Rooted in Communion

What’s so significant about a table? Do you have an important table in your home? Is it your kitchen table? A coffee table? Maybe you have a table that is relatively new that you love or one that has been in the family for generations. Maybe there is one that is at a friend’s house that always represented a space of welcome for you.

Today we are invited to come to the Lord’s Table where we will celebrate Holy Communion. This special meal might also be referred to as the Eucharist, the Great Thanksgiving, the Lord’s Supper, or one pastor said her daughter used to call it “Snacks with Jesus.”

United Methodists are similar to other denominations in observing Holy Communion, but what you may not be aware of in our history is how passionate John Wesley was about it and how often he celebrated it. John Wesley was passionate about Holy Communion, usually participating in it himself 3-4 times a week and even daily during the eight days after Easter and twelve days of Christmas.

John Wesley himself had a mixed history with Communion from his younger years when he went as a missionary for two years in Georgia. He fell for a young lady named Sophia Hopkey. John Wesley didn’t want to marry. Sophia did, and so she chose to marry another. Wesley took out his bitterness by refusing to serve her Communion during church, a fact that led to an ugly court case and caused him to return to England. A few years later, Wesley had his own personal encounter with God’s grace on Aldersgate street in London, transforming his life and his understanding of God’s grace. And so in the 1780’s he wrote a sermon entitled “The Duty of Constant Communion.”

Wesley felt it is our duty to celebrate Communion as often as we can for two reasons: 1) because Christ commanded it, and he saw this as an ongoing command and 2) because of the effect of God’s saving grace upon us when we receive it.

Wesley referred to this special meal as “the grand channel whereby the grace of his Spirit was conveyed to the souls of all the children of God.” When we treat this meal as just a ritual that we would rather breeze through instead of the central act of worship which is it’s rightful place, then we strip it of its power. Andrew Thompson says “Communion “gives us the memory of all that Jesus Christ was and did, conveys the power of God’s grace to us now, and serves as a sign of God’s promise.” In the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup, we affirm that Christ is present with us. We don’t understand it fully and cannot explain it, but when we gather at the table, we commune with Christ and one another and all the saints and share in “this holy mystery.” The power of God’s grace available to us now. How long do we observe Communion? As Paul reminds us today in our text “that we would proclaim the death of Christ until he returns.”

Steffany Gretziner sings in the song Remember,

“Jesus the Lamb of God, oh what a Savior

You took the altar and made it a table

Nothing can separate what You bring together

Now and forever, I will remember.”

In Christ, the altar became a table. Something that only a few were deemed worthy to approach became something that everyone was invited to gather around, and the grace of God and the communion of all the saints meets us there. You see, Wesley believed that Communion is a means of grace that the more we share in it, the more we are transformed by it. Stanley Hauerwas said “In this meal we are made part of God’s life and thus share our lives with one another.” We may all receive Communion individually, but none of us take it alone.

What does this table mean to you? What does it mean for you to share in this meal with one another?

I often find joy in seeing Communion is through the eyes of a child. I love the look on a child’s face when they approach me for Communion. They usually have a look of excitement or one of disgust as in “ewww I don’t want to eat bread dipped in grape juice when you just told me it was blood.”

One pastor shared “I served communion one day to a four year old child. When I placed a small piece of bread in her hand she loudly said “I want more!” I laughed and gave a second, larger piece. Her mother was mortified while other folks waiting to be served laughed. I wish adults could approach communion with the eagerness of a child.”

Another shared “Before I was a pastor, there was a young boy who, when offered the loaf, tore a big hunk off because he wanted a “big piece of Jesus.” May we all always want a big piece of Jesus.”

Another shared “We have a little girl (aged 3-4) in our church who absolutely loves Communion. She loves the bread and the juice and loves intinction. She loved it so much at worship one morning that she took it three times.”

Still another shared “At 3 years old my daughters took Communion for the first time. After the bread was passed she told the pastor “Bring it back, I’m not full!” Sadly, several years later, her two younger girls were denied the sacrament at a church they visited. They were truly mystified and hurt.”

The UMC practices an open table for Communion, meaning all are invited and welcome. We do this because we do not believe it is our table, but Christ’s table.

In my devotional time this past Thursday, I came across Romans 11: 12 where Paul is talking about the salvation of the Gentiles and says “Now if their stumbling means riches for the world, and if their defeat means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean?

How much more might their full inclusion mean?

Has there ever been a time when you were rejected from a table? It was made clear you weren’t welcome. Or you weren’t even invited to it. Jonathan Martin says “I want to tell you that if you've ever felt excluded from the table of Christ, from the table of grace, it was not the table of Christ you were excluded from. How do I know that? Because you were excluded. And if you were excluded from the table of Christ, then it was not yet the table of Christ. You know it's not yet his table when someone else is in charge of the guest list. If Jesus is not the one in charge of the guest list, it’s not Christ’s table.”

Jonathan then tells a story of his friend Teddy. One Sunday during Communion Teddy noticed that when it came time to come to the table that there was a young man sitting a few seats down from him who not only didn't come forward, but had his head in his hands. This just seemed so heavy. And he was crying. So Teddy goes over to him, lays his hand gently on this man’s shoulder and introduces himself and says, like, Hey, I don't want to, I don't want to freak you out. I don’t want to put pressure on you. But I was getting ready to come to the table. Would you feel comfortable coming to the table with me? And his response was, Man, I'd love to but I just I just can't, I just can't. There's too much stuff going on around. I just don't think I feel comfortable. And Teddy said something off the cuff that to me just feels so much like the Holy Spirit and so much it's like the heart of God to me. Teddy's response was, Well, if you're not coming to the table, I don't want to go either. It was like saying if you don’t feel like there is space for you here, then there isn’t space for me either because we are in this thing together.

And so because we are Pentecostals and therefore we're able to be fluid and have a little room, he feels led to pray. And yeah, Teddy says, Is it okay if I pray with you? Oh, yeah, sure. And this is what he prayed, feeling very prompted: His prayer was, “God, since my brother doesn't feel comfortable coming to the table for whatever the reason I pray that somehow you will bring the table to him.” And as he prays this, of course, he's thinking this is, you know, the metaphorical manna, some kind of an allegory, that somehow God would provide the spiritual food. But when it gets done saying the prayer he says, Amen. And a guy from the community, Brian, who'd been serving communion, is kneeling now in front of this young man and said, Hey, man, I hope this doesn’t bother you—they've got people still in the communion line—but the Holy Spirit just spoke to me across the room and told me that I need to stop serving everybody else and come and bring you these elements.”

Rachel Held Evans said “The Church is positively crawling with people who don’t deserve to be here...beginning with me. But the Table can transform even our enemies into companions. The Table reminds us that, as [siblings] adopted into God’s family and invited to God’s banquet, we’re stuck with each other; we’re family. We might as well make peace. The Table teaches us that, ultimately, faith isn’t about being right or good or in agreement. Faith is about feeding and being fed.”

Whether you are running up three and four times for a big piece of Jesus, whether you feel like you just can’t, may the table of God, the grace of God, welcome you and come to you and greet you with open arms.

So come to the table of grace. Come and receive seconds or thirds. Come wanting more. Come and receive that which has been waiting for you. Come and be fed.