7 Holy Communion

• Where do/did you eat meals at home?

• What foods do you eat at holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, New

Year’s Day, and Fourth of July?

• What is your favorite meal?

• What is the most memorable meal you’ve ever eaten?

• This evening, something for which I am deeply grateful is __________.

• How would you define friendship?

• One of my closest friends is__________.

• If I had to describe myself in three words, I’d choose__________,

__________, and __________.

• If my friend had to describe me in three words, he/she would probably

choose__________, __________, and __________.

Every newborn comes crying into the world, announcing to all, “I am

here and I am hungry.” Whether by bottle or breast, birth is connected to

a meal. Birthing and nurture are both parts of the singular act of beginning.

Meal—nurture—is also a part of our lives when we are reborn in Holy

Baptism as children of God. God does not intend that we should starve,

and Holy Communion is one of the means God uses to nurture us so that

we can grow strong in grace. The church teaches that grace is “God’s

unearned love and favor for people.” Grace is a gift, and Holy

Communion a “means of grace.” This theological term, “means of

you and others that you are loved and cared for.

God could have chosen other ways to tell us that we are loved and forgiven.

Some could have been quite spectacular! Lightening storms, magnificent

sunsets, or mysterious e-mail letters that appear in our in-boxes

could all get our attention. But God’s concern is that everyone gets the

message, not just a handful of people who happen to be in the right

place at the right time or have privileged means. God is concerned that

everyone be able to understand and receive the gift of Jesus, so God

chose to attach the words of promise to the things everyone does regardless

of station or culture – wash and eat.

For the next few minutes I invite you to think about Holy Communion,

the way that God connects the extraordinary (grace) to the ordinary

(meal).

Where does the Eucharist come from?

Holy Communion, also known as the Sacrament of the Altar, the Lord’s

Supper, the Eucharist, or the Mass, began on the night Jesus was

betrayed by his friend Judas. On that night Jesus was celebrating the

Jewish Passover with his disciples. In the midst of the meal he took a

loaf of bread, blessed it with a table prayer, broke it, and gave it to them,

speaking the words, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in

remembrance of me.” In the same way Jesus took a cup of wine from the

table and said, “This cup is the new testament (covenant) in my blood.

Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

Jesus attached new meaning to these common foods, the ordinary bread

and wine that people of his time and place consumed at most meals. He

wanted his friends to be fed and also to know that he would always be

with them. “Do this,” Jesus said. Today, after almost 2000 years, the

friends of Jesus, now called the Church, still gather together around

tables and still remember the promise of Jesus. We come together each

week, take bread and wine, bless it with a table prayer, and repeat the

words of promise spoken by Jesus. We do this so that all disciples—from

youngest to oldest, brightest to dullest, shortest to tallest—might remember

that Jesus is with us and nothing can separate us from Him.

After we eat and drink, our response to Holy Communion is to “give

thanks” together. Of the many names for the meal of Holy Communion,

perhaps the most appropriate name is “Eucharist,” which in Greek literally

means, “to give thanks.”

How does this work?

Eating. What an ordinary activity for the extra-ordinary gift of grace!

But this is a pattern God often follows: using the ordinary to reveal and

make known the extraordinary promises that only God can give.

God uses ordinary items like water and words, bread dough and grapes.

God uses ordinary activities like washing and listening, speaking and

eating. God also uses ordinary people, ancient and modern, in extraordinary

ways—as prophets and disciples, parents and friends, teachers and

pastors. All become extraordinary means of grace in the hands of a creative

God.

When ordinary people, elements, and actions are set apart by God, we

call them “holy” and confer a blessing upon them. Blessing is when the

ordinary is connected and permanently attached to the promises of God.

When this happens, something new is created—and God is in the business

of making all things new.

In Holy Communion the pattern is familiar. Planted seeds grow and

become wheat or grapes. They are harvested and made into bread and

wine. When we gather for worship, the bread and wine are brought forward

to the altar, returned to God who fashions them into something

new. (Luther doesn’t spend much time describing how bread can be

Christ’s body, or wine can be Christ’s blood, but he uses the image of a

shaft of iron placed in a fire. It is iron before and after, but it becomes

fire/light as well.)

At the altar the pastor, speaking for the congregation, repeats over the

bread and wine the promises God wants us to remember and believe.

“Take and eat, this is my body given for you. Take and drink, this is my

blood shed for you and the forgiveness of your sins.”

Then we, who have left the ordinariness of our homes, jobs, or classes,

are invited to come forward to the altar. We hold out our hands and we

receive the extraordinary gift of Christ himself, his body and his blood.

Our open hands form the cradle in which Jesus is laid. We open our

lives to become the residence of Jesus. We open our ears to hear the

purest good news God ever speaks: “This is my body, for you. This is

my blood, for you.” In receiving the gift of Holy Communion, we have

become a new creation, given through the mystery of grace and

received by faith.

There is an additional dimension of Holy Communion which might

escape us when we are young, healthy and vigorous. When Holy

Communion is received by the elderly or the ill, the meal becomes a tangible,

visible means of hope, comfort and healing. Holy Communion is a

way the church reaches out with another of God’s promises, “I am with

you always,” to those separated by condition or distance. One of the

great joys church members can experience is when they take Holy

Communion to those who are homebound or in places of care.

Why is this important?

We come to the altar and receive the Holy Communion, but the pattern

is not yet complete. Many of us might like to remain at the altar in that

extraordinary blessed state, but we cannot. We have been fed for a purpose.

The energy from God’s gracious meal is to be spent and exhausted.

The calories of grace are to be burned bringing peace and healing to others.

Holy Communion is complete when we return to the ordinary

among our family, classmates, job partners, friends, and most particularly

to strangers to witness, advocate, care and serve. Holy Communion

binds us not only with God but with all the human family. Sharing grace

is another facet of the mystery of faith.

Lest we focus our attention solely on our personal relationship with

Jesus and our personal communion experience, we need to also remember

that Holy Communion is primarily a corporate, community meal.

The Church, the Body of Christ, is also a residence of Jesus. After the

Church eats and drinks, the Church goes into the world “full of grace

and truth” to bring God’s peace and healing to all.

Often when we leave church, having given thanks and been filled with

the promises of God, we are filled with good intentions to remain thankful,

faithful and loving to God and each other. We quickly miss the mark

in our good intentions. The things we should do we don’t, while the

things we shouldn’t do we end up doing. What’s going on here is sin—

the word that describes these actions or omissions. “Sinful” is the word

that describes the condition. Sin and sinfulness are the property of us all.

Sin is a matter of direction or focus. Focusing outward allows us to see

God and others. Sin misdirects our focus so that it turns inward. We see

ourselves as the center of vision. Our needs and our wants blind our

vision, and we are fed constantly not by God’s promises but by fake

promises offered by other loud voices that compete with the “still small

voice” of God: “Buy these. Wear that. Live here. Drink this.” These voices

cleverly appeal to our desire for status, popularity, success, and other

things which separates us from God and each other. What we desperately

need to do is turn around (which is what “repent” literally means), but

reality of sin is why we understand grace as something we can only

receive as a free and unearned gift.

We need a relentless God who is always “it” in the game of “hide and

seek,” and the good news is that we have one. Remember, in the Bible it

is God’s business to seek the lost, find the strays, search out the wayward,

trail the prodigal children, and welcome them home. This is the

same God who overcame death and the cemetery. This is the same God

who has thousands of years of experience dealing with the most heinous

of sin and the most hard-cased sinners. This is a God who is up to the

task of finding you, forgiving you, making you new, and feeding you

once again.

When we gather for Sunday worship, our liturgy (the way we worship)

acknowledges our sin and the need for grace that will come through the

meal. Confession and Forgiveness is often the first activity in the liturgy.

It is our common confession to God that “we have not loved you with

our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.” This is

not just a personal admission, but an admission of all who have been

through the baptismal waters. It is the whole community which admits,

for example, that we have not loved our Jewish, Hindu, or Muslim

neighbors as ourselves. For this, the whole Christian community pleads

for forgiveness. We need to taste grace again.

Who is invited?

Throughout the church’s history, Holy Communion—that means which

God has chosen to make us one—has been the subject of much debate.

Who may eat, what to eat, how to eat, and when to eat are some of the

main questions that different Christian communities have answered in

different ways.

Understandings of hospitality (who may eat) at the Eucharist have developed

in two main ways. Some Christians have taught and believe that

Holy Communion is reserved for those who have a common understanding

of what Holy Communion is. In other words, all those at the Lord’s

Table must be of a common mind and doctrine first, and then share a

common meal. Other Christians hold that God uses the act of eating and

drinking together as a means to make us one, and unity comes through

sharing the meal.

We believe the latter. It is by participating together with other baptized

Christians that we come to experience the unity that God intends for all

people. In our congregations, all baptized people are invited to the table.

When visiting other denominations in the Christian family, it is important

to learn and respect their vision of hospitality at the sacrament.

What do we eat?

What to eat has been as problematic over the years as who is welcome.

Most Christians have celebrated the Eucharist using the foods that Christ

used when the meal was first offered: bread, probably unleavened without

yeast, and wine—both common in biblical times. Some congregations

have members who have a talent for bread making and offer their

gifts on Sunday. Other congregations purchase ready-made wafers of

bread. Some congregations have people who make wine. Others purchase

wine. Some congregations with members who are allergic or

addicted to alcohol choose to have non-alcoholic wine (a better choice

than grape juice) available. In any case, bread and wine are the particular

foods that convey the particular promises. While cola and pretzels may

be common foods today, they do not carry the words of promise and may

communicate conflicting messages.

How do we eat?

In some gatherings, wine is served from a large cup called a chalice,

referred to as “common cup.” This approach is ideal for helping us to

understand that we are all one family because we drink from a single

vessel. The chalice itself is a symbol for our “comm(on)-union.” Other

gatherings may be concerned that the common cup is unsanitary and

offer wine in pre-poured individual glasses. Some congregations,

attempting to honor our common union and a concern for safety, use one

chalice with a small spout and pour wine into smaller individual cups

when people receive. In still other churches, people simply dip their

piece of bread into the offered chalice and receive both Christ’s body and

blood in a single action. This last method is called intinction. Regardless

of method, God’s concern is that we “take and eat.”

How often should we eat this meal?

The frequency of Holy Communion and the number of times we should

receive (when to eat) have also been matters of conflicting opinion.

Some congregations offer the meal once each month, others a few times

each year, and others every time the people gather. In the past, people

worried about having Communion so often that it became “too” ordinary.

But, remember, it is the very intention of God that the presence of

Jesus becomes ordinary! Others have worried that we should not eat nor

drink until we become “worthy.” But, also remember, that the word

“grace” means “God’s unearned love and favor for the unworthy.”

Some congregations have a requirement that a person has to receive

Holy Communion at least once each year in order to be considered in

good standing. How sad that Holy Communion could become an obligation

for membership rather than a joy!

Ironically, because of this diversity of practice, Holy Communion—the

means by which God intends to unite us—has often led to division

between Christian groups, something that is not “holy” in the plan of

God. A Catch-22 develops when the means by which God can heal is the

same means over which the Church refuses to negotiate. Arguments over

Holy Communion have become a sign within the Church that the Church

itself is sinful and in need of the healing which the meal offers. That disunity

makes the meal of Holy Communion all the more important for

our lives in Christian community.

Each time the meal is offered, it is offered to all the baptized. There is no

such thing as a private communion. (For the distinction between “private

dcm/worship/faq/communion/occasional_distribution.html

“How does this mean?”

At one time in the Church’s history, the meal of thanksgiving was

reserved only for those who had a proper understanding of communion.

Years of preparation preceded one’s “first communion.” Communion

became a kind of graduation gift given to those who demonstrated an

examined knowledge of faith. Slowly the Church is coming to understand

that, in Holy Communion, the wisest are joined to the dullest in

belief, not in comprehension. Perhaps Holy Communion is a wonderful

gift, like love, whose meaning is constantly being revealed to us. Like

love, the correct question is not “what does this mean?” but, “how does

this mean?” How does Holy Communion continue to make God’s passion

for all the creation known?

Fortunately, we have our common union not in right knowledge but in

shared praise. And to this all, there can be a common response. We give

thanks! But we do not “make Eucharist” alone. Each time the meal is

offered, each time the promises are heard, each time the bread is swallowed,

each time the wine tingles in our throat, “we join with angels,

archangels and all the company of heaven.” Why? “To laud and magnify

God, ever more praising and joining in song, “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord

God almighty.” That’s Eucharist, that is thanksgiving. And to this we say

“Amen.”

Let it be so.

Holy Drama

• Briefly walk through the service of Holy Communion. Use a

visual that makes the form (gathering, word, meal, sending) of

the service clear.

Holy Time

• If you did not discuss the church year in the session on worship

and prayer, review it now. Give special emphasis to the

season you are presently observing

Holy Space

• Walk through your worship space, especially the chancel, sacristy,

and vestry. Invite questions and talk about the altar, its

placement, vestments and linens, windows, candles, etc.

Means of Grace/Means of Healing

• Some people call the bread and wine of communion medicine.

What do you think they mean?

• Have you ever experienced a personal healing? What happened?

How, if at all, did you experience God in this healing?

What did you learn in this healing?

• Have you ever experienced a sense of healing during worship?

How did you experience it (word, ritual, taste, smell. etc.)?

does this image say about Holy Communion?

Movie clips:

and the vandalism of the chocolate shop which results in a

transformation.

• A banquet scene from one of the Harry Potter movies. Screen

one and invite participants to reflect on what the banquet represents

to the characters.

1:05:32) where the two cultures meet over a meal.

good gift if you have not already given participants a copy following the

session on worship and prayer.

There is an old saying: “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.”

What is your own personal mission statement?

The Lord be with you.

Let us pray

Lord God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot

see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give

us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only

that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus

Christ our Lord.

Amen