Humble Recognition

Luke 18:9-14   

         One of my guilty pleasures is the musical show “Glee”.  Set in a high school in Lima, Ohio the show centers upon a high school glee club called “New Directions.”  Now as you can imagine, the kids in this singing group are less than cool.  They struggle with not fitting in with their peers because of their lack of social skills, diminished athletic ability, odd physical appearance or even just their choice of wardrobe.  However what makes these kids stand out is their musical talent.  But their musical gifts are not enough being thrown in the dumpster by a bunch of tough guys or avoid the occasional slushy thrown in their face. 

            Through an interesting turn of events, a couple of the cool kids, the football players and cheerleaders to be exact, decide to join the glee club for various reasons of their own.  The tensions within the club rise as the misfit diva is stuck singing next to the football player who threw him in the dumpster the day before.  Eventually the social structure of the fictional McKinley High School is turned on its head when the cheerleader are seen talking to the goth chick and the star quarterback becomes best friends with the schools only openly gay student, but it took this crew of kids much work to get to this point. 

            We all remember what it was like in high school.  For many of us high school was a happy time filled with parties, dances and sports games.  For some of us it was a mixed bag, there were good times and there were struggles but all in all it was ok.  But for a few of us high school may have been quite painful.  Maybe it was because the coursework was too hard, maybe things at home weren’t going so well or maybe it was because of a lack of fitting in.  For some, for reasons outside of their control they are not able to traverse the in and outs of the high school social hierarchy as smoothly as some of their peers.  And unfortunately there are a few children who are bullied mercilessly just because they are different.  Perhaps it’s the color of their skin, or their weight, or their appearance or even their sexual orientation as we’ve recently witnessed.  For all kids, adolescence is a painful, awkward and frustrating time what with changing voices, bodies and hormones abound.  But unfortunately there is a temptation to diminish this discomfort by putting other kids down in order to lift themselves up.  I know I did it.  Whenever I had trouble adjusting in high school, I would look for a kid who was weirder than myself and pick on him or her.  I would then lift myself up saying, “At least I’m not as strange as so and so.”  Somehow I was able to eek out some sense of feeling worthy by deeming someone else as less worthy than me. 

            I wish I could say that we outgrow this behavior when we grow older, but unfortunately many of us still struggle with the inclination to scapegoat others in order to lift ourselves up in our struggles.  When I worked at the homeless shelter, the phrase I kept hearing over and over again was, “I’m not like the other people here.  At least I don’t drink, do drugs, sleep around, etc. etc.”  At times folks would single out others, stating “At least I’m not like him, he’s been on the streets for years, I’ve only been homeless for a month.”  In the midst of the overwhelming sense of unworthiness that homelessness can bring, some will try to eek out a sense of feeling worthy by deeming someone as less worthy.

            We see the same dynamic in the gospel reading.  The Pharisee and the Tax Collector are praying at the temple.  Both are atoning for their sins and I am sure both are probably feeling unworthy.  We don’t know if it is a particular sin that brings them to the temple or if this is part of a required ritual.  The Pharisee standing by himself begins his prayer by putting down the tax collector, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people:  thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even a tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of my income” (Luke 18:11) The Pharisee is trying to prove his worthiness to God by pointing the unworthiness of others.  Whereas the tax collector feeling so unworthy that he cannot look up to heaven only asks for God’s forgiveness, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” (Luke 18:13)  These men are the same in their struggle with their deep sense of unworthiness, their shame that burdens them yet they seek to be redeemed of their shame through different means.  The Pharisee looks up at heaven while pointing down to the tax collector arrogantly thinking that he will gain worthiness from God as a result of his own actions.  The tax collector on the other hand is humiliated before God and others, recognizing his brokenness through his chest beating.  And yet both of these men are equally worthy in the eyes of God.

