Eucharist means Celebrate
Text: Exodus 12:1-8
Title: Eucharist means Celebrate
Thesis: Gathering at the table is a family affair, it brings families together
Time: Sunday after Hurricane Katrina
Considering the unfolding events that have taken place this past week in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, some of the content of my sermon has changed, although the point of the sermon has not.
My original plan was to begin the sermon by painting a picture of a family reunion. Family reunions are times when families to come together –to tell the family stories, to eat together, at my family reunions we always had the strange combination of fried tacos and sauerkraut. And at family reunions there are the experiences of love and belonging.
I then planned to show in the sermon from Exodus 12 how the annual event of Passover is like a big family reunion.
And lastly, I would explain how the Lord’s Supper, like Passover, is a time when we come together as family –to tell the stories of our faith, to feast together, and to enjoy the experiences love and belonging.
For today, I would like to emphasize just one point about the religious, family affair known as Passover described in Exodus 12. I believe this one point can help guide our response to what is being called the worst natural disaster to ever hit our country. What is this one point? It’s something God instructs the people to do as they prepare for Passover, it’s something brand new never done before, it’s God telling the people to join together, to form what is called in Exodus 12:3 a “congregation.” Of the hundreds of times the word congregation appears in the Bible it is for the very first time uttered here in Exodus 12:3. In our national response and even what we can do as a church this concept of coming together as one people is important.
The images in the news this past week have not been pleasant. What I found most heartbreaking were the times the news reporters would interview individuals. They told very similar stories –my house has been destroyed, I no longer have a job, some of my family is missing I don’t know where they are. I have lost everything, I am hungry, I have no food. I am thirsty, I have no water. Not just once, not even a hundred times, not even a thousand, but hundreds of thousands of people could give this same report about what has happened to them this past week. It all seems so overwhelming.
Exodus 12 and the story of Passover is about a people who have gone through a time of being uprooted and transported to somewhere else. If they were anything, the Hebrew people were a refugee people. We find them living in poverty, even as slaves, down in the land of Egypt. They had gone there years before to escape a famine. In fact, the word “Hebrew” means the people who wander around, even used to mean bandits, or outlaws. People did not think highly of the Hebrew people.
Then, under Moses’ leadership, God called the Hebrews to leave the land of Egypt. God promised they would be given their own land, the promised land it was called. So they left Egypt, they left Egypt in a hurry. With nothing but the clothes on their backs, not even taking their next meal, the thousands of Hebrews left Egypt and headed off into the desert.
The desert was harsh. There was no one to greet them. Nobody would be there to provide housing, food and water or clothing for them. It was hot in the desert, the sun relentlessly shined down upon them. All they had besides the clothes on their backs was that promise, that promise God made to them that some day they would be given their own land, the promised land it was called.
Even before the people leave Egypt, God instructs Moses and the Hebrew people to celebrate each year the Passover. The people are to never forget what took place as they escaped Egypt and lived for so many years in the desert. Each year a feast is to be held, stories are to be told about how God delivered them out of Egypt, they are to remember that their ancestors survived for 40 years in the desert. No matter how prosperous they may become, they are not to forget their humble beginning and that God has taken them so far.
A lot happed to the Hebrew people as they learned to survive in the desert. They did a lot of things wrong. Who wouldn’t, considering the amount of stress and fear they were going through? They grumbled about their lack of food and water. They complained to Moses that it was taking way too long to get to the land of promise. But they also did a lot of things right. They grew in their faith that God would take care of them. God provided each day for manna for food, and water. The people developed friendships, they became one big family. They were even proud to be called the Hebrews.
As hard as it is to imagine today, just a little less than a week since Hurricane Katrina, positive things can happen because of hurricane Katrina. Already, there are reports about the generosity of individuals who have opened their homes and have allowed victims of the hurricane to have a place to stay until they can return home. I even saw a story about a family with seven children who were taken in by a lady near Fort Smith, Arkansas. The stories the survivors tell are about being grateful that they are alive, they are thankful for the generosity of others who are providing for them in this their hour of need. New friendships are being formed. We are all being reminded about what things are most important in life.
God instructed the Hebrews that whenever they celebrated the Passover meal to include everyone. Even if someone was too poor and didn’t have an offering to bring, they could go in with other families and together they could celebrate Passover. Look at verse 4. Everyone was part of the family.
It was at the annual Passover feast that Jesus gathered his disciples, the last meal we call it. He told them that he was making a way for them to enter into his promises. His body and his blood would be given as the offering.
A writer named Carol Kent talks about motherhood. She says, “One day when my son Jason was young, we were eating breakfast together. I had on an old pair of slacks and a fuzzy old sweater. He flashed his baby blues at me over his cereal bowl and said, “Mommy, you look so pretty today.” I didn’t even have makeup on! So I said, “Honey, why would you say I look pretty today? Normally, I’m dressed up in a suit and high heels.” And he said, “When you look like that, I know you’re going some place; but when you look like this, I know you’re all mine.”
Today, at the Lord’s Table Jesus is ours. He is present with his body broken, his blood spilled.