Unto us a boy is born,
King of all creation:
Cradled in a stall was He,
The Lord of every nation,
The Lord of every nation.

Cradled in a stall was he
With sleepy cows and asses;
But the very beasts could see
That He all men surpasses.

Herod then with fear was filled:
'A prince', he said, 'In Jewry!'
All little boys be killed
At Bethl'em in his fury.

Now may Mary's Son, who came
So long ago to love us,
Lead us all with hearts aflame
Unto the joys above us.

Omega and Alpha He!
Let the organ thunder,
While the choir with peals of glee
Doth rend the air asunder.

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly trust in Jesus' Name.

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

Edward Mote, circa 1834

For the Christian, these words reflect the hope that salvation has brought to them: a hope that enables us to live each day in a world that is not exactly a nice place, though Earth itself that has some amazing wonders. The world, in this context is the people and their ways, the earth is the Lord's, and His creation. The hope is knowledge that eternal life lies with the Lord, the creator and foundation of all things holy, just and true, not the world.

How do we have a hope? The words of this old hymn tell us that hope comes through "Jesus' blood and righteousness". The Lord's table as it is known, a feast some call it - Luke called it "breaking bread" in Acts chapter 2 - are symbols of the blood that brought salvation, and the body broken, so that blood was shed. Without a broken body, blood is not shed. Blood is the essence of salvation, and not just any blood, only that of Jesus Christ who died and shed His blood, for our sins, so that we may have those sins washed away. Without blood there is no redemption, that is, becoming right with God, with all that went before in our lives, forgiven, and paid for.

We cannot pay for our own salvation, we are too poor, as much of the world is too poor to live today. Through God's grace, His riches, is the wealth required, that of the one person able to pay, Jesus Christ, where the payment is in one currency only, death and the shedding of blood. As Ephesians 1:7 states "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace[1]. There is one further piece of the greatest gift of all - the resurrection; redemption would not have occurred if sin was not overthrown, and death conquered. With redemption, and resurrection comes salvation, the prize for all who accept, and with salvation comes the solid Rock on which to stand, and with this we can be a child of God. To be a true child of God though, as the hymn writer stated, we must put our entire lives into His hand, and "wholly trust in Jesus' name".

The Israelites had to do this at the very first Passover. They killed the lamb, and roasted it, dressed ready for the exodus from Egypt. God said that he was going to do his tenth and final sign, that of destroying the first born across the land of Egypt. If you did not want your first born to die, the people needed to put the blood of the slain lamb on the door post and trust God at His word that this would save them. Ex 12 13 tells us: Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. And so to now, thousands of years later, we have the equivalent of the blood on the door posts, the blood of Christ, that saves not just the firstborn, but all who trust in His word, and believe in the saving power of the blood. As Hebrews 8:14 tells us how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

So we can gather this morning to worship, that of praising God, with our hearts, with our minds, thoughts, words, and life. God wants our all. As Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well: "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. [3]" He knows that at times we will fail, we are frail, thus he gives us the symbols of bread and wine to bring our focus back to where we should be, at God's feet, worshiping Him.

Worship can be a encapsulated in a statement of faith and hope, that ties all of this together. We can see such a statement in 1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

So this morning, as we take the bread and wine, let us first ensure that we have accepted the salvation that God offers. If we have recognised our own sinful nature, that we were too poor, too unworthy to pay for that sin, discovered that redemption could only come through a blood sacrifice, that of God's own Son, Jesus Christ, and that His blood paid for the sins of the entire world, and if we have opened our hearts to Him, confessed our sins, and agreed to the adoption of ourselves to God, then we can share in this remembrance of a body broken, of blood shed, death overcome and sin and hell defeated, resurrection and eternal life. As we take the bread and wine we can sing in our own hearts, the praise and worship due to the Rock on which I stand as all else is sinking sand.