What benefits do you receive when you take the Sacrament of the Altar? Flies.
That is how a fellow pastor taught his confirmation students. “Flies” is a mnemonic device that stands for “Forgiveness” “LIfe” and “Salvation” (F-Li-S). Those are the things that Martin Luther wrote in his Small Catechism about what we receive when we receive Jesus’ Body and Blood in this sacrament. So when someone asks you what you get out of church, you can respond to them, “Well, for starters, I get flies….”
Luther further explained that the “life and salvation” part of that mix is all dependent on the forgiveness part, “for where there is the forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation”. So in Jesus’ gift of our forgiveness given to us from the Cross, we are given more that flows from primary gift of our forgiveness.
Come this Sunday, come to the Lord’s Table and receive some “flies”.