October 1, 2000

World Wide Communion
Scripture:  John 6: 25-35
l  Corinthians 11:23-26
 
 

 Today is World Wide Communion Sunday, today as we share the body and blood of Christ, we do so with millions of people all over the world;  today we are keenly aware of being a part of the great body of Christ.  So it seems like the perfect day to talk about  communion.

 I remember receiving communion as a child, sitting with my parents right over there - left hand side, sixth pew - watching as our ministers would lift the bread and the cup, listening to the words that over the years would become familiar to me, then I would wait with anticipation as  the ushers would bring the plate to the first pew.  And I would watch as each person would take hold the plate, take the perfectly cubed piece of wonder bread and then pass the plate, slowly, ever so slowly.  By the time the plate reached the second pew I started to get anxious because I was hungry and I wanted to make sure I'd get some bread...by the time the plate reached the third pew my stomach started to growl and my father would look down at me disapprovingly and I would hold my stomach, trying to keep it quiet...by the time the plate was at the fourth pew, I was really hungry and I wasn’t sure I was going to make it and by the time the plate came to the fifth pew I
was starving and I knew if I didn’t get that bread and that cup of juice soon, I was going to die.

 And then, finally it was our turn.  And the plate was passed down my way and my dad held it for me and I took one of those little cubes of wonder bread  and then I passed the plate to the grown up on the other side of me, and when our minister said, "Take and eat"  I did and I was saved.

 And that's how I remember communion as a child.

 As I  grown, I've found that I've lost some of that anticipation and urgency about communion that I had as a child.  Of course, I've matured somewhat since then and understand more about what's happening here, but still, wouldn't
 it be something, if we all approached communion, if we all came to the Lord's supper,  with that same kind of anticipation and need and desire - that feeling that if we don’t get this bread and this cup - we just might not make it

 Now, if someone asked me if I truly felt I'd die if I don't have this bread and juice, my first response would be,  "No of course I won't die."  I've got coffee back at the house.  There's leftover Easter candy downstairs in the fridge.  If I don't have this bread and this cup today, I will be o.k.  My physical hunger - my physical needs will be met.  But what about my spiritual hunger - what about our spiritual needs?  Do we need communion?

I'd like to share some thoughts with you about why I think we do...

First of all, we need communion to remember.

 There's that wonderful story about the little boy who couldn't wait for his new baby sister to come home from the hospital.  Couldn't wait to be near him, to talk to him.  But his parents didn't want him to be left alone with h
er; he was only four, they wanted to supervise his visits.  He kept begging to be alone with her so one night his parents finally relented.  The boy tiptoed into her room and next to his sister's crib and said:  "Tell me about God." she said, "I'm starting to
forget."

 We need to gather together around this table every once in awhile to tell each other about God;  to remember just how much God loves us.   To tell the story of how God reached out to us, came to us in Jesus Christ to show us a new way of living.  We need to break the bread and pour the cup to remember that Jesus died so that we might know forgiveness of all our sins and be reconciled with God.   And we need to take this bread and drink this cup to remember that Christ is present with us now.

 Jesus chose a simple meal to have his disciples remember him by,  something  he had shared with them countless times before, and something they would share together after he was gone.   Together they could sit, share the stories of Jesus, break the bread, share the wine and do this in remembrance of him.

 So it is with communion. We need communion to remember.
 To remember what Christ said,
 To remember what he did.
 To remember that he is with us now.

 And so we do this to remember.  We do it because we remember and in order to remember more fully.  For if we don’t do it, we might start to forget...
 

We need communion to remember.
 We also need communion to be fed.

 Today, people in Maine, people in Canada, people in Kansas and California, people in Brazil, Honduras, Scotland and Australia - all over the world are gathering to be fed.  They’re gathered in huge stone cathedrals, beautiful white colonial churches,  urban and suburban places of worship.  They're gathering in small buildings, thatched huts, outdoors, indoors, wherever two or three are gathered.

 People like you and me, people very different from you and me, of different race and economic means, of different political persuasion, people of different abilities,  those who know freedom, those who do not, migrant workers, peasants, royalty
, all are gathered today to be fed today,  to know God, revealed in Jesus Christ through the breaking of the bread.

