Sermon preached on August 20, 2006Proper 15B : Psalm 34:9-14; Proverbs 9:1-6; Ephesians 5:15-20; John 6:53-59For hundreds of years people in the church have been fighting over Holy Communion. What exactly what we are doing in communion? Who can take communion? Who is allowed to do what? What does it all mean? Usually today’s Gospel reading is used as tool in this fight.
I think I can use a recent event in my life to illustrate this.
I celebrated my 30th Birthday party with 30 people and 30 different kinds of sausage. (Please forgive the enormous spelling mistakes in this section of the text) I had bratwurst, knockwurst, bauernwurst, bockwurst, wienerwurst, alpenwurst, kielbasa, hot Italian, sweet Italian, hot chorizo, sweet chorizo, chicken and tomato, duck and armaniac, chicken and cheese, cheese and spinach, brocolirob ropes, soprossata, pepperoni, landjaager, strange unpronounceable French and Belgian sausages, and a bunch more I can’t think of off the top of my head. But why get one of each kind, when you can 5 to 10 of each kind – that’s better even than Noah. If I had to guess, I would say that I cooked a couple hundred sausages that night.
Well, when you cook that many sausages, you run into a problem identifying them at some point. There were plates of sausages that couldn’t be identified because everything began to get mixed together. Nobody could identify for certain what they were eating; all anyone could agree on was that everyone was eating sausage and having a good time.
At my birthday I know I gave someone a Bratwurst that turned out to be an Italian Sausage. I know I gave someone else a mysterious French Sausage that was supposed to be chorizo. Nobody got mad. On some basic level the starting point was that we were all gathered together enjoying sausage together.
Back to the Eucharist. Some argue that the bread and wine becomes the physical body and blood of Christ only remaining like bread. Others temper that slightly by saying that we are truly partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ when we truly partake of the bread and wine. Others claim that Christ is really present in the bread and wine, in some definable way. Still others claim that Christ is really present in the bread and wine, but not in any definable way. Others claim that Communion is a time when we remember Jesus. Others think of the Communion as simply a gathering together showing that we are gathering together. All of these things are supported in various ways by Scripture. Believing strongly in various aspects of our faith is a good thing, but if we begin to hold up parts of what we believe over Jesus’ love for all of us, we run into problems which aren’t helpful for us or the church.
Often Christians move beyond supporting something with Scripture towards condemning other Christians to hell. For example, Roman Catholics begin by speaking of certain “heretical doctrines”. Anglicans have favored phrases such as “repugnant to the plain words of Scripture”. Lutherans like to nail things to church doors. The best though is the oft used phrase: “Satan’s burping whore of Babylon” to describe another denomination.
Was it Jesus who said: “When two or three are gathered together in my name they will find a way to insult and cast out two or three others who are also gathered together in my name.”?
No, actually Jesus said: “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
The point of the Eucharist is not gathering together to find out who is toeing the party line and who is not. Using the Eucharist as a tool to claim others are heretics or even the Whore of Babylon isn’t helpful. It doesn’t spread the Gospel and generally it makes all Christians look stupid and mean.
If I were to start a fight at my birthday party because everyone didn’t agree with me over which sausage was which, I’d be a bad host and I’d be missing the whole point of why we were there in the first place.
The point of the Eucharist is gathering together with Jesus in our midst. Jesus offers all of us his body and blood, on the cross as well as in the sacraments of bread and wine instituted at the last supper. Jesus welcomes us all to his table. I do believe that the Body and Blood of Jesus are really present in the Bread and Wine on the altar, but I know that not everyone would agree with what I believe.
I can’t make you believe what I believe, I won’t tell you you’re going to hell because you disagree with me over what is going on in Communion, but I can explain to you why I think belief in the real presence can be a powerful tool of spreading the Gospel and a great witness to Jesus Christ.
Saint Mary’s has historically been a community that holds the presence of Christ in the bread and wine as a very special and amazing thing; nourished by Jesus himself; adoring Jesus in the most holy sacrament; being blessed by his presence; and becoming one with him as he is one with the Father. Saint Mary’s has also historically been a community that uses such an understanding of the Sacrament to welcome all into the mysteries of Christ’s love for all of us without forcing people to sign off on something that has 50 pages of fine print. Saint Mary’s is a place where the grace that fills us when we are in church sends us out into the world to show the same love that God has for all of us to others. We partake of the Body of Christ and we act out our identity as the Body of Christ in the world. The high regard and respect that we hold for the Sacrament is reflected in the high regard and respect that we try to have for one another. Just as Jesus welcomes us to eat with him, so we too do our best to welcome others.
Today I invite you to partake of the Body of Christ. Jesus offers himself to you. Take him and offer his love to someone else. Invite someone to your church to be one with Jesus.
