Yesterday was World Communion Sunday. The sermon was part of a liturgy that had multiple languages heard and breads from many different countries displayed on the communion table (and then used when we celebrated the Lord's Supper). I enjoyed preaching the sermon, but did not get much feedback about it from the congregation. Of course, most of the comments leaving worship were about the liturgy and World Communion Sunday.
“Calling to Mind a Table” World Communion Sunday; 2019; SAPC, October 6, 2019; Lamentations
Lamentations 3: 21-24: But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I will hope in him.”
Move 1: As we gather around our Lord’s Table on World Communion Sunday, it is a sign of hope we call to mind.
a. We often compare biblical times to our times and often think of ourselves as more troubled or challenged, or at least equal to those in biblical times.
1. As we hear the passage from Lamentations, I think the lamenter has a more difficult challenge than we do.
2. He gazes over Jerusalem and sees its destruction.
3. Description by one bible scholar: The place from which the Lamentations of Jeremiah speak is a place which has been destroyed: the gates of Jerusalem lie devastated (Jeremiah 1:4; 2:9); the fortresses have been torn down (2:2); the palaces and strongholds have been razed and destroyed (2:5, 8). This is a place in which life no longer exists, a place of terror from which no-one escaped and in which no-one survived (2:22). http://www.lectio.unibe.ch/03_1/bail.htm
4. Jerusalem - the place of dreams; the place of God’s presence; the place of hope and promise - is destroyed and overrun by the enemies.
5. The lamenter can only think of the destruction and hopelessness.
4. Until, until he writes - “but this I call to mind”
5. IN the midst of the unspeakable horror of Jerusalem’s destruction, he clings to the steadfast love of the Lord which never ceases.
b. Look at the Lord’s Table
1. A visual and audible glimpse of the hope we have in God.
2. A reminder of the God who meets us in all places.
3. a God whose mercy cannot be contained.
Move 2: As we gather around our Lord’s Table, we see signs of God’s kingdom.
a. Some Pharisees ask Jesus a question: “ When is the kingdom of God coming?”
1. maybe a trick question.
2. Maybe their curiosity got the best of them.
3. maybe they want to see what this new guy has to say about an age-old question.
b. I suspect they did not anticipate the answer Jesus gave them.
1. the kingdom of God is among you.
2. Some translations read “the kingdom of God is within you,” as if it is only a spiritual reality, but the Greek is fairly clear that Jesus is talking about “among you,” in their midst, something going on around them.
3. where do you see signs fo the kingdom?
Move 2: World Communion Sunday invites us to listen and look to see a sign of God’s kingdom.
a. I suppose it began while most of us were still sleeping.
Asian Christians shared the bread and the wine.
Churches in China met in secret so that they would not be arrested.
A handful of Christians in the Middle East met under the watchful eye of the government, perhaps quietly going about their business to avoid attention and attack.
In Europe, Christians gathered in churches that used to be much fuller and celebrated the Lord’s Supper.
In Africa, the sacrament was celebrated in great numbers by a growing number of Christians.
Those celebrating today include Presbyterians, Methodists, Catholics, Lutherans, Pentecostals, Baptists, thousands of other denominations, and even those without denominations.
Christ's followers met both in public and in secret. Some met in freedom while others gathered under threat of persecution and death.
Some take the sacrament today with organ music, others with simple singing, and still others in quiet so as not to be arrested.
In wealthy churches and in desperate poverty the sacrament is observed. In churches, homes, huts, and in God’s creation this seal of the covenant was experienced.
The bread is given to people that could overeat all day and to people who had no idea what they would eat or where they would get it today.
The one thing in common- We all come to the same table of our Lord. (World Communion Sunday Ideas and Liturgy, Jordan Rimmer, http://www.jordanrimmer.com/world-communion-sunday-ideas-and-liturgy/)
b. The Table before us as a sign of the Kingdom of God.
1. the breads we see and languages we hear reflect the breadth and the depth of God’s kingdom.
2. The sign of the kingdom is not the varied nature, but the God in Christ who is present in all those places, the God in Christ to whom people turn in their many languages.
Conclusion: Martin Vodrazka, the Czech music professor who is spending time at the College of Music at UNT this fall, sang the offertory for us a couple of weeks ago.
He told me that at his concert the next night, he was singing a song cycle by Jan Hanuš ,entitled Wooden Christ based on poems written in 1957 in Czechoslovakia.
You may remember that Czechoslovakia was overrun by Nazi Germany in 1938 and experienced an horrific time of persecution and death.
Then in 1948, the communist overthrew the political system, took control over police, army, and any security systems of democracy. Again, persecution and death reigned.
The government enforced censorship and was anti-Christian, anti-Jewish.
IN 1957, in that atmosphere, the Wooden Cross was written and put to music. the composer and author knew that it could not be performed publicly, but they were compelled to write and sing about the God whose son died on a wooden cross for the world.
It was finally performed after the fall of communist regime in 1991. It has not been published till this day. When it was sung at the concern at UNT a few weeks ago, it was the first time it had been sung outside of the Czech republic.
"Wooden Cross” Line from the middle of the song, when the challenges and difficulties are still being sung.
In my heart, I carry the whole universe,
And the whole universe I maintain by my love.
Lift me up, lift me up! (This was shared with me by Martin Vodrzka in an email).
At our Lord’s Table today we lift up the God who cannot be stymied; the God whose kingdom is in our midst; the God whose mercy knows no bounds.
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