Luke 22: 14-30
Communion

It is a great gift to be able to speak here to my dearest friends and my family in Christ, and I do not take it for granted.  I am grateful to God for His sovereign hand in leading us here and allowing us to see His work in so many ways.  It is to that work that I intend to speak today; forgive me insofar as it fails as a sermon.

As most of you remember, during the last month before Parker’s arrival we brought in a series of guest preachers, both to honor Dan and to perhaps give us guidance as we began what will surely be great changes for us.  Nearly all of them mentioned their affection for Dan and expressed gratitude for the influence of this church in their lives…. and then nearly all of them began to warn us.  “Beware of clinging to old ways, don’t let the traditions of men supersede or mis-shape the gospel, be open to new ways of doing things,” and so forth, and so on, if we intend to continue and to thrive.  I substantially agree, although I think the accelerated pace of change in the church-at-large is ultimately un-sustainable and self-defeating (some of you may remember my anecdote from First Things magazine about how “seeker-friendly” worship styles are on their way out, replaced by “edgy” styles -- and after only 20 or so years.) 

I speak, unlike most of those guest preachers, from the “inside.”  I am not, presumably, as able to see our habits or man-made traditions, and where I do see them I may not be inclined to change them -- some of them were probably my idea!  But as I said, I do agree that they cannot and must not be held to without examination and the willingness to let them go.  We, the elders, look to you for your help in that. 

This rather pragmatic beginning is the background for what I actually want to speak about today.  Although this is not the first Sunday of the month, I intend to talk about the communion, that thing that we do, that every Church does, that does not and will not change; has not changed in the history of the church in its function, and is the basis, along with the word preached, of all that we do that has eternal value.  That does not seem to be a self-evident fact in our rationalistic culture, to me or to you, but I believe it’s true…

There are at least three reasons why it is not self-evident that the communion is the basis for our life as a church and as Christians.  First, it is mysterious in its “function” or “efficacy.”  We don’t understand how it does what is claimed for it as a “means of grace.”  Second, and related to the first, there is a long historical argument about just what it is, symbol, reality, re-creation, memorial, and so on.  We know that Christ is risen in His resurrection body, and we reject properly anything that seems to deny that truth.  And third, as I said, we are rationalistic and pragmatic, we believe (even though we use different language) that the Christian life is knowing and doing, not receiving and being, thus whatever the communion is is of secondary importance.

I cannot solve these issues, but I hope to provoke our thinking on them and then to reflect on what they mean for us in light of my introductory comments.  I don’t intend to give a theology of the communion, although I’ll mention it, as I‘ll briefly mention the three dominant historical views.  There is much you can find on your own, and a useful place to start would be with Dan Orme’s booklets When You Commune and God’s Appointments With Men. 

We will meditate rather than explicate, but will draw application and existential meaning nonetheless.

So -- our context is the 22nd chapter of Luke beginning with verse 14 …

“And when the hour came, he sat at table, and the apostles with him.  And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you I shall not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.  And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks to God, he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves; for I tell you that from now on I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.  And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.”  And likewise the cup after supper, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”

I repeat that this is not a history or theology of the communion, but the theology is important because of what it shows us that the church has believed to be important even if we do not agree on what the conclusions are.  The central historical controversy is over what happens objectively in the event of the communion.  The Catholic concept of transubstantiation claims that the substance of the elements is changed -- under the accidents (using Aristotelean terminology) -- into the actual body and blood of Christ.  The Lutheran concept of consubstantiation claims that the body of Christ is “in, with, and under” the elements, as “water in a sponge.” Calvin and the other reformers held mostly to that understanding that we have today as protestants, that no physical change takes place.  But there is division and misunderstanding within Protestantism as to the reality of Christ’s presence and the symbolism of the event.

Again, why are these things so important?  Because they were attempts to take seriously our Lord’s words in John 6:53-56:  “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.  For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.  He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.”  And though we are like the disciples who later said “this is a hard saying, who can listen to it?”-- listen we must, and live with it and practice it even in our lack of understanding.  Its objectivity as event has great subjective value for us.

On, then, to the words of Christ, our text this morning; v.19 “This is my body which is given for you.”  Set aside the controversies, the attempts at reduction, and the “what it is really.”  Simply listen as we repeat this phrase and draw what we can from it… 
This is my body…. It is the body of a particular person, a Jew by birth, who lived in an obscure place among people with no worldly status.  Nothing in the event would have seemed noteworthy or glorious to the Roman or Greek world. It is a body that had seen hard labor, felt pain, enjoyed touching and being touched. And it was a piece of ordinary unleavened bread, a good, earthy symbol for flesh.  And somehow, in the claim of the God/man; This…is….the bread became for us the flesh that must be eaten for us to have life…..Eternal life….life in the body…..In receiving the bread we receive the life.

