Corpus Christi 2009

Preached at Solemn Mass with Benediction on June 14, 2009

A few months ago a longtime friend and supporter of this parish, who was a retired priest, died. I had the opportunity to visit Father Charles Whipple in the hospital on a number of occasions before he died, and he always had a funny story to tell.

One time when I brought him Communion, he told me that I was the second person to bring him Communion that day. However, it would be the first time that he would receive. When I asked why he hadn’t received the first time, he told me. A friend came to visit a few hours earlier. When he arrived he stuck his hand into his pocket and pulled out a Communion wafer, which he tried to give to Father Whipple. When asked where he had gotten it, the friend said that at Sunday Mass he had pretended to eat the bread, while secretly hiding it in his pocket. Father Whipple said that his friend should consume the Sacrament immediately and repent for attempting to steal our Lord’s body.

I think that his response underscores the fact that in the Episcopal Church, as in many other churches, the Sacrament is treated with great reverence. I’m not sure it matter if you are very high church or not.
Ideally, priests, deacons or Eucharistic visitors don’t just stick a piece of bread from Sunday services in the pocket and bring it to someone else. Instead they carefully put it into a little container called a pix.

The Bread and Wine that is left over after Mass isn’t thrown away, it is consumed or reserved in Tabernacle so that it can be brought at a later time to those who are unable to attend the service.

Often those who take communion kneel to receive the Sacrament.

And of course there are more elaborate rites and rituals in some of the more Anglo-catholic churches. But for the most part, the vast majority of Episcopalians treat the bread and wine on the altar with more respect and reverence than they would a few wafers of bread at home.

Whatever the practice I think fair a question might be: What is so special about the Sacrament?

Today’s Gospel passage is part of larger discourse following the Feeding of the 5000 which is known as the Bread of Life Discourse. To answer why the Sacrament is so special, one can point toward today’s Gospel passage and proclaim that Jesus himself said that whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood has eternal life. Though this discourse occurs earlier in the Gospel, Christians have long seen an association between it and the last Supper accounts in Matthew, Mark and Luke – as well as in Saint Paul’s writings.

Beyond those associations, I think it is helpful to approach the question by looking at with how Christians speak about themselves.

I think it is fair to state that all Christians, regardless of whether they believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Bread and Wine, refer to themselves as children of God, as members of the Body of Christ in the world, and as heirs to the kingdom. I don’t think many Christians would have difficulty saying that at Baptism, by the grace of God, we are changed forever and we become children of God. We look the same, we often act in the same way, but we are still completely changed by grace of God. How that occurs is important, but I think, far less important than the fact that it does occur. And again, I think that most Christians would probably agree that we are changed by the grace of God.

It seems to me that it is not a particularly big jump to believe the same grace and power of God changes the bread and wine. It looks and tastes the same, but by the grace of God it is completely changed into the Body and Blood of Christ.

Once you recognize and believe that change to have occurred, though it seems merely a wafer, you treat the bread with respect because you believe God is present and has changed it into the Body of Christ.

What does that mean for us in our lives?

In the short term, I hope that will help to explain the end of today’s service to anyone who might be visiting. Benediction and a Procession of the Blessed Sacrament doesn’t make much sense if you don’t believe that Christ is really present in the bread and wine at communion. If its new to you, I hope you will enjoy a rite that simply expresses deep reverence for the Sacramental Presence of Christ.

But in the longer run, I hope that the reverence and care for the Sacrament on the altar that we are a part of today is something that you and I can bring into our every day lives with other members of the Body of Christ.

I began with a question and so I think I will end with a different question: What would the church look like if all Christians treated each other with the same care and respect that many Christians treat a few ounces of wine and a small wafer of bread?