Reflections on “Transitions: From Bread and Wine to Body and Blood; I Corinthians 11: 23-26

This sermon was preached at the Maundy Thursday service.  We followed the sermon with communion, as would be expected.  I preached the sermon from the Lord's Table, which meant my sermon notes were waist-level, but the cameras for those livestreaming are at balcony level.  thus, I spent most of the time looking up and not at my notes.  What was preached was not as closely tied to the written text below as it often is.  In fact, I never said the words "transubstantiation" or "anamnesis," so the listeners were spared!

 “Transitions: From Bread and Wine to Body and Blood; I Corinthians 11: 23-26; SAPC, Denton; April 14, 2022; Maundy Thursday; Richard B. Culp 

I Corinthians 11: 23-26

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[a] 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.

Move 1:  We have been reflecting on transitions during Lent, and will continue that practice through Sunday.

a.  tonight might be the most concrete transition,…sort of

1.  Bread and wine/juice transitioning to body and blood of Christ.

1.  Not a story we make up, but how Jesus describes what is happening that night at the Passover.

2.  not something the disciples could grasp in the moment.

3. maybe even after they saw the resurrected Christ, they still struggled with how to understand the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.

b. As we read, the Apostle Paul describing what happened at the Last Supper, we hear the party line of the Christian church on the LoRd’s Supper developing.  

1. Words of instruction that will be repeated from behind this Table for generation after generation.

2.  but, even hearing Paul’s words for the umpteenth time, I think,  “now how exactly does that work.

c. Reformation era led to some differing views on what happens at the Lord’s Table

1. Transubstantiation - Catholic view that somehow in the consecration, the bread and wine still may look like bread and wine, but it is literally the bones of Christ and the blood of Christ.  Christ has come down from heaven to be physically present in the elements of which we partake.

“This is my body, broken for you.  this is my blood, shed for you.”

While we might not be able to make the substance change work, we understand 

2. Some Reformers approached explaining communion  as anamnesis - memory; what we do is just remembering Jesus.

  Jesus saying, “Do this in remembrance of me.”

c. Presbyterian tradition that grows out John Calvin’s reflections - real presence; 

Christ may not come down physically from heaven to be in the bread and wine, but the bread and juice are more than just a trigger by which we remember Christ.    

Christ’s real presence is found at the Table bringing us a means of grace.

Move 2:  All this talk about substance reminds me of a story I shared with the Presbyterian women a few years ago.

Jan Childres, in column in Presbyterian Outlook, 4/5/2010:  “Canadian theologian Stephen Farris tells the story of a young pastor celebrating the Lord's Supper at a new charge for the first time.  The new pastor was an earnest young guy, intent on making good.  He arrived early that morning to prepare the elements. The bread was located easily enough, but the grape juice was nowhere in sight. Finally, with a sigh of relief, he came upon a box of purple powder.  Ah, he thought as he mixed it up with water and poured it out into the little cups , this is the way they do it here.  He set the trays in the fridge and went back to the sanctuary to practice. Ninety minutes later when the deacons arrived to set the table, the young pastor trailed them into the kitchen chatting, getting acquainted, making friends.  As it was that he was standing right there when the trays were pulled out of the fridge – glistening and jiggling in the kitchen light – full of grape Jell-O. 

a.  with all our questions, with all uncertainties, with our lack of complete understanding, we dare to approach our Lord’s table at his invitation.

b.  the table that marks the transition in Christ, who moves from being at table with his disciples in the flesh; to being on the cross dying for us; to being resurrected;  to joining with God in heaven anticipating the heavenly feast that waits for all of us.

c.  Coming to our Lord’s table takes us back, points us to the future, and calls us to act in the moment.

somehow, at this Table the Risen Christ finds us and fills us.  

we cannot fully explain it, but we can remember what God has done in the passover centuries ago for the Israelite, and we can remember Christ’s death and resurrection.

We can look forward to when Christ comes again.

We can meet the Risen Christ, right here.

Amen.