            Let me unpack this a bit, theologians have long grappled with the definitions of sin and redemption.  Is sin something we do, or is it who we are.  Reformed theologian Calvin believes that all of humankind is complete and utterly depraved as a result of the original sin committed by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eve.  The doctrine of original sin is the theological view that the sin of is imputed on all humanity. As Calvin puts it “[Adam] cosigned his race to ruin by his rebellion when he perverted the whole order of nature.”  Calvin understood scripture to teach that the entire person is subject to sin leaving no one immune to Adams original sin.  This doctrine is most referred to as total depravity: the idea that a human being cannot not sin.  In other words we are doomed to sin.[i]  In other words we are not perfect, we will mess up.  All of us – no exceptions.

            Personally I have come to believe that the manifestation of the stain of original sin is the overwhelming sense of unworthiness that is the burden of shame that many of us are forced to carry in our psyche since we were children.  Since childhood we have been bombarded with messages that we are not good enough.  How many of us as children have had a stressed out adult wag their finger at us saying, “Shame on you.”  What they were trying to communicate was disappointment in our behavior and yet the words “shame on you” cuts to the quick makes us feel that it is us who are bad and not our just behavior.  Then there’s the politics of the playground, the classroom and eventually the workplace that place people in a competitive pecking order based on power and prestige.  Governments and unfortunately the church have used shame to try to control people in order to keep compliance and order.  Then we have advertising that tells us that we need to make our skin look younger, our wardrobe hipper and our homes more beautiful as if there isn’t beauty already in our wrinkles, clothing and homes we already have.  With all these voices telling us that we are not good enough is it any wonder that we are inclined to do anything we can to make ourselves feel worthy.

            One of the ways we have tried to ease the anxiety of our shame, our sense of unworthiness, is by seeking out another different from ourselves and making them unworthy.   Picking a scapegoat shifts the focus from ones own feelings of unworthiness and shifts the burden onto another.  This is dangerous as we’ve seen happen in our history, we only need to look at the destruction of the Holocaust to know what happens when a minority group is made the scapegoat.  Unfortunately as a culture we will avoid looking the systemic evil that causes such things as economic injustice, environmental destruction and world conflict by vilifying a small group of people as the source of all our problems.  If we could just get rid of them, we think, the problems would go away.  But then if they go away, will that make us the unworthy ones.

            However the good news is this, our worthiness is not up to us, we don’t have to save ourselves because God has done it for us.  We are justified, that is we are made in good standing with God through our faith alone.  By claiming our utter dependence upon God for our justification we are able to acknowledge our shortcomings and be assured that God will forgive us.  We have no need to diminish others in order to claim our worthiness because all of God’s creation has been deemed worthy by God.  As Jesus said at the end of the gospel reading, “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”  In other words all things will be made equal.

            At the beginning of my sermon I talked about the show “Glee” where cheerleaders and goth chick, football players and the Broadway diva and everyone in between coalesced to become a show choir.  In the beginning, these kids did not get along with each other.  They competed against each other for the solos, they avoided each other in the halls and sometimes they threw slushies at each other.  However as they got to know each other as people rather than just as jocks or nerds, they were able to work together as a team and they grew to love each other in friendship.  They began to see the worthiness of themselves by seeing the worthiness of the other.  Let us go out into the world and do likewise.

May it be so.

Amen.

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[i] Robert Leach, “Luke 18:9-14” Feasting on the Word.  214.

Thinking Inside the Box

Jeremiah 31:27-34

1 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Luke 18:1-8

Ok, I must start this sermon with a confession.  You see I have a problem that has plagued me and my loved ones all of my life.  I am a whiner.  I whine about almost anything.  Those close to me (Beloved Partner, my best friend , my family, my cat) tolerate it well although some in my life have established ground rules.  Beloved has graciously asked me to wait a half an hour after she comes home from work before I start whining and that I do not whine the half hour before she goes asleep.  My cat wonderful listener that he is has made it clear that he’d rather party then hear me whine.    

