Bread and Wine

Scripture Reading

New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition 1 Corinthians 11

17 Now in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. 18 For, to begin with, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19 Indeed, there have to be factions among you, for only so will it become clear who among you are genuine. 20 When you come together, it is not really to eat the Lord’s supper. 21 For when the time comes to eat, each of you proceeds to eat your own supper, and one goes hungry and another becomes drunk. 22 What! Do you not have households to eat and drink in? Or do you show contempt for the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I commend you? In this matter I do not commend you!

The Institution of the Lord’s Supper

23 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Partaking of the Supper Unworthily

27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For all who eat and drink without discerning the body eat and drink judgment against themselves. 30 For this reason many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

33 So then, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 34 If you are hungry, eat at home, so that when you come together, it will not be for your condemnation. About the other things I will give instructions when I come.

Kids to the Knowing Place

Introduction: Recap

The religious practices we keep are the container that hold our spiritual connection with Christ.

Last week, we looked at my (rather impressive if I say so myself) mug collection!

And I wasn’t just showing off.

We remembered that the practices that we keep in our faith are the containers.

Containers by themselves aren’t enough though, we need to be filled with the liquid of our spiritual connection to God.

One of the practices at the heart of our container is gathering here for the Lord’s Supper.

So we have to be careful!

We might be tempted today to only think about the container, the practice itself.

It’s important to make sure that we connect the practice with the connection we’re all desiring to make with God.

But, it’s been plagued by problems almost right from the start.

Every one from almost about 10 minutes after these words were written by the early church, we have been debating this sacrament.

There have been councils and tribunals and trials and books and books and books dedicated entirely to the Lord’s supper.

One meal that was meant to unify us as Christians has been almost single handedly the thing that has most divided us.

So what the Church took nearly 2000 years to make sense of, we’re going to knock out here in about 15 minutes.

But first, we have to look at a pretty deep concept.

Dualism

Is it A or is it B?

We like dualistic thinking in our society, which is where we assume there are only two choices.

Are you a democrat, or a republican?

Do you belong to the group, or are you an outsider?

Do you know Jesus, or do you root for the Flyers?

What’s wild is that there are actually a spectrum between these choices usually.

There are democrats and there are republicans, but there’s a wide range of opinions and views and concepts in both.

You can belong to a group completely, or be a tangental member, or feel like you’re on the outside while most folks would actually say you’re an insider.

Of course people who like the Philadelphia Flyers can believe in Jesus.

But what our brains want to do is reduce everything down to A or B, black or white, total dualistic thinking.

Christianity doesn’t work with Dualism

Is Jesus 100% human or 100% divine?

Yes.

Do we have three persons, or one God?

Yes.

Is this meal purely symbolic, meant as remembrance, or is something supernatural and religious happening here?

Yes.

What’s interesting is that while this is our focus as theologians, our text from Paul has other concerns, doesn’t it?

So much ink has been spilled on what is happening here at meal, while Paul seems most deeply concerned about what we’re doing at the table.

And indeed, he’s most interested in a particular question:

Who is welcome at the table?

It used to be centered around a community meal.

The practice would have been something like how we celebrated at the annual meeting just a few weeks ago.

Communion was celebrated at the end, and recieved the name Eucharist, meaning “Thanksgiving.”

It’s name was meant to serve as a reminder that we could not achieve for ourselves what happens at this meal.

We are made whole not in the breaking of our own bodies, but by Christ’s sacrifice of his.

We are made whole not by spilling our own blood, but by Christ’s pouring his out for us.

We are made whole not because of our actions, but we are reminded that we were made whole long ago by Christ.

And so the spirit around the communion table right from the start was meant to be one of gratitude.

Before that though was a Love feast, called the Agape meal.

Agape is that word for Love that is most personified in Christ himself.

It’s the kind of love where the giver values the recipient more than themselves.

And so an Agape feast would be one where everyone was excited to be generous and giving to their neighbor...

…right?

Paul is shocked to learn that the church has been divided.

Maybe it’s 2000+ years of history, but it’s almost shocking to me that Paul is surprised to hear that the church in Corinth is locked in disagreements.

When you set yourself up as a hospital for sinners, occasionally we catch each other at less than our best.

But this is a particularly egregious division.

They have divided themselves into haves and have-nots, and they’re exploiting the division.

Let’s modernize a bit of what’s going on here, shall we?

We had our potluck a month ago for the installation service.

