23 I received a tradition from the Lord,
which I also handed on to you: on the night on which he was betrayed, the Lord
Jesus took bread. 24 After giving thanks, he broke it and said, “This is
my body, which is for you; do this to remember me.” 25 He did the same
thing with the cup, after they had eaten, saying, “This cup is the new covenant
in my blood. Every time you drink it, do this to remember me.” 26 Every
time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you broadcast the death of the Lord
until he comes. 27 This is why
those who eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord inappropriately will be
guilty of the Lord’s body and blood. 28 Each individual should test
himself or herself, and eat from the bread and drink from the cup in that way.
29 Those who eat and drink without correctly understanding the body are
eating and drinking their own judgment. 30 Because of this, many of you
are weak and sick, and quite a few have died. 31 But if we had judged
ourselves, we wouldn’t be judged. 32 However, we are disciplined by the
Lord when we are judged so that we won’t be judged and condemned along with the
whole world. 33 For these reasons, my brothers and sisters, when you get
together to eat, wait for each other. 34 If some of you are hungry, they
should eat at home so that getting together doesn’t lead to judgment. I will
give directions about the other things when I come.
The life of
faith is a spiritual journey. In our messages
over the last several weeks, the human spirit is like a car that needs regular
maintenance; each week I’ve offered a maintenance tip of something you can do
to fill up with God’s grace in order to keep from feeling like you’re running
on empty.
The first thing was to use
the right fuel, and we said that worship is our fuel. Worship simply means that we ascribe value to
something, particularly through our time and resources – and when we give them
to God, we are filled with grace. Then
it was checking our fluids, and we said that God gives us grace by water and
the Holy Spirit in baptism, and we were encouraged to remember and renew the
grace in our baptism often. Last week,
it was OnStar, and we said that prayer is like our OnStar button with God – it
is an immediate, direct line to God. Prayer
is the language of our relationship with God, involving more listening to God
than speaking to God, and when we nurture the relationship through prayer, we
receive grace there, as well.
Today’s maintenance tip
moves from what we do for the vehicle toward what we do for the passengers on
the journey, and on our spiritual journey, I want you to know that it’s okay to
eat in the car. Not only is it okay, I
even encourage it.
Today, I want you to think
about food.
Yes, your minds may wander off thinking about food and never wander
back, but I’m willing to run that risk. So,
go ahead. Think about food. Think about what you’re going to eat after
worship. What are you looking forward to
having a second or third helping of, what one thing are you going to scrape the
bowl and lick the spoon and then look up hopefully and ask, “Do we have any
more?”
Mmmmmmm-mmmmmmm. Think about food. Think about the last milestone you or your
family celebrated - a birthday, an anniversary, a graduation, a
retirement. Was food part of the
celebration? Think about holidays.
Whether a family feast at Thanksgiving or a cookout in the backyard on
the 4th of July, isn’t food always a central part of the party? How are we doing, is your mind completely
focused on food yet? Tummies
grumbling? Mouths watering?
How many of the great
celebrations in life involve a feast of some sort or another? And it seems the
greater the cause for celebration, the greater the feast.
Growing up, my grandparents
on my dad’s side lived in DC and we lived in New York, so we didn’t get to see
them all the time. On top of that, my
dad is an only child, so we were the only grandchildren they had, so you had
better believe that we got spoiled rotten - filthy, stinkin’ rotten at
Grandma’s house. Grandma Thomas showed
you she loved you by feeding you. It was
not uncommon to have a big breakfast at 8, homemade cookies at 10, lunch at
noon, homemade fudge at 3, dinner at 6, and ice cream sundaes before bed. Grandma showed her love by stuffing you
silly, and you showed your love in return by scarfing down whatever was put in
front of you.
It sounded like Grandma was
saying “Come and get it,” but she was actually saying, “I love you.” Sharing food is a universal way of expressing
love. The family table is a place where love
is as real as the food on the table.
If you can understand that,
then you can understand the significance of what happens in Holy Communion – Holy Communion is
God’s family table, where God’s love and grace are as real as the food on the
table.
The best cultural
associations we make with family meals - caring and sharing, nurture and
support, building relationships and showing love - all of that happens at God’s
family table. God’s love and grace are
served in heaping helpings at this table, which is one of the reasons I always
tear off great big chunks of bread when I serve you, because I want you to have
a significant reminder of the abundance of God’s grace and generosity, and just
how much God loves you. The table may be
set with bread and wine, but what’s actually being served is love and grace.
Now, I’ve heard concern from
Christians who are worried either about “unworthy” people being at the Lord’s
table, or people receiving in an “unworthy manner.” “You can’t just let anyone receive Communion! Oh, woe is me, what will become of us if we
let anyone and everyone have Communion?”
This concern comes from the passage we read from 1 Corinthians, and is
rooted in a lot of really bad theology that has served only to associate guilt
with Communion rather than grace.
Think of “unworthy” – as
in, “without worth” or “worthless.” But
it’s not about our own worth (or lack thereof, it’s about our recognition of
the worth of others. Receiving in an “unworthy manner” is failing to
recognize the sacred worth and value of all others at the table.