I whine because I am a diva.  Really I am. I earned this illustrious title in seminary when I went on a mission trip to Guatemala with my seminary colleagues in 2005.  This title was given to me because of my varied reactions to staying in youth hostels and having to share one bathroom with 12 other women, if there was a bathroom to be had.  These kinds of living conditions are a bit of a stretch for a woman whose idea of camping out is staying in a hotel where they don’t put a mint on my pillow at night. 

So you can imagine my reaction when I was asked to stay out all night in a cardboard box in front of the state capital on a brisk October night in order to raise awareness about homelessness in our city.  Yes, that happened in 2008.  At first I thought it was a good idea, it would be an opportunity to participate in an act of protest in solidarity with folks who are homeless or were formerly homeless and it would also be a time to bond with other advocates for the homeless under the starry night skies of Small City, New England State.  Sure this is a stretch for a diva like myself to be sleep in a box; however I have been known to be a good sport and “to take one for the team.”

So I signed up to participate in the event called “Gimme Shelter”.  However, as the date of the event grew closer and closer my anxiety got higher and higher.  Also the weather got colder and colder and to top it all off it rained everyday that week until that Friday night on October 12th at 6:00 pm.  So I decided to get all my whining out of my system the week prior to the event so that I would be a brave little pastor at the event.  I whined to beloved, I whined to my collegues, I even whined from the pulpit pleading for prayers and sponsorships, (which worked by the way).  I whined up until I packed my little cardboard box and sleeping bag into my car and drove to the State Capital to participate in this event.  We aren’t talking about the persistence of the widow in the bible story saying, “Grant me justice.”  Rather we are talking about a homeless advocate pleading, “God if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.”

I wish I could say that it was not that bad sleeping in the box but it was bad.  It was cold and wet.  It was noisy and I didn’t feel all that safe.  I got claustrophobic trying to sleep inside this teeny tiny box through the night and I spent most of the night pulling the tarp on and off the box so that I could breath.  At about two o’clock in the morning I saw an odd shaped shadow outside my box and I got very scared.  I lifted the tarp slowly and saw that it was a pug puppy out for a walk sniffing the boxes. The owner of the pug was apologetic and because of the cuteness of the puppy I was forgiving.  Needless to say I didn’t get much sleep that night and so all I could do was be silent and think inside the box.  I tried to ease my fear and chill by thinking of ways to get through the night and the thing that kept playing through my mind over and over again was I’ll be home tomorrow morning in my bed, with my blankets over me and my cat at my side.  Unfortunately for people who struggle with homelessness they don’t have this saving grace.  All kidding aside, I can’t imagine how anyone can live this way from day to day.  It is cold, it is uncomfortable, and it is not safe.  The night that I spent thinking inside the box transformed me. 

I had spent years working with the homeless but I did not know first hand what it is like to be homeless.  In many ways still I don’t know what it is like to be homeless, however now I know what it is like to sleep outdoors on a sidewalk in unlivable conditions.  Prior to this night I had thought sleeping out in the streets was like camping…it is not.  Prior to that night I was tempted to believe the myth that people who are chronically homeless choose to be that way…I now know from my personal experience that this is not true!  There is no way on God’s green earth anyone would choose to sleep night in and night out in the conditions that I slept in on that Friday night.

Sleeping in that box on that cold October night has made me very feisty.  My whining was transformed into a hunger and thirst for justice that longed to be satisfied.  The United States of America is one of the richest countries in the world and yet we have homeless on the streets of every town, city and hamlet in our country and homelessness is on the raise nationally. 

The fastest group of people becoming homeless now is due to economic reasons.  The cost has become more expensive now that it is more of a struggle to pay rent, mortgage etc then in other time of our economic history.  At one time a person working a minimum wage job could find a one bedroom apartment using a only a third of their income to pay their rent.   Now a single parent with one child will have to work more than two full time minimum wage jobs to afford one bedroom apartment in the city of Small City.[i]  We used to say that people are one paycheck away from homelessness but now people are living so close to the edge that they are only one flat tire from homelessness.  When people have to put over half their paychecks toward their housing it is impossible to save money for life’s necessities and emergencies.  If the car which is a sole source of transportation for a breadwinner to go to work breaks down, he/she risks losing his/her job and then the fragile pieces of the household fall down like a row of dominoes.  God forbid that the breadwinner or one of the family members become sick because over 50 million Americans that still do not have health insurance[ii] and many families are forced to go into bankruptcy because of one illness or injury.