 We are all gathered because we are hungry.  Hungry for something.
Even our hunger differs from one another, my hunger is different than yours, yours is different than the child in Thailand, her hunger is different than the elderly man in Nicaragua.  But we are all hungry.

 Hungry for forgiveness. Hungry for some peace in our lives
 Hungry for direction, for guidance, for wisdom
 Hungry for hope, for reassurance of God's promise
 Hungry for food and shelter, for an end to poverty, for justice.
 Hungry for knowledge, for the knowledge of God.
 Hungry for wholeness and happiness, for reconciliation,
for joy.

 We are all hungry for something.
 And we all need to be touched by God, to be fed by God.

 In the gospel of John, Jesus says, I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

 We come to this table hungry and it is here that we are fed. Through the power of the Holy Spirit,  Christ is present with us at this meal, taking on our burdens, giving us strength, forgiving us, refreshing us, renewing us. Whether or not we know it, whether or not we feel it, God is at work here, in and around and through us feeding our deepest hungers.

 Last week the choir sang the anthem, "Here I Am, Lord" and it provides one of the most beautiful descriptions of how w
e are fed, how we are nourished during communion.  Listen to this verse.

 I, the Lord of wind and flame, I will tend the poor and lame.  I will set a feast for them, my hand will save.  Finest bread I will provide till their hearts be
satisfied. I will give my life to them.

 We come to the table because we are hungry and need to be touched by God.
 We need communion to be fed.
 
 
 
 

And...we need communion to give thanks.

 Another word for communion is eucharist, taken from the Greek word: thanksgiving, to give thanks. In the upper room on the night before Jesus was betrayed, he took the bread and gave thanks to God.

 On that night, knowing all that he knew, knowing that one of his friends would betray him, another would deny him, knowing that he would soon face an agonizing death, he still gave thanks to God.  A professor at Yale explains this by saying that "Death might have been on the outside the door, but God was inside.  Jesus'  reliance on God was so complete that there was no occasion which did not call for thanksgiving."

 And so we give thanks...that death  might be on the outside of that door, but God in inside and not just inside but also in our hearts.  We give thanks for God’s constant and abiding presence in our lives.

 And we give thanks for mystery - because what happens here is a mystery.  Theologians, scholars, church people, non-church people, spend an inordinate amount of time discussing, debating, writing, trying to understand and explain what happens here.  And now, right here, you're going to find out.

 Some churches, in particular the Roman Catholic Church,  believe in transubstantiation -  that the bread and the wine actually transform into the body and blood of Christ though
outwardly there is no change.

 Some churches go in the other direction and believe that this bread and this cup are only symbols of Christ's body.  Nothing special happens here.

 And then there are those of us, in the congregational church and many other churches who believe that something special does happens here.  When we call upon the Holy Spirit to be with us, when we bless this bread and this cup, Christ is indeed present with us.  We don’t know how, we don’t know when.  It’s a mystery.   And that's o.k.
 

And for those who are uncomfortable with mystery, here are a couple of thoughts:

 John Calvin,  a theologian in the reformed tradition and if you've ever been a part of the Presbyterian church you've heard of him, once said of communion, ìI would rather experience it than understand it."
 And William Willimon, a pastor and chaplain of the chapel at Duke University said, "Jesus didn’t say, "Take and understand.  He said Take and Eat." Take and be fed.  Take and know the risen Christ.
And so we give thanks for the mystery that is too powerful, to put into words, and to awesome to describe.

 And finally, we give thanks for grace.

 For it is God's  grace that brings us to this table in the first place.   God who reaches out to us, and beckons us to come, to taste the bread of life,
to know goodness and love.   God says "Come" and we feel a little guilty because we know we're not worthy of all this goodness and love.  In the words of that wonderful prayer of confession, we have done things we shouldn't have done this week and there are things we've left undone, and God says, ìI forgive you."  Just come!  Be part of this meal.  Take and Eat!

 God wants us just as we are, faults and all. We come to this table not because we're perfect but because we are aware of our imperfections and we want to be transformed. We bring ourselves and God brings the rest.

 And so we come, each of us, people from Maine and Kansas and Brazil and Honduras.  From all over the world we come to know the risen Christ, to know God.  And so we give thanks for grace.
 

 We need communion.
 To remember, to be fed, to give thanks for the mystery and for God’s grace.

 Let us begin.