possible.

Footnotes:

1. Harrison Perkins, Recovering the Regular Celebration of the Lord’s Supper (Brentwood, Tenn.: B&H Academic, 2026), 63. ↩︎
2. For more about Thomas À Kempis as a medieval Catholic priest and whether this work is deemed appropriate for Protestants and Puritans to benefit from, visit this PuritanBoard thread: https://puritanboard.com/threads/thomas-akempis.1714. I’ll share a few thoughts from the thread here: “Here’s a good quote from a Kempis: ‘Man proposes, but God disposes.’ I think it’s wise for one to be wary reading the Imitation, but I also think there is much which is profitable. I consider it a pre-Reformation diamond in the rough.” “I have read it. I recommend it with the caveat that the entire perspective of the book is from a via negativa vantage point. If you love the puritans, that will not really offend you that much.” “Gisbertus Voetius was a “lifelong admirer” of Thomas a Kempis and commends The Imitation of Christ in his Spiritual Desertion.” “Henry Scougal [a Scottish theologian and author] was an avid reader of Thomas a Kempis’ The Imitation of Christ.” “Thomas a Kempis is included in the list of authors by Richard Baxter that should comprise the ‘poorer’ library (ie., above the bare minimum of a Christian pastor’s library) (A Christian Directory).” “Thomas Chalmers wrote an introductory essay on The Imitation of Christ which can be found [on pages 11-23] here,” in which he wrote, “Kempis was certainly one of the best and greatest of men since the primitive times.” Chalmers’ memoir opens addressing concerns here alluded to as does nearly his entire introductory writing. Yet he ends ends wholeheartedly endorsing its devotional use: “It certainly does not abound in formal and direct avowals of the righteousness which is by faith, and on this account we have heard it excepted against. But we know of no reading that is more powerfully calculated to shut us up unto the faith-none more fitted to deepen and to strengthen the basis of a sinner’s humility, and so reconcile him to the doctrine of salvation in all its parts, by grace alone-none that, by exhibiting the height and perfection of Christian attainments, can better serve the end of prostrating the inquirer into the veriest depths of self-abasement, when, on the humbling comparison of what he is, with what he ought to be, he is touched and penetrated by a sense of his manifold deficiencies. It is on this account that the author of such a work may, instrumentally speaking, do the office of a school-master to bring us unto Christ: nor do we know at what other time it is, than when eyeing from afar the lofty track of spiritual and seraphic piety which is here delineated, that we more feel our need of the great High Priest, or that his peace-making blood and his perfect righteousness are more prized by us. But it is not enough that we idly gaze on the heavenly course. We must personally enter it; and it is most utterly and experimentally untrue, that, in the prosecution of this walk, we meet with anything to darken the principles on which are made to hinge a sinner’s justification in the sight of God. He who looks most frequently to Christ for the purpose of imitation, will also gather most from him on which to prop his confidence, and that too on the right and evangelical basis. There is a sure link of concatenation in the processes of divine grace, by which a growing spiritual discernment is made to emerge out of a growing conformity to the will and the image of the Saviour. These two elements act and react the one upon the other. ‘He that keepeth my commandments, to him will I manifest myself.’ ‘He whose eye is single shall have his whole body full of light.’ ‘The Holy Ghost,’ who acts as a revealer, ‘is given to those who obey him.’ ‘To him who hath, more shall be given.’ All proving that there is a procedure in the administration of divine grace, by which he who giveth himself up unto all righteousness is guided unto all truth. And, it is to be hoped, that while the doctrine of justification is not argued, but rather enhanced and recommended by the perusal of such a work, its own distinct object will be still more directly subserved, of leading some to a more strict and separate devotedness of life, than is often to be met with in this professing age. The severities of Christian practice, which are here urged upon the reader, are in no way allied with the penances and the self-inflictions of a monastic ritual, but are the essentials of spiritual discipline in all ages, and must be undergone by every man who is transformed by the Holy Ghost from one of the children of this world to one of the children of light. The utter renunciation of self the surrender of all vanity–the patient endurance of evils and wrongs-the crucifixion of natural and worldly desires-the absorption of all our interests and passions in the enjoyment of God and the subordination of all we do, and of all we feel, to his glory, these form the leading virtues of our pilgrimage, and in the very proportion of their rarity, and their painfulness, are they the more effectual tests of our regeneration. And one of the main uses of this book is, that while it enforces these spiritual graces in all their extent, it lays open the spiritual enjoyment that springs from the cultivation of them-revealing the hidden charm which lies in godliness, and demonstrating the sure though secret alliance which obtains between the peace of heaven in the soul, and patience under all the adversities of the path which leads to it. It exposes alike the sufferings and the delights which attach to a life of sacredness: and its wholesome tendency is to reconcile the aspirant after eternal life, to the whole burden of that cross on earth which he must learn to bear with submission and cheerfulness, until he exchanges it in heaven for a crown of glory. Such a work may be of service in these days of soft and silken professorship, to arouse those who are at ease in Zion; to remind them of the terms of the Christian discipleship, as involving a life of conflict and watchfulness, and much labour; to make them jealous of themselves, and jealous of that evil nature, the power of which must be resisted; but from the besetting presence of which we shall not be conclusively delivered, until death shall rid us of a frame-work, the moral virus of which may be kept in check while we live, but cannot be eradicated by any process short of dissolution.” This introduction is signed, “Glasgow, April, 1822, T.C.” ↩︎
3. Thomas À Kempis, The Imitation of Christ (New York: Books, Inc. Publishing, date?), 178 ↩︎
4. “THE communion, or supper of the Lord, is frequently to be celebrated …”. See thewestminsterstandard.org/directory-for-the-publick-worship-of-god/#8. ↩︎
5. Kempis, 178. ↩︎
6. Ibid, 178-179. ↩︎