Programs such as Section 8 housing vouchers help elderly, disabled and low income working families pay for housing in market rate apartments however there is a waiting list of 7000 people waiting for vouchers in the state of New England State which means if you apply for section 8 housing tomorrow, your expected wait time will be five years before you can receive a voucher.[iii] 

The widow in this morning’s gospel reading faces similar systems of injustice as she seeks to care for herself and her family.  The Gospel of Luke continually lifts the care of the widow and the orphan because these were the most vulnerable populations in Jesus’ time. A widow at that time had no rights, not over her late husband’s property, not over the welfare of her children and not over her own welfare because all of her economic wellbeing was dependant upon male power and authority.  She would have been thrown on the mercy of her male in-laws.  The widow in Luke’s story was asking the judge to act on her behalf, to grant her justice against her opponents. The judge stands as a symbol of the impersonal nature of the system.  Feeling like he doesn’t have to answer to anyone he dismisses the widow but she refuses to take no for an answer.  Eventually he grants her justice because the widow kept bothering him.  As Jesus often does in his parables he turns the power dynamics on their head and in this story the judge becomes vulnerable to the widow’s strength and persistence. 

I know that it is tiring to fight persistently for what is just and right, especially when all too often attempts to bring justice are frustrated by the institutions of power in our society.  It is hard not to become worn down, maybe even become cynical about fighting for justice.  However Jesus’ lifts up the story of the widow as an inspiration for us to keep fighting the good fight.  Jesus says, “Listen to what the unjust judge says.  And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day or night?  Will he delay long in helping them?  I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them.” (Luke 18: 6-7)  As we go about the work of building the Kingdom of God on earth Jesus tells us to be persistent in our prayer life, asking God how can God use our hands, feet and voice toward the bringing about of God’s reign on earth.  The act of constant prayer doesn’t change the nature of God rather it changes our nature.  God’s aim has always been toward the good of all creation and praying helps us to realize what this right relationship looks like and what part we play in co-creating it.  Praying changes our perspective, rather than seeing things as they are and asking why…prayer gives us the imagination to see how things can be and to ask why not! 

Many of the great movements of our time have started with a small group of people of faith who prayed persistently and refused to take no for an answer from the powers and principalities.  In the history of our United Church of Christ is rich with times where our forbears have thought outside the box to bring about justice. This has included the abolition of slavery, the civil rights movement and continues on in our denominations participation in seeking economic justice.  Let us also think outside of our boxes to address the unjust systems that cause poverty, hunger and homelessness in the first place. 

These words from the prophet Jeremiah are as true today as they were to the ancient Israelites, “The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals.  And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant says the LORD…The days are surely coming says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant…I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God and they shall be my people.”  (Jeremiah 31: 27-28, 31, 33)

Let us make it so.  Amen.

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[i] The American Friends Service Committee and The National Council of Churches USA, A Just Minimum Wage:  Good for Workers, Business and Our Future.  October 2005.  http://www.umc-gbcs.org/atf/cf/%7B689FEA4C-8849-4C05-A89E-C9BC7FFFF64C%7D/A%20Just%20Minimum%20Wage.pdf

[ii] Richard Wolf “Number of Uninsured Americans rises to 50.7 million”, USA Today September 17, 2010.  http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-09-17-uninsured17_ST_N.htm

[iii] “Many Wait Years for Federal Housing” WMUR News June 6, 2010.  http://www.wmur.com/money/23820951/detail.html

I preached the gospel from my heart

and it went well.

Lots of supportive comments, two people came up to me and said, "it's about time this church talked about these issues."  Even the head matriarch said I did a good job.

