When I was in seminary, I was taught in preaching class to avoid personal stories because they too often reveal more personal baggage than enhance the sermon. this sermon had two personal stories, or at least stories in which I was a participant. I think the stories fit the point of the sermon and added to the sermon, but I am always leery of personal stories because if the stories are memorable, but not on point, they are of little use to the sermon.
We had a baptism and celebrated the Lord's Supper in worship, so I tried to have a shorter sermon than usual. No one seemed to mind! There is so much to say about the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, so I narrowed the focus to Jesus' desire for us to come to the Table.
“Lords’ Supper - A Ritual of Desire” April 7, 2019; St. Andrew; Richard B. Culp; I Corinthians 10: 14-17; Luke 22: 14-23; Lenten series on rituals, 2019
When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him. 15 He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I tell you, I will not eat it[c] until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; 18 for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 Then he took a loaf of 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.” 20 And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.[d] 21 But see, the one who betrays me is with me, and his hand is on the table. 22 For the Son of Man is going as it has been determined, but woe to that one by whom he is betrayed!” 23 Then they began to ask one another which one of them it could be who would do this.
Introduction: We continue reflecting on rituals as we move through Lent.
This morning, we look at the ritual of the Lord’s Supper. Like baptism, we are reminded that the Lord’s Supper is not just a ritual we go through the first Sunday of each month, but it joins baptism as one of the two sacraments we practice in the Presbyterian church.
Lots we could focus on as we explore this ritual.
in fact, I preached on this topic in November, if anyone remembers, so I’m using all new material this morning.
Move 1: the Lord’s Supper is a ritual in which Jesus desires our participation.
a. we do not do this ritual just because it is part of our liturgy;
1. We do not do this ritual not just because it is one of our sacraments;
2. We do not do this ritual just because of all its powerful imagery and meaning with the bread as the body of Christ broken for us and the cup as the blood of Christ shed for us.
3. We do this ritual primarily because Jesus desires that we come to the table.
b. As Jesus tells the those who gathered with him on what we now call the Last Supper: ““I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;”
1. He wants to share with them as they gather for this traditional celebration that takes them back to Egypt and the angel of death that passed over their homes as the final plague before Pharaoh released them from bondage.
2. Jesus wants them to share with him as he explains how he is redefining the Passover meal.
3. Jesus desires that they eat of the bread that will be his body broken for them.
4. Jesus desires that they share the cup that will be his blood shed for them.
5. He desires they come to the Table.
c. His desire is one of the distinguishing marks fo the ritual of the Last Supper.
1. As Diana Bass Butler reminds us, “Wine combined with religion is nothing new. Since the beginning of human history, frenzied worshippers have poured out libations before their gods, often in great festivals resembling spiritual orgies. In these celebrations, people celebrated wine and harvest as they sang, played, and danced in the streets, hoping such ecstasy would please the gods and remind them to send food and wine next year (Gratitude, 119-122, Diana Butler Bass)
2. But Jesusd combines wine and religion not as a way for God’s people to bribe God, but as in invitation for God’s people to receive the gift of new life and new opportunity.
3. In fact, the Greek word we translate as “Take,” can also be translated as “receive.”
4. We read the story and hear Jesus use the imperative, that is the command voice, to “Take,” but it can also be the command voice of jesus saying, “receive!” (Butler, 122)
5. So great is Jesus’ desire that we come to the Table.
d. The church I served in OH was about 2 hrs from Louisville, so each year as part of the confirmation process we took the confirmands to Louisville to visit the Presbyterian seminary there and the General Assembly headquarters.
We typically arrived at the seminary Thursday night, met with a student or two, then Friday morning toured the campus, met with a professor and had worship before heading downtown to the headquarters.
Often, the worship service was a communion service, which presented a bit of a dilemma for me. Although it was the Presbyterian churches position that anyone, even children and youth, could come to the Lord’s Table, it was tied to the parents instructing their children and helping prepare them to participate in the Lord’s Supper.
Despite my affirming children were invited to the Table and having classes for the children teaching them about communion, several families, heeded the previous minister’s approach that you could not take communion until you had gone through confirmation.
So, each year I would tell the confirmands that if they took communion at home, they could do it at the worship service, but if their parents did not want them to take commuionyet, I thought they should respect their parents’ wishes and not take communion.
One year, we had about eight confirmands, two of whom had never taken communion, so the whole group decided to show solidarity and not take communion.
No problem, except when I went forward for communion and left the pew full of confirmands. As I walked down the center aisle, I felt like people were staring at me. I glanced aroudn, and in fact, people were staring at me. My mind raced trying to figure out what I was doing wrong, and then I realized, they did not like that a pew of 8th graders were not coming forward to the Table when invited to do so.
My guess at why I was getting dirty looks was confirmed when I was walking up the outside aisle back to the pew and a woman hissed at me,“You know in the Presbyterian Church kids can take communion!”
There was no time to explain what was happening, so I smiled and meekly said, “I know,” which did not seem to satisfy her.
On the one hand, the woman and those who were upset with me did not know the full story.
On the other hand, they understood very clearly Jesus’ strong desire for us all to come to the Table.
Move 2: Because jesus desires, there is always enough.
a. ritual grows out of a theology of abundance. there is always enough bread and wine.
1. There is not limit to whom Jesus offers himself. invites to the Table.
2. Jesus is enough for all of us and all we need.
3. Jesus has enough for all we need.
4. the table points to the boundless God and God’s bottomless appetite to share.
5. There is always bread and cup for you, and you, and you….
b. I finish was a story from the church I served in KY.
the story began with an upset Ruling Elder in my office. She was upset because she and her husband had visited a Presbyterian church on a communion Sunday, and they ran out of the elements. Because they were seated in the last few pews, they did not receive bread and the juice. She was incensed, and I bore the brunt of her frustration
It might not have been the next communion Sunday, but it was fairly soon after she had told me her story that we had our own issues.
I served the trays of bread, and everything went fine.
Then, as I took the lid off the juice trays, the top tray only seemed half filled with cups. Likewsie, all the trays had a bare minimum of cups in them. It struck me as odd, but I did not realize the implications, until the elders brought back their completely empty trays and one of them whispered to me, “we ran out of juice. the last few pews did not get served.”
I thought I had a simple solution. “Take a couple of trays and go fill more cups with juice. then, come back and serve the last few pews.”
I turned to the organist and siad, “Let’s sing, ‘Amazing Grace.” Off two elders went out the back fo the sanctuary and I announced we would sing another hymn as part fo the communion service, but they could remain seated.”
I wasn’t sure how long it would take to fill two trays of cups, but I figured it would surely be done by the end of Amazing Grace.
But the elders had not appeared, so we moved on to another hymns. By now the congregation sensed something was up, but we kept singing.
By now, I noticed that the elder of the month, that is the person in charge of making sure we had enough supplies for communion, was sinking lower and lower in her pew every verse.
I did not know, but she knew, that there were no more communion cups to be filled because she had forgot to order more cups.
We move into the third hymn, and now I’m really wondering what is going on.
We start the fourth hymn to the giggles of the congregation, and the door to the sanctuary opens.
In walk the two elders with trays. Two industrious elders who had scoured the church building for juice cups, and when they could find none brainstormed and then remembered cups in the medical clinic the church operated in another building. So, off they had gone where they did indeed find some cups to fill with juice.
As they passed by, I learned for the first time that the insets to hold the little juice cups in the trays could be removed.
And they had because the specimen cups filled with grape juice would not fit otherwise.
conclusion: There was enough bread and juice for everyone. Just as Jesus desires.
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