PREPARED BY
KEN GEHRELS
PASTOR
CALVIN CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH
"Are we going to eat in heaven?" the sixth-grader asked his pastor. Without thinking the reply came back, "No." The boy's face fell and the pastor heard him exclaim, "Oh, but eating is half the fun of living."
Meals are important, to all of us, not just those with bottomless pits. And it's much more than the food. Everyone enjoys receiving dinner invitations - and not primarily for the food! The thoughtfulness of the one extending the invitation, the pleasure of gathering with friends, the conversation and smiles all play important roles. If these are present, then even if the food is not high grade gourmet delicacies, we will still look back on that occasion and say, "That was a good meal!"
Meals have been throughout history, and remain today occasions for people to meet other people in a relaxed, intimate setting where true encounters occur, and sincere fellowship happens.
This is why Jesus, seeking the best for his disciples and for the budding Church, instituted a special symbolic meal as a time of great strengthening of faith, and commanded that the Church observe this meal and that all Christians take part in it.
I speak, of course, of the Lord's Supper, Holy Communion.
Mark 14.22: "While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, 'Take it; this is my body.' Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. 'This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,' he said to them."
From that moment on the Church around the world has used the common elements of Jewish mealtime, bread and wine, in communion celebrations.
I want to explore this ceremony with you today B looking at what it is and what it does in our Christian life.
The main bible teaching tool of our tradition, the Heidelberg Catechism, supplies us with solid material to study this scriptural topic, and I believe that it can be organized under 3 headings -
a/ What Communion points back to
b/ What Communion does today
c/ What Communion points ahead to
Lets begin by reading that material together -
CATECHISM Q/A 75 - 77, p.895
There is something poignant in the elements that Jesus chose for this special occasion, bread with flesh-like texture, and wine, deep-red and blood-coloured.
We see bread broken, and hear passages of scripture read about nails pounding through flesh, and thorns ripping into a scalp, and a spear plunging into the side.
We listen to the sound of wine being poured and watch the glistening redness, and in the back of our mind we see the Son of God hanging on the cross, bearing the sin of humanity.
Communion points back to Calvary. It reminds us vividly that God loves us. "And God demonstrated his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom 5.8)
Not only does Communion POINT us back to Calvary. It TAKES us back to Calvary and stands each of us at the foot of Golgotha, standing beside the Roman platoon sergeant as he made his confession, "Truly, this was the Son of God."
And standing there, each of us by participating in the sacred meal makes an active statement - "Yes, that is so! He IS the Son of God. And He is MY Lord!"
It's easy in church to get wrapped up in the theology of the Church and to hear about how Jesus saves some nameless soul called "A Sinner"; and in all that to get sidetracked from the certain knowledge that one of the people Jesus died for is ME!
Take bread, handle it and turn it over in your hand and know, "This is my body, which is given FOR YOU." (LK 22.19). Grasp the glass of wine or grape juice, smell it, taste it, and know "This is poured out FOR YOU" (LK 22.20)!
What happened 2000 years ago at Calvary was FOR ME!
As communion points back to Calvary, it also does something actively today. It strengthens and enriches my faith.
Says the Catechism, "He [Jesus] nourishes and refreshes my soul for eternal life."
The Lord's Supper is, so to speak, an important part of my spiritual diet, prescribed by heaven, which makes my faith more firm and alive and puts me in deeper contact with eternal things, with my Eternal and Life-giving God and Saviour.
One very normal part of being human is that we learn and grow by being involved. I mentioned that a number of weeks ago when we began our series on the Sacraments. Go into any classroom and you see how teachers help students take in the core material not only verbally but with pictures and projects and hands-on assignments. And I said that Jesus, the Master Teacher, also uses pictures and projects and hands-on assignments -- the Communion meal being one.
It is tangible. We touch. We act. We speak.
And through those activities the Holy Spirit draws us closer to Jesus. He strengthens our faith.
We use bread and wine, and make the active step of taking it in. And that active step, done in this setting, with the readings and prayers, and with the fellowship of brothers and sisters in the faith, actually makes us spiritually vulnerable.
It pries open the avenue to our heart.
The Holy Spirit then travels that avenue, and does his inner, mysterious work, pulling us closer to Jesus, like a lover embracing the beloved so that the one spirit, His Spirit, rules in him and in us.
Says the Catechism, "Through the Holy Spirit, who lives both in Christ and in us, we are united more and more to Christ.... and we forever live on and are governed by one Spirit, as members of our body are by one soul."
In John 6, Jesus commands us to become one with Him; to take Him in; to eat and drink Him. Not physically, of course. Bread remains bread. The juice remains a grape product.
But we DO take Christ in. For while we handle, taste and swallow these very ordinary elements, the Holy Spirit moves around them and us, enters us, and touches our Spirit. As 1 John 4.13 & 3.24 tell us, we become one with Jesus through the inner working of the Holy Spirit.
Perhaps it sounds all very mystical and unearthly.
Well, quite frankly brothers and sisters -- it is.