Now, I'm sure I'll get some blow back from folks who weren't comfortable, but the sting of their comments will be softened by the good words I received today.

In the immortal words of the tenth leper, Praise God and thank you Jesus!

Sermon for October 10 2010

In my study of the gospel text, I found out that the biblical affliction called “Leprosy” is different from the disease that we know as “leprosy” in our modern context. Hansen’s disease, which is what we now call leprosy is a serious skin disease caused by a bacteria that causes permanent damage to skin, nerves, limbs, and eyes. Contrary to popular belief, leprosy does not cause limbs to fall off but limbs can become numb and/or diseased as a result of this chronic condition.


Now in the biblical times leprosy was a term for several skin diseases not just one specific skin disease. The primary symptom was characterized by a change in color. Not only human beings, but objects such as houses and garments could be considered leprous. A house or garment can be deemed leprous because it changed color dew to mildew or mold. A human would be rendered leprous if they had a sore on their skin and the hair on that sore turned white. So basically leprosy would be any condition that would change the color of skin due to disease or infection.

Now we know that many non-contagious skin maladies can cause discoloration – psoriasis, poison ivy, acne to name a few. While our knowledge of medicine knows many skin conditions to be non-contagious, in biblical times those who were diagnosed as a leper were considered unclean and were required to separate themselves from their community. Leviticus states, “The person who has the leprous disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head be disheveled: and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean’ he shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.” (Leviticus 13:45) This was not for medical reasons but for religious reasons. Just as it was considered against biblical law to plow with two kinds of beasts, raise two kinds of grain in one field, weave with two kinds of thread into one cloth, so too it was taboo to have two colors of skin. What is interesting is that if the skin were covered completely with disease so that the sufferer had only one color of skin, they were allowed to return to the community because they were no longer considered lepers.(1) Biblical scholars note that in essence leprosy was considered the visualization of sin and “these precautions taken not merely for sanitary reasons, or to guard against contagion, for it was not certain that leprosy was contagious, but in order that the people might be taught through the parable of leprosy, what a fearful and loathsome thing sin is in the sight of God.” (2)

This morning we read in the gospel about Jesus’ encounter with ten lepers while he was “going through the region between Samaria and Galilee” (Luke 17:11) Luke is careful to note where Jesus was traveling. In Jesus’ day observant Jews (which Jesus was) did not go anywhere near Samaria or Samaritans. The Samaritans in Jesus’ time were reviled by the Jewish Community of which Jesus was a part of. The Jews and the Samaritans shared a common heritage but differed from each other in worship practices and cleanliness laws. (3) Often the Jews referred to the Samaritans with terms such as foreigners or intruders so as to distance themselves from this group of people that were not like them and here was Jesus walking right through Samaritan territory. And then ten lepers call out to Jesus, “Master, have mercy on us!” (17:13) and Jesus saw them and said, “’Go, and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were made clean.” (17:14) Luke does not give a description of physical healing, but rather Jesus restores them as people fit once again for human relationships. Jesus shows them the power of God’s grace freely given by bringing these lepers from banishment to acceptance. However it is only the Samaritan who recognizes what a gift grace really is. The Samaritan turns back and prostrates himself and Jesus’ feet and thanked him. We can only imagine the frustration that Jesus felt when he asked about the other nine, “Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except the foreigner?” (17:18)

What might have exasperated Jesus is no surprise to me. It is the outsider who knows intimately what it means to live on the margins. It is the foreigner who knows what it is like to not belong. It is the one who is constantly banished who does not take God’s grace for granted but who are the first to praise God from whom all blessings flow. The insiders ran off to priests, probably feeling entitled to their healed state, but it was the outsider who recognized this gift of grace, turned back to Jesus and thanked him. Then Jesus says to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.” (17:19)

