I read through my sabbatical journal to see what reflections seemed worth preaching. This topic of stories that shape us, which also relates to how we share the stories we tell, was very interesting to me. When I saw the Lost Cause exhibit at the museum in VA, I was overwhelmed by the intentionality of those who wanted to tell the story in a way that seemed to move away from the truth. I also discovered that some of those stories had infiltrated my own learning about the Civil War.
It seems really important that the church find a way to articulate its story of God's saving grace for the world today. how we tell that story matters.
“Sabbatical Snippets: Stories that Shape Us” World Communion Sunday, October 6, 2024; St. Andrew Presbyterian Church; Mark 26: 26-30; Matthew 26: 26-30; I Corinthians 11: 23-26
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, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ 25In 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.’ 26For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Introduction: This fall, with the exception of the next coupled of stewardship sermons, my sermons will grow out of some insight or reflection I had while on sabbatical. You may wish you had never let me go on sabbatical it’s all said and done.
Move 1: How we tell our stories and how those stories shape us.
a. I spent about a week of my sabbatical in Richmond, VA, visiting my daughter Caitlin and her husband Charles.
One of the days, I went to the Virginia Museum of History and Culture and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
the Museum of History and Culture is a fairly small museum, but had some pretty cool exhibits, including a traveling exhibit about the chef Julia Childs and an exhibit about al th different regions of VA.
I had made my way through the museum and was about to leave, when I saw a door I hadn’t gone into. Turns out it a coat closet.
But, next to it was another room that I had noticed. I went in and found a small, but turns out, fascinating exhibit called the Lost Cause. it was new to me, I learned the Lost Cause is a name for the efforts by former Confederates to tell the story of the Civil War from the Confederacy’s perspective and to glorify the Confederacy.
The Civil War became the “war of Northern aggression.”
The role of slavery in the conflict was replaced by the issue of states’ rights.
The defeat of the south was described as the triumph of the Union’s resources - read, impersonal machine without character, over the superior generals and better soldiers of the Confederacy.
part of the Lost Cause’s goal was to control how textbooks were written in the south so that the story could be told from the Lost Cause perspective.
manifested in different ways over many generations—from history textbooks to street names to various forms of memorialization. (https://virginiahistory.org/exhibitions/lost-cause)
The leaders of the Lost Cause knew that the stories we tell and how we tell them shape us.
b. Laster in the sabbatical, on Back to back days, we visited the Whitney Western Art Museum in Cody, WY and the battlefield of Little Bighorn
1. the Art Museum had a painting of Battle of Little Bighorn titled Custer’s Last Fight, painted by Edger Paxson. (https://centerofthewest.org/explore/western-art/research/edgar-s-paxson/)
2. The display with the painting showed how the artist used the painting to shape how the story of the battle was told. pointed out how the painting told the
in the center of the painting was Custer, standing tall, clearly the hero in the battle.
on the periphery of the painting and much smaller physically were the native American warriors.
As the painting told the story, it was about the heroic Custer who was defeated by the those who were really not that important.
3. the next day at the Little Bighorn National Park, we saw both the National Cemetery and the battle sites, but also the Indian Memorial, which was added in 2003.
the Indian memorial brings in the perspective of the Indians who fought in the battle.
its design points to the unity of the 7th cavalry soldiers who died and the Indians who died as they all pass thorugh the gate of death and move into the afterlife. The monument’s acknowledged theme is “Peace Through Unity.(https://www.nps.gov/libi/learn/historyculture/indian-memorial.htm)
Same story, told differently.
The stories we tell and how we tell them shape us.
c. That is what Paul is telling the early Christians about the story that had been told to him.
1. he is shaping the story of Christ’s last Supper for those early Christians and giving it meaning.
2. A story we still tell today.
Move 2: Of course, out of that story we have the story of World Communion that we tell each year in this congregation - a story that continues to shape us.
a. World Communion is reflects a big Sunday in the life of this congregation with lots of traditions
Notice how we tell the story and how that shapes us.
1. multiple voices speaking in different languages.
not to show off the language abilities of the congregation, but to acknowledge the world wide nature fo the body of Christ.
2. breads from different countries.
3. we use liturgy from different countries.
4. we have worship leadership from all ages.
b. this year the invitation will come to us in all the different language.
1. The invitation to any who seek Christ, and invitation that know no geographical bounds.
2. the invitation connects us to each other in the place and beyond this place.
4. As you see the many people involved in worship today, it is a sign of the breadth of people who come to our Lord’s Table.
4. In Christ, we are connected to them.
5. A bond that transcends culture, language, or place.
6. As you hear the words of invitation, imagine all those around the world who accept the invitation and come to the Lord’s Table.
We intentionally tell the story so that visually and audibly we are reminded of the global nature of God’s claim and call.
c. Our story of World Communion has as its centerpiece that story of Christ’s last supper.
1. As we gather around our Lord’s Table, we remember how that story took place and how Paul shaped the story for the early Christians and for us.
2. The story ties the Lord’s supper to covenant.
` 3. This Table is an extension of God’s covenant and an expression of God’s love for us.
4. The story speaks of Christ’s gift of his body and his blood,
a gift that redeems us and frees us from our sins.
when we come to our Lord’s Table, we come at the invitation of the God whose covenant with us has been lived out in Christ’s death and resurrection.
5. It comes to us as gift:
a life-changing gift that binds us to all the people in the world Christ has come to redeem.
c. As many of you know, here at St. Andrew we come to our Lord’s Table in different ways;
sometimes we serve communion in the pews;
sometimes we process forward and have the bread and cup provided for us
sometimes we come forward and take communion by intinction, tearing the bread and dipping it into the cup.
1. on World Communion Sunday, we always process forward and receive the elements by intinction.
2. This is intentional.
It emphasizes the coming and the going to our Lord’s Table.
3. The coming in which we humbly move forward to accept the gift Christ has offered to us.
no one forces you to come, but Christ invites you.
4. Likewise, there is no gate on the way for which you have to have some type of key or perfect answer to get through;
As the Spirit moves you, so you come.
But we come at Christ’s invitation because we feel the pull to come to the Table.
