World Communion Sunday Meditation 2014
Psalm 80:1-11; Matthew
21:33-46
In the
West Africa country of Togo, people remember Jesus by drinking from a hollowed-out
gourd cut in half while sitting under a tree or a thatch-roofed mud
building.
In
Kathmandu, Eastern Napal, people remember Jesus by drinking green colored grape
juice. In France, many remember Jesus
by standing and pondering before partaking.
In
Saudi Arabia, small groups of believers remember Jesus by meeting in secret,
thousands of miles away from their homes, to share the sacred meal.
In
one American mega-church, folks remember Jesus by opening a shrink wrapped
all-in-one wafer and juice cup.
In a
nearby urban Presbyterian congregation, there are those who remember Jesus by
gathering in front of the church building and offering ritual hospitality to
anyone passing by.
There
are all kinds of contexts for Christians to gather and remember Jesus through
the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.
What’s in the cup and the kind of bread that is offered vary, but
everyone experiencing this sacrament does so to remember the life, death,
burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We do so to joyfully remember God’s constant presence. We do so to remember that Jesus is our vine
and we are the vine branches producing holy fruit by God’s grace and through our
faith.
Roger
Pritchett, who served as a missionary in Kenya for eight years, has remarked
that “It is remarkable to think that at any given time — from sometime on
Saturday until Monday — people around the world are celebrating the body and
blood of Jesus in a way similar to me.
Our fellowship in that sacred feast may be the single strongest bond
among believers of all cultures this side of heaven.”[i]
Today
is World Communion Sunday. It’s a special
day on our church calendar for celebrating the faithful, sacramental solidarity
we share with Christians across the globe.
We typically serve fruit of the vine and bread by having our ordained
church leaders pass a special plate with personal sized portions to the people
sitting in each pew. Today, as able,
we will do so by standing, forming a line, and coming forward to break off a
piece of bread to be dipped into a common chalice. We will do so to recall that for many of
our faithful brothers and sisters, gathering to receive the sacrament isn’t as
easy or safe as getting in a car for a short drive to a local church. And we will do so to recall that each time
we walk to the Lord’s Table, it can be a fresh discovery of the life
transforming bonds found across the Christian faith.
For
author Sara Miles, the very first taste of communion proved to be very powerful
indeed. In her book titled, Take This
Bread, she writes the following –
“One
early, cloudy morning, when I was forty-six, I walked into a church, ate a
piece of bread, took a sip of wine. A routine Sunday activity for tens of
millions of Americans—except that up until that moment I'd led a thoroughly
secular life, at best indifferent to religion, more often appalled by its
fundamentalist crusades. This was my first communion. It changed everything. Eating Jesus, as I did that day to my great
astonishment, led me against all my expectations to a faith I'd scorned and
work I'd never imagined. The mysterious sacrament turned out to be not a
symbolic wafer but actual food—indeed, the bread of life. In that shocking
moment of communion, filled with a deep desire to reach for and become part of
a body, I realized that what I'd been doing with my life all along was what I
was meant to do: feed people. And so I
did. I took communion, I passed the bread to others, and then I kept going,
compelled to find new ways to share what I had experienced.”[ii]
This
singular, powerful experience inspired Sara Miles so much that she went on to
found an Episcopal Church ministry in San Francisco called The Food Pantry,
whose mission is to increase access to food for hungry people, and empower them
to help each other.[iii]
As
Presbyterians, we believe that the crucified and risen Christ comes to us in
the bread and juice of Communion. The
substance of these elements doesn’t change.
We aren’t really eating flesh and blood. Yet as
a sacrament, these are more than just symbolic.
We believe the Holy Spirit moves in such a profound way so as to unite
us with all the faithful on earth as it is in heaven. It’s an eternally big thanksgiving family
meal. As this happens, we “learn the
incomparable joy of keeping company with the Savior of the World.”
How
will your experience of this today further transform your life? How will it fill you with fresh inspiration
and faithful energy? How will it help
you feel connected in Christ with people of various languages and cultures?
The
tradition of World Communion Sunday began in a Presbyterian church. It was led by the Rev. Dr. Hugh Thompson Kerr
at Shadyside Presbyterian in Pittsburgh, PA.
The year was 1933. It was a year
of bridge building – at least on the San Francisco Bay, when construction of
the Golden Gate began. Other kinds of
bridges were being built too, such as the Blaine Act’s ending of prohibition in
the United States. Mount Rushmore was
officially dedicated and FDR declared “The only thing we have to fear, is fear
itself” amidst the Great Depression and just a few years before the start of
World War II.
In
this broader context, it was the Stewardship Committee of Shadyside who
launched World Communion Sunday. Not
for fundraising purposes, but for faith raising purposes. According to Dr. Kerr’s son, “It was their
attempt to bring churches together in a service of Christian unity — in which
everyone might receive both inspiration and information, and above all, to know
how important the Church of Jesus Christ is, and how each congregation is
interconnected one with another.”[iv] And so today, this tradition continues “around
the world, demonstrating that the church founded on Jesus Christ peacefully
shares God-given goods in a world increasingly destabilized by globalization
and global market economies based on greed.”[v]
Jesus
always sets the table. And we do well
to take notice of how he sets the table with the parable of the landowner we
just read and heard.
When
you give this further consideration, keep asking this question – Who does the
rejecting?
We
know Jesus, the Son of God, was rejected and put to death by outsiders to his
ministry. Yet in this parable, the ones
betraying the vineyard owner, God, are the
tenants, the insiders, the leaders who are supposed to cultivate the vineyard
to God’s glory alone by helping produce the fruit of Christ’s kingdom.
In a
very stark and stern way, then, this parable warns every Christian across the
globe not to betray our unity and purpose in the Lord. It’s a reminder to carefully keep attending
to the vine that was brought up out of Egypt and deeply rooted from land to
sea.
So
let’s come together and come forward to be reminded and to be strengthened in
loving solidarity. Let’s taste the vine
from which we are branches. Today, but certainly not just today. Let’s hum in
our hearts as we recall the churches one foundation, the “Elect from every
nation, Yet one o'er all the earth;
Her charter of salvation, One Lord, one faith, one
birth; One holy name she blesses, partakes one holy food, And to one hope she
presses, with every grace endued.” (Samuel J. Stone)
Amen.
[i] http://www.christianchronicle.org/article/practices-may-vary-but-churches-around-the-world-share-in-sweet-communion#sthash.jz1COHvD.dpuf
[ii] Sara
Miles, Take This Bread (Ballantine Books, 2008), xi
[iii]
http://thefoodpantry.org
[iv] https://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/worship/world-communion-sunday/
[v]
ibid
No comments:
Post a Comment