Communion is a time that goes beyond our heads. It is aimed straight at the heart. It is a time not to analyse, but to take in, to receive,
to become vulnerable,
to lower our barriers
to joyfully COMMUNE with Jesus through the Spirit.
Look at the bread and think - BODY
Look at the wine and think - BLOOD
Bow your head and say - SPIRIT OF JESUS, TOUCH ME
And He will. He really will. Sometimes it is a deeply moving time, and spiritual sparks fly.
Sometimes there is quiet spiritual growth and retrenchment.
Now B sometimes, in addition to the life-giving work of the Holy Spirit being at work, sin is also at work. There are the times when we come totally distracted. We're not spiritually focussed. Or we're harbouring sinful patterns of behaviour in our lives. Or we refuse to let go of angry, divisive attitudes towards fellow believers. Or we've grown busy and allowed ourselves to become spiritually distracted.
Then barriers are up.
Barriers that the Holy Spirit has to work around, or begin to smash down.
Scripture tells us that one of the BEST things we can do is to spend time before we come to communion in careful spiritual self-examination. Are there things in our lives which function as roadblocks to the Holy Spirit?
If so B get rid of them! Now!
Scripture also tells us that one of the WORST things we can do is ignore such barriers, allow them to stay in place. We can end up in deep spiritual trouble. Maimed. Spiritually hardened or diseased. Leave it long enough and it can actually lead to spiritual rot and death.
Doesn't mean, of course, that we need to be squeaky clean before we come.
No such thing as a squeaky clean person. Ever.
Communion is for sinners.
Sinners who know it.
And who desire to see holy change come into their life.
Who want to be distanced from their sin.
Who want to be intimately connected to their Saviour.
Sinners who want to have God's Spirit do healing, lifegiving, growing, restoring, beautifying work in their hearts.
Who present themselves open and vulnerable for that.
Which is the key thing to remember.
That while we come, and we prepare ourselves;
while we take and eat
while all of this is true.....
WE are NOT the key to effective communion.
WE are not the main players, workers in communion.
Most important in Holy Communion is the work that the Lord does.
That's why we call it a Ameans of grace.@
A Ameans of grace@ B a very normal, earthly kind of thing that is the means through which God pours His holy grace into our lives.
Which makes communion so powerful.
Not that we come so ready.
But that God comes so willing to work!
In us. On us. For us.
Which is why John Calvin desired so much to have communion celebrated as often as possible, giving him and his congregation the chance to be soaked in the presence of, and worked on by the power of the Holy Spirit of Jesus.
Never get enough of this mysterious, holy Christ-centred event!
All this is what communion does in the present.
One more thing it does today.
It builds the unity of the Church.
The Catechism quotes the words of Paul in 1 Cor 10.16,17:
"The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread."
The oneness of Christians is more graphically expressed at the Lord's Supper than at any other occasion. We sit and eat together and show our common faith in a common Lord. We show that we all belong to Him, AND that we all belong to each other.
And in that sacred moment, face to face with Jesus Christ and the ultimate sacrifice He made for us, our petty differences and bickerings and family squabbles in the household of faith are put into proper perspective.
In that sacred moment we are reminded that there is no room in the family of Jesus for bitterness, resentful anger, feuding -- for things that break down rather than build up; that make room for the Devil rather than the Holy Spirit.
That is why Paul writes in 1 Cor 11.22 to the divided, bickering Church in Corinth, who gathered for communion as a little group in this corner of the building, and another group in that corner, and a third group over there, and no one talking to anyone else - a divided, damaged Body of Christ - he writes:
"Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!"
He continues, "Anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgement on himself." (v.29)
Communion becomes a signpost along the way
A moment in time TODAY
for the Church to take its spiritual pulse of unity,
and to get on with the business of healing any inner
wounds.
That calls us to do more than prevent major squabbles and tensions; it calls us beyond sitting side by side in stony silence; it calls us to a life of intimate sharing and support; it challenges us to build each other up.
Think about it as you prepare for communion this evening.
Think - is there someone here that I could not look in the eye and say, AJesus loves you. And so do I.@ If there is, then may I suggest in the name of Jesus that you had better start making real work of rectifying that situation. For unless you do, you will be taking part in sinful disobedience to the will of God.
Holy Communion and Christian Unity go hand in hand.
Finally - what does Communion point ahead to?
Well -- Jesus commanded us to do this "Until he comes. (1 Cor 11.26).
Meaning -- He's coming back, some day. Perhaps very, very soon!
And when that day comes he will again eat with his disciples.
He will eat with us.
Lk 22.16: "I will not eat this meal again till it finds fulfillment in the Kingdom of God."
Revelation speaks of that day as eating at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in the New Creation
What we look for in faith, one day will be sight.
That's something that hits me every time I do communion in hospital or a nursing home with someone who is dying. For there, gathered together, as Pastor and elders with family, we can join hands and sing and pray and take of the elements and know that even though earthly parting is imminent, still there will one day be a reunion before the throne of God.
Meanwhile, eating and drinking
together
Looking back and gladly remembering the saving work of Jesus
Looking heavenward, hungering and thirsting for the Spirit's mystical miracle work to happen today.