So imagine that after all my begging and pleading with you all for Mac and Cheese, I showed up with a huge massive croc pot full of the liquid gold.

But then I just proceeded to eat the whole thing myself.

This is my Mac and Cheese after all!

I worked for it! I earned it! It’s mine!

This is awkward enough already, but imagine it one step further.

Imagine someone showed up at our pot luck who was suffering from food insecurity.

They haven’t had a proper meal in months.

Of course they’re members of the church, so they’re welcome at the pot luck.

But now that I won’t share my Mac and Cheese with anyone, no one else is sharing either.

And so those who have plenty of resources, who have the means to feed themselves, are getting their fill.

And those who don’t have resources, who could be fed by the generosity of the church, continue to go hungry.

That’s what’s going on here in the Corinthian church in Paul’s day.

At the communion table, we’re told we’re all one body in Christ.

Yet these is division.

At the table, we are reminded of Christ’s sacrifice.

Yet at dinner beforehand, we’re engaged in our own selfishness.

At the table, we are spurned on to gratitude, to Eucharist.

At dinner before hand, we’re deadly selfish.

So Paul offers a solution:

Check yourself

Verse 28: Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

Interesting that Paul’s instruction is not to find out which of the people around you is worthy of the table.

That’s our favorite game, right?

Oh, they’re passing the communion bread? Pretty gutsy for someone who lied to me last week. They’re not worthy.

Oh, they’re coming forward to take communion? That takes some nerve for someone who swore in traffic the other day.

Oh, they’re gathering at the table? And yet they sleep around when no one’s looking.

Paul knows that this is a dangerous game, and so neither he nor Jesus has ever asked us to play it.

It’s not our job to determine who’s worthy to be here at the table.

It’s not our job to be the mall cops of grace.

It’s not our job to examine anyone else...

It’s to examine yourself.

It’s our job to determine if we’re in the right posture to be at this table.

I have mentioned before that I’ve spent some time as a visitor in Narcotics Anonymous meetings.

Those are some of my favorite people on the planet!

But they have a saying: the only requirement for membership is the desire to be clean.

You don’t have to actually be clean.

You don’t have to put any money in a plate.

You don’t have to have your life together.

You don’t need to be on step 12.

You just have to have the desire.

Every month when we gather around this table, I offer something similar.

Everyone is welcome here, if you are willing to lead a new life in Christ.

If you are willing to lay down selfish ambition in favor of meritless grace, you are welcome here.

If you are willing to set aside the judgements we carry for other people in favor of the love of Christ, you are welcome here.

If you are willing to admit that you need the body broken and the blood poured out for your sake, then you are welcome to come to the table and receive it.

And so this Lent, with each of our sermons, we want to look at how to build a container (our practices), what it means to fill them (be spirit-filled), and then what it would look like to have our cups overflowing.

Build the container: Examine

The ancient Church had a container for this kind of examination.

They called it the daily examine.

Every night, before you get ready for bed, the practice is to reflect on your day, and to examine the moments you were closer to God, and the moments you were farther away.

Are there people I wish weren’t at the table? How can God soften my heart.

Are there parts of my week that I regret? Sins that I have kept from even myself? Take them to God.

Are there ways that I could be waiting for others? Who needs to catch up?

Fill the container: Meet me at the table.

Jeremiah called it a long time ago, this is the new covenant with Christ.

Christ takes what is broken, sinful, worn out, tired, exhausted within us.

And through the mystery of this meal fills our containers with love, and grace, and healing, and mercy, and forgiveness.

Don’t come to this table out of ritual alone.

Come to this table to be filled with the overwhelming love of Christ,

To literally taste and see that the Lord is good in this place, and in our hearts.

Overflow: Eating Wins Races

In my spare time, I follow the exploits of a pair of mountain bike racers

You saw that transition coming, right?

But these two have a saying: Eating wins races.

They pay very close attention to what kind of nutrition they bring on the race.

If they don’t eat anything, they’re going to run out of energy and lose.

If they bring the wrong thing, if they’re only eating snickers bars or something, they’ll over fill their body with energy and have issues with cramps.

What they eat affects how they perform.

This meal was never meant to be for us alone.

Like Paul said, this meal is as much about the community as it is about us.

When we are nourished with grace at the table, we’re able to go out into the world and offer grace.

When we are nourished with forgiveness for our past selves at the table, we’re able to forgive those around us.

When we are nourished with the love of Christ at the table, we are able to go and offer that love to the world around us.