Who are the lepers in our midst? Who are the ones who are pushed to margins because they are different? Recently we’ve heard of a number of suicides of young people because they were bullied. And as I read through this morning’s scriptures I cannot help but reflect on the ways in which people bully, terrorize, shame and torture those who are different. What is disconcerting is that in our modern day culture with all that we know about medicine, sociology, psychology etc., we still mistreat those who are different or simply ignore those who don’t fit the mold. What hurts is that some use the bible to rationalize their banishment of those who are different. If you ask the average person who is not comfortable with homosexuality why they think its wrong, their number one answer is going to be “because the bible says it’s wrong.” Ok, yes there are six or seven verses in the bible that allude to homosexual behavior and we can spend all morning picking those apart in regards to text and context but I’m not going to go there. Instead I harken to Paul’s letter to Timothy, where Paul tells his protégé very directly, “Remember Jesus, Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—That is my gospel.” (2 Timothy 2:8) I remember that Jesus is our bottom line as Christians. I remember the man who preached and lived the word of God’s grace freely given to all. I remember the man who was willing to touch lepers, eat with sinners and associate with women. I remember that Jesus preached “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind and..you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22: 37-40) That my brothers and sisters in Christ is our gospel!

Paul instructs Timothy, “Remind them [your congregation] of this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening.” (2 Tim:14) These words hit home more so this week than most others as I think of the children who felt that death was a preferable to the loss of friends, family, homes and their faith communities.

In the movie “Chocolat” a small village in the French countryside struggles to maintain their culture in the face of changes that are happening all around them. They are shocked when a group of Irish gypsies sail up the river in their boats and decide to drop their anchors and settle in near this village. The townspeople are horrified that “These people…these rootless, godless drifters…would contaminate the spirit of their quiet town…now they realize that cannot force the gypsies to leave but they can help them understand that they are not welcome.”


It begins with a “boycott against immorality” where the gypsies cannot use any of the pubs, stores or services that the town has to offer. This exclusion escalates to where on the night before Easter, one citizen of the town sets the gypsies’ boats on fire to permanently rid the town of these outsiders. While most of the townspeople don’t condone the arson attempt, they do not see how their exclusionary behavior had led up to this horrible act of violence.

On Easter Morning, their local parish priest Father Henri looks out into the congregation and timidly says,

“I'm not sure what the theme of my homily today ought to be.

Do I want to speak of the miracle...

of our Lord's divine transformation?

Not really, no.

I don't want to talk about His divinity.

I'd rather talk about His humanity.

I mean, you know, how he lived his life here on Earth.

His kindness.

His tolerance.

Listen, here's what I think.

I think we can't go around...

measuring our goodness by what we don't do.

By what we deny ourselves...

what we resist and who we exclude.

I think we've got to measure goodness...

by what we embrace...

what we create...

and who we include.” (4)



May it be so.

Amen.

May it be so.

Amen.

(1) Metzger, Bruce Manning, and Michael David Coogan. The Oxford Companion to the Bible. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 431-432.
(2) William Mackergo Taylor, The Miracles of Our Savior. (New York: Armstrong, 1910), 112
(3) James D. Purvis, “Samaritans” The Harper Collins Bible Dictionary, Paul J Aichtenmeier Gen. Ed (San Francisco:  Harper Row Publishers, 1985), 898-899.
(4) Chocolat Miramax Films 2000.

Meditation for World Communion Sunday

1 Corinthians 10: 16-17; 11: 23-26

John 6:35, 41-51

A little over five years ago beloved and I visited an African American Baptist church on communion Sunday. We were definitely out of our element, being the only white people in the room and not knowing to expect in the context of the worship service. After the sermon which was 45 minutes long, the Pastor moved to the communion table and with his gloved deacons surrounding him, he gave the words of institution and then consecrated the elements behind a cloth that his deacons lifted up at the appropriate time. Indeed it felt like a mystical time as he called upon the Holy spirit to use bread and wine to make visible the presence of God in Christ.  After the cloth was lowered, he offered the elements to the congregation stating, “Anyone who is baptized is welcome to join us for communion.” 

Beloved and I were relieved because we were already baptized, but behind us was a little boy who asked his mom, “Can I have communion?”

“No baby,” the mom said “You can’t, you are not baptized yet.”

 “Mama, what is communion?”

“Well honey,” she said reluctantly “It’s the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

To which the boy replied very loudly “Eeeeeewwwwwww, why do they do that?”

Good question, the sacrament of Communion is very hard to explain, to both children and adults. Throughout its history, Christians all over the world have participated in this ritual where we recall Jesus eating with disciples by breaking bread and share it with each other and pouring the fruit of the vine and drink it together as a remembrance of the crucified and risen Christ. In our denomination the United Church of Christ, we recognize two sacraments: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion. These rituals are an outward sign instituted by God to convey a spiritual grace. It’s pretty overwhelming if you think about it. Through our baptism, we are initiated into the Christian faith, whether we had water sprinkled on our heads or were fully immersed, we were marked by the grace of God and participated in the death and resurrection of Christ. Every time we celebrate the Lord’s supper we gather around Christ’s table and share bread and wine the same way Jesus did with his disciples at the last supper. The elements of bread and wine represent to us the crucified and risen Christ. It is through the broken bread that we participate in the body of Christ and through the cup that we participate in the new life that Christ brings.


In the Gospel we hear Jesus proclaim “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35) In a time where making bread was an all day laborious task this was a very bold statement. It is no surprise that some people scoffed at Jesus. But for others, the people who were cut off from the community, who were unable to worship in the temple because they were either a sinner, a Gentile, an outsider these were words of comfort. Even though they were not welcome to eat at the tables of those who considered themselves religiously pure, they were welcome to eat at Jesus’ table and they will be sustained by God’s grace which is freely given.


“Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (6:49-51)


The language that we use in communion is a bit disconcerting because it sounds so cannibalistic. However if we look at the context of when Jesus first said the words, “My body broken for you, my blood shed for you.” We remember that he said these words on the night before he died on the cross. He knew what was going to happen to him. He knew that his actual body would be broken on the cross and his actual blood would be shed, but he loved us so much that he was willing to lay his life down for us.


In the marriage ceremony a couple vows to each other to love, honor and cherish each other body and soul. And many of us who are married know that we would not hesitate to lay our lives down for our partners if their lives were in danger. Jesus is making that same vow to all of humanity to give himself whole-ly to his ministry and to bring about a new covenant to redeem all of creation and make all things new. In our UCC tradition we believe that “The broken bread and the poured wine represent-present anew-the crucified and risen Christ. The wheat gathered to bake one loaf and the grapes pressed to make one cup reminds [us] that we are one body in Christ, while the breaking and pouring announce the costliness of Christ’s sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin.” (1)


Today on this World Communion Sunday we remember that all over the world, our Christian sisters and brothers are at table sharing with the bread of life and the cup of liberation. From the prairies and pampas of the Americas, the dusty deserts of Africa and Asia, from the majestic mountains of Europe to the vast outback of Australia (2), we all come to the table humbly expecting the fruitful harvest that God has graciously enabled us to bring forth.


Today we break bread and drink of the fruit of the vine to celebrate Jesus…the bread of life who came to us both divine and human to share in our lot. We come to the communion table to connect with God and to know God through his son Jesus. We gather around this table knowing that Christ is the host, Christ set this table and Christ welcomes us all and following Christ’s example we invite those who feel disconnected from God to know God through our communities of faith. We invite people to know God the same way we do, through a man whom we know as the bread of life, whose ministry was about love and justice. And emboldened by the promise of new life that Jesus promises through the broken bread and cup of blessing, we can taste and see the presence of God in Christ.


May it be so.


Amen.


(1) Communion: Practices of Faith in the United Church of Christ,  Cleveland:  United Church of Christ Local Church Ministries.
(2) Ana and Tod Gobledale, Come for the Meal is Ready! World Communion Liturgy.  (Cleveland:  Local Church Ministries and Education Team, United Church of Christ, 2008), 2.