Consider this my return to blogging. I have gotten away from it, but hope to get back to sharing some of my sermons and other writings in this space. This is my sermon for worship on Nov. 23-24, 2013 at Chippewa United Methodist Church. The accompanying scripture lessons are: Acts 2:46-47, Psalm 100, and John 6:25-35. The sacrament of Holy Communion was celebrated following this sermon. Audio should be up at chippewaumc.org today or Tuesday.
INTRODUCTION
There’s a story often told of a little girl who was brought forward to
participate in the sacrament of Holy Communion. As the first Communion
server broke off a small piece of bread and placed it in her hand, the
girl looked down at the bread, then back up at the server, and cried
loudly enough for everyone to hear: “I want more! I want more!”
Oh, that we would all approach Communion in the same way, begging for
more bread of heaven, more of the body of Christ, to be passed along to
us. Instead, we adults are usually content with just a small piece of
bread, just big enough to dip into the cup and consume all in one bite.
Sometimes, I wish we would approach the Lord’s Table in the same way as
that little girl: expecting more, wanting more, pleading for more Jesus.
THANKSGIVING
It is interesting to think of these things as we prepare to celebrate
the holiday of Thanksgiving. No holiday on our calendars, whether
Christian or civic, is centered around a meal
the way Thanksgiving is. Everyone has their own traditions for
Thanksgiving, but the Thanksgiving dinner is the main event. There are
even traditional foods that are expected to be served. For one day a
year, dinner is the most important thing on everyone’s schedule.
Yes, Thanksgiving is all about the meal. How big will the turkey be?
Get out the fancy tablecloth! Put the extra leaf in the table! Fetch the
extra chairs from the basement! And make sure there is enough food for
everyone! Thanksgiving is an important holiday because it is the
unofficial kick-off to what we know as the holiday season, which
continues through Advent, Christmas, New Year’s, and Epiphany. It is a
season that encourages us to gather with family and friends for
important meals, meals where the food we eat is important, and the way
we linger at the table for hours is even more important.
BREAKING BREAD TOGETHER
The tradition of sharing family meals is nothing new. As we read in
Acts, early Christians broke bread in their homes and ate their food
with glad and generous hearts. This practice reminds us that the
earliest Christians were still essentially a sect of Judaism, which is a
faith tradition with an even longer history of sharing ritual meals
with family and friends.
But I believe that sharing meals, “breaking bread together,” is not
only a religious exercise. There is a reason the phrase “breaking bread”
has entered the common lexicon as a slang term for family, friends, or
business associates eating together, often for the purpose of developing
a closer relationship or working out an agreement. Breaking bread is a
symbol of spiritual or social relationship.
Many of us will break bread with those whom we love around a
Thanksgiving dinner table later this week. And today, we will break
bread with each other as we celebrate Holy Communion, which is also
sometimes called “The Lord’s Supper.” In doing so, we break bread with
God as well, entering into God’s presence as we receive the bread and
wine at the table set for us.
PREPARING THE TABLE
Now at any meal, the table must first be prepared. Think about the
preparation required for your Thanksgiving dinner this Thursday. First,
you have probably already invited people to come and told them when to
arrive. Then, you have prepared the food and set the table. Even then,
people do not magically appear in their seats and begin to eat. There’s
always that moment when you have to go around telling everyone that
“It’s time; dinner is ready. Come have a seat at the table.” Then, the
final preparation is made with the prayer of blessing and thanksgiving.
So it is with the sacrament of Holy Communion. You were invited into
worship today at a particular place and time. Food has been prepared for
us - this bread and wine did not magically appear, but someone had to
take grain and turn it into bread and take grapes and turn them into the
unfermented wine we have here.
Final preparations are still made when we are called to the table and
the prayer of blessing and thanksgiving is spoken over the meal and all
who are gathered. In fact, we call this prayer, “The Great
Thanksgiving.”
“THE GREAT THANKSGIVING”
There are many theological meanings to the sacrament of Holy Communion,
and one of them is to give thanks. One of the words you may have heard
used for Communion, “Eucharist,” comes from a Greek word that means
“giving thanks.” When we celebrate Communion, we convey our gratitude
for the goodness of God and for God’s unconditional love for us.
It is clear that giving thanks is an important theme in the liturgy
called “The Great Thanksgiving” which we will share in a few moments:
- Almost immediately in the Great Thanksgiving, we are invited to “give thanks to the Lord our God,” because “It is right to give our thanks and praise.”
- Then the pastor proclaims: “It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, almighty God, creator of heaven and earth.” What we are doing in this “Great Thanksgiving” is something we are supposed to do “always and everywhere”: give thanks.
- In the Great Thanksgiving, we express joyful thanks for God’s action throughout history: creation, covenant, salvation offered through Jesus Christ, and the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit.
- In the Great Thanksgiving, we recall that the first thing Jesus did with the bread and cup were to give thanks to God.
- Finally, “we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving” - a “Great” Thanksgiving, indeed.
When
we have finished these prayers of thanksgiving and blessing, we are
finally ready to eat the meal that has been prepared. And with whatever
method we choose to eat and drink, we receive bread and wine, body and
blood, bread of heaven and cup of salvation. We have a Thanksgiving
dinner at which Jesus Christ is the host.
Being the host is a familiar role for Jesus. He was one who had made
such a habit of welcoming sinners and eating with them that he was
criticized for it. But if Jesus could not welcome sinners to his table,
then who could he welcome? Are we not all sinners in need of God’s
grace? And do we not all find that grace and peace here, at the table of
our Lord?
In
this way, the sacrament of Holy Communion is no different than any
other meal. Henri Nouwen once said that Communion, like any other meal,
is an invitation by the host to affirm and celebrate life together.
Isn’t that why we invite people to dinner, to affirm and celebrate life
together? In Communion, Jesus invites us to affirm and celebrate life
with him and with our neighbors, and because of this, everyone should
feel welcome at this, the Lord’s table.
CONCLUSION
Today,
Jesus invites us to celebrate a Great Thanksgiving in this sacrament of
Holy Communion. But many of the elements of this meal are also present
in our Thanksgiving dinners on Thursday, and I’m not talking only of
bread and wine. Will your Thanksgiving celebration have all the
necessary elements of a Great Thanksgiving as we celebrate today? Will
you:
- Welcome all persons around your table
- Give thanks to God always and everywhere
- Give thanks for God our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer?
- Give thanks for the unconditional love and grace that God gives?
- Celebrate and affirm life together, a life rooted in the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ?
United Methodist pastor and author Will Willimon reminds us that in
Jewish tradition, “when the blessing is said at the table, the table
becomes a holy place and eating together a sacred activity.” As you sit
down at your Thanksgiving tables this week, someone will likely say a
prayer of blessing before you eat. When the prayer of blessing is given,
your table then becomes a holy space, and eating together becomes a
sacred activity where Christ’s presence is made known.
And
as you eat together, remember that little girl who cried loudly upon
receiving communion, “I want more! I want more!” She, more than any
adults around her, knew the truth about the bread being placed in her
hands. It was bread come down from heaven, and her cries were actually
cries of thanksgiving. We are often most thankful for the things that
stir up a hunger within us. May we all be hungry for the bread of heaven,
and remember to give thanks to God, always and everywhere for that
gift. And may our Thanksgivings all be Great Thanksgivings. Amen.