This is my body... In whatever way Christ meant is, at that time and in that place, we continue to mean is today.  The doctrinal controversies and our scientific mind-set have caused us to ignore the value of the nature of the gift.  This IS my body. 
This is my body…… It was Christ’s to give, or not to give.  But it was also the property of the Father and the Holy Spirit, who are One with the Son.  It is given graciously and freely to all who seek to receive it. But it is not our right, it is His gift, given without measure to you.

This is my body… It was and is a public, shared event, not an esoteric rite; yet it is, of course not open to those who are not able to perceive its significance.  But it is visible to anyone who happens to be present and bears continuing witness to a historical event with ahistorical consequences.  That one piece of bread was the leaven that will leaven the whole world through the church that receives it and becomes Christ’s body also.  For we, too are the body of Christ now.

This is my body…. The Greek word translated is soma; which often implies the whole person, not the body only, but body, soul, spirit.  A body is an object, but a person is not.  To use Martin Buber’s language, a body is an it, a person is a thou… 
We receive in eating not and object or an idea or a concept, but a person, and all the life of the three eternal Persons.  To consume another’s body seems an act of unparalleled intimacy.  But intimacy, enabled by the Holy Spirit, is what Christ promised when he said…“you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”  The person of Christ as well as the Father and the Spirit are made available to you..

This is my body, which is given for you.

The Lord and creator of the universe, who has the right to every part of His creation, desires to give Himself for you; for you as described above; your entire person, body, soul, spirit, to live from the moment of your reception of it in ever increasing wholeness and closeness to God and His redeemed creation.

This is my body, which is given…it is not lent, and nothing is held back.  The narrative of the crucifixion shows us the difficulty of the giving. Can we do any less?

…which is given for you…the purpose of the central event in all of human history, the primary expression of the love of God, is your salvation for God’s glory.  Yes, I know that there are other purposes.  But may we not take the words first at face value?  They are not words expressing our intrinsic value but rather His infinite love and ability. 

Which is given for you…we do not believe in the continuing sacrifice of the mass; that Christ is sacrificed over and over, but the receiving of the gift of that sacrifice does continue.  What was still is…because the gift is infinite as the person is infinite.
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I would urge you to meditate on these words and that event on your own. I offer the following conclusions and suggest that they have great value -- practical value -- in your life as a Christian and our life as a Church:

1. The communion cannot be exhaustively systematized; it retains an element of mystery that is within the purposes of God and is essential to our recognition of His glory.

2. The communion is personal and intimate though it is essentially public and shared.  One does not give to oneself or receive from oneself.  We give and receive from and to one another and Christ. Grace comes from Christ to you, from you to the church, and from the church to the world.

3. The event is objective but only grasped subjectively…you receive more than you can know, but you receive nothing if you seek nothing.

4. The communion is event, not idea.  One can meditate on it forever without participating in it and fail to receive the benefit of actually receiving.  Recall the title of Dan’s book “God’s appointments.”  Let us be sure to keep those appointments.

5. I say again; knowing and doing are secondary to receiving and being.  We have heard the comment in sermon discussion more than once, “There’s too much theory, just go out and do good work.”  Both of those things are important, theology and ministry, but they are both hollow and distracting without regularly being still before God and receiving His benefits.  He desires to give those to you in the taking of bread and wine.

When you experience an estrangement, a distance, a dislike, a broken relationship, or simply boredom, remember that the broken, distributed body in the bread is the objective unity of the one body, the church, and that in our one-ness we represent the one-ness of the three persons of God to one another and to the world.  “They will know we are Christians by our love.”  You are called to give yourself without measure to that one-ness, to your Lord and His body the church, as you are given to, not by your brothers and sisters, but by the Lord Himself.  If you do not receive from Him you will need to receive from us who are incapable of giving on our own, and we will surely fail and disappoint you.

When Leslie and I came to this church we were drawn to the informality and lack of tradition; and many other things that drew you, as well.  But we were held here by the attempt to take seriously the call to be like Christ in the willingness to be broken and poured out.  There is a connection between the regularity, reverence, and recognition of the taking of the communion and the ability of many here to give up self.  No external form, no new music, no program, no change in style or aesthetic, nothing will matter if serious unity with the Christ of history and glory is not sought and sustained.

Sermon by Lee Moody.