We have to understand that
in that time, celebrations of Holy Communion were not limited to a liturgical
meal of bread and wine that took place during a designated time of worship,
they were a big, festive meal that was shared among the whole family of faith –
Methodists didn’t invent potluck suppers – they’ve been around for a long time! Yet, at the church in Corinth, instead of a
potluck where everybody shared equally in the bounty together, those who were
rich brought a great feast for themselves, and those who were poor had a meager
meal or even nothing at all.
And here’s the problem: certain
members were not valuing the worth of other members. Throughout Scripture, there is a
strong connection between the feeding of bodies and the feeding of souls, which
is why this is a spiritual issue. Those
with resources saw themselves as more blessed or favored than those who were
poor, and their pigging out was a way of displaying what they perceived to be
their own spiritual superiority. In so
doing, they completely missed the point of Holy Communion, and faith itself,
for that matter.
The Lord’s table is a place
where divisions are meant to disappear, not be highlighted and reinforced. Anyone who wants to keep others from the
feast of grace at the Lord’s table is in far more danger of “receiving in an
unworthy manner” than whatever person they are trying to keep away.
Receiving in a worthy
manner is simply a matter of celebrating the dignity and worth of all of our
brothers and sisters who gather at the table with us. Our place at God’s family table as well as
our access to the abundance of grace served there, is not secured through our
own means or merit. God’s family table
is not a place where the saints congratulate either for being oh-so-holy;
rather, it’s where sinners receive grace and are strengthened for their
journey.
As stewards of the feast,
let us never be caught up in guarding the table, let us instead graciously invite
sinners – you know, people like you and me – to feast on God’s grace.
The family table is a place
of belonging. I
don’t know how it worked in your family, but we always room at the table for
someone else. Somehow, there was always
more than enough to go around, and everyone left the table satisfied, closer to
each other, and graciously received by the host. The same is true at God’s family table. It is a place where everyone is welcome.
Think of it this way. In your family, do you feed the children or
do you just let them starve? My hope is
that you feed them. Now, do children
have to earn a spot at the table? Maybe
to move up from the kids’ table to the adults’ table they do, but again, I
would hope that they get fed one way or the other. Why do we feed our children when they haven’t
worked for their food, earned their food, paid for the food, contributed
anything toward growing or purchasing or preparing their food - why on earth do
we keep on feeding them?
Because we love them. It’s the same reason we will feed anyone the
bread and wine at Communion - because we love them. More importantly, God loves them, and the
table belongs not to us, but to Christ, the gracious host. We are stewards of the mystery, entrusted to
care for the meal and the people as Christ would, inviting them to experience
grace.
God’s grace is for all, and
so all are welcome at the feast of grace.
John Wesley went as far as to call communion a “converting
ordinance.” By this he meant that some
might, in the very partaking of the sacrament, come to full knowledge and
experience of the saving grace of God.
The gracious invitation to come to the table and partake of the
mysteries of God may be the very thing that stirs up faith in the human heart,
such that even the vilest offender realizes that God even has a place in his
family for them. Talk about
receiving grace!
The early
Methodists were encouraged to practice “constant Communion,” partaking of the
bread and wine at every available opportunity, precisely because God’s grace
comes to us when we do. Sometimes people don’t want to have Communion too much,
because “it won’t be as special,” which is like saying, “I don’t want to eat
lunch every day because then it wouldn’t be as special,” or “I don’t want to
tell my children I love them every day because then it wouldn’t be as special”
or “I don’t want to deposit my paycheck every month because then it wouldn’t be
as special.” Communion is as essential
to our spiritual well-being as these other things are to our physical and
emotional well-being. It should be a
regular staple in our spiritual diet.
Friends, we need grace!
It’s one of the reasons
we’ve started offering Communion on Wednesday evenings from 5:30 – 6:00. As a pastor, I am committed to offering you
the bread of life and the cup of redemption often, because I believe so firmly
in the grace that’s made available at the Lord’s table. Every time you have an opportunity to receive
that grace – Sunday morning, Wednesday night, wherever, whenever – do it! Otherwise, you’re literally leaving grace on
the table.
One last thing about this
“unworthy” business. I sometimes hear
from people who don’t want to receive Communion because they feel or have been
told they are unworthy. First, I’m sorry
people who don’t have a clue what they’re talking about have made you feel that
way. More importantly, if you hear
nothing else today, hear this: Two thousand years ago, Jesus ate with sinners.
He still does.
Jesus is used to eating
with sinners. It’s what he did his whole
life. It’s what he continues to do
today. Thank God Jesus eats with sinners
– it means he’s willing to eat with you and with me.
Friends, we are on a
spiritual journey, and it’s OK to eat in the car. It’s not only OK, it’s essential. We need the bread of life and the cup of
redemption. On the menu today, the meal
looks like bread and wine, but Christ has actually prepared a feast of love and
grace for all of us. Come and get it.
Be present at our table, Lord. Be here and everywhere adored. Thy creatures bless and grant that we may
feast in paradise with thee. Come, Lord
Jesus, be our guest, the bread and wine to us be blessed. Grant us thy grace
and make us new, we’ll keep the feast always with you. Amen.
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