Sunday, October 3, 2021

Remembrance

October 3, 2021
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois

1 Corinthians 11:23-26[1]

The celebration of the Lord’s Supper is the signature act of the church, the gathered community of Christians. Different traditions use different terms for this sacrament. The Lord’s Supper is a common way to refer to the act of remembering the last meal of Jesus with the disciples. Eucharist comes from the Greek word meaning “thanksgiving”. Mass, the term used by Roman Catholics, refers to a Latin phrase meaning “dismissal” or sent out in mission. Communion, the term we most often use, comes from a Latin word meaning “to share in common.”

When we celebrate Communion, we remember the meal that Jesus ate with the disciples in an upper room in Jerusalem the night before the crucifixion. We remember the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and the promise to us of eternal life. We symbolically gather around a table to eat a meal together. Though we may call it an altar, it is really the Table of Christ, and the table belongs not to the church, but to Jesus.

As we know from the scriptures, the bread and the cup symbolize the body and blood of Christ. When the bread is broken and the juice or wine is poured into the cup and lifted up, we are reminded of the costliness of Christ’s gift of life and love. By sharing in the meal, we take part in the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.

All Christians celebrate Communion, though the manner and understanding of the celebration vary. Some see the meal as a memorial, remembering the Last Supper Jesus shared with the disciples. Others see it as a sign or symbol of Christ’s presence in the bread and cup and in the congregation. Some believe that the bread and wine are transformed into the actual body and blood of Jesus.

In the meal itself, some churches use individual cups; some use a common cup. Some use small cubes of bread; some use unleavened bread or wafers; some use a whole loaf of bread. Some congregations serve Holy Communion in the pews; others invite worshipers forward to receive at stations. Around the world, and even just withing our denomination, there is a wide range of practices.

We offer grape juice along with wine for a couple of reasons. The Temperance Movement of the early 20th century opposed the drinking of alcohol. This movement eventually led to the passage of the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution, known as Prohibition. Though Prohibition was repealed by the 21st Amendment, many churches considered the switch to grape juice to be a good thing. We offer both wine and grape juice so that children may participate, and so that anyone who is an alcoholic may participate. The gluten in wheat bread may be dangerous to people with celiac disease. For this reason, some churches offer gluten-free bread during communion.

Christian denominations differ in whether non-members may receive Communion. For the first several hundred years, non-members were forbidden even to be present for the ritual; visitors and were dismissed halfway through the Liturgy, after the Bible readings and sermon but before the Eucharistic rite. Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches practice closed communion under normal circumstances. Some Protestant communities also exclude non-members from Communion. As a young person attending worship with a Catholic friend, it felt really contemptuous to not be able to take communion.

Most Protestant communities, including the United Church of Christ, practice open communion which is not limited to members, though some require that the person be baptized. Some congregations, like ours, offer communion to any individual who wishes to commemorate the life and teachings of Christ, regardless of religious affiliation. We call this the open table.

So, enough lecture. I want to tell you about some special celebrations of communion that I remember, and I hope that you have one or two that you remember as significant, also.

The first that I want to tell you about comes from missionaries in West Timor, Indonesia. In a small farming village, Karen and her husband John attended Gethsemane Church, part of the Evangelical John Christian Church of Timor. It was at the Gethsemane Church that Karen and I first had communion ‘round the cross. In that church, several long tables were arranged in the shape of a cross—about four tables long, with a table on each side of the second table to form the arms of the cross. Candles were placed down the middle of the cross, as much to keep the flies away from the bread and wine as to symbolize the light of salvation. One large chalice, filled with terribly sweet wine, and a whole loaf of bread resting on a tin platter were placed at the head of the cross. Trays of small communion glasses, filled with the same wine, and trays of de-crusted white bread cut into cubes, were placed between the candles.

There was a self-imposed dress code: white shirts and blouses, black skirts and trousers. Congregants dare not arrive late for communion; and, when it was time to begin, the doors would be closed and they would sit quietly in a sea of black and white, meditating on sin and redemption. With silent instructions from elders and deacons, congregants would quietly rise and gather around the cross, until the cross was encircled by worshippers. They were invited to sit with a hand gesture by the pastor.

A Bible passage was read, the words of institution recited to bless the sacrament, bread eaten, and wine drunk. Then the first group returned to their seats while the rest of the congregation sang a hymn and the next group took their seats around the cross. The ritual and words of institution remained the same, only the Bible passage changed with each round.

Karen remembers grumbling more than once about the amount of time this drama required as the congregation grew over the years. Towards the end of their time at Gethsemane Church, before several branch posts became full-fledged congregations, she remembers counting the rounds of worshippers around the cross—nearly 25 rounds that required a three and a half-hour service. Even now she remembers the sweat running down her forehead, arms, and legs; the loss of concentration; how singing in unison became a welcome reprieve from the words at the table that had become monotony as the hours passed.

One communion service Karen remembers with poignant clarity. She and John were amongst the last to arrive so that the only remaining seats were “front-row” close to the cross. As they waited for their turn, she began paying close attention to those who passed in front of her as people found a seat at the cross. There were dirty trousers frayed at the end, with cracked heels and calloused toes splayed over the tip of worn flip flops. There were elegant heels and the latest style in skirts. Some skirts were held closed at the waist with safety pins; leather were shoes polished to a shine. There were jackets and ties; frayed and dirty collars; all black and white, black and white passing in front of her, denoting the vast economic divides within that one congregation.

There were moments of intimacy, sitting side-by-side, shoulder-to-shoulder around the cross, to face each other across the divisions of class. The ritual crossed divisions through an act of symbolic common redemption, theologically intended for solidarity. Though she doesn’t miss the hours of sitting in a hot sanctuary with slowly-rotating wall fans that didn’t work half the time, she does miss the meaning, freedom, and ethics of true Christian community.

One memory I cherish of celebrating communion was as a leader of youth at a retreat event in Colorado. Having spent a weekend at camp, we gathered for worship. Our theme was from John 21, when the disciples had gone fishing after the crucifixion of Jesus. A man appeared on the shore, and shouted, “Have you caught any fish?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast the net, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish.

The leader of our service led communion in silence. First, he reenacted the scripture, silently casting the net, then hauling us in. Then, he mimed a gathering around the table. He took the bread, silently breaking it and offering it to us. Then he took the cup, held it to his side to indicate the wound in Jesus’ side, then gestured that we should share it among us. We passed the cup in silence all around the circle. Imagine, a group of teenagers sharing the Lord’s Supper in perfect silence.

Finally, I remember a group of friends gathered at what must have been a Conference meeting. We were spending the night in the church, sleeping on the floor, because that was the cheapest housing option for the weekend. A woman who had been recently ordained led our small group up to the balcony overlooking the sanctuary. We sat on the floor, sharing stories of what we had been doing with groups of adults or youth in our churches. After a time, we grew quiet. Kelly produced a loaf of bread and a bottle of wine, hidden behind her, and in a moment of silence and awe, we passed the bread around, breaking off pieces to eat. We passed the bottle – this was pre-COVID – and each took a swallow. No one left that balcony with dry eyes.

Not every meal is communion. Not every glass of wine is sacred. But there are moments, sometimes unexpected, when the sacred comes in like a rush of the wind, and you know that the table is no longer yours, the bread is not common any more, and the wine is sacred. You remember, I’m sure, a moment when you knew the Spirit was present, and Christ was the host at the table. The disciples didn’t know at first what was really happening. But whenever two or three gathered in the time that followed, they recognized the risen Christ in the breaking of the bread.  Amen.



[1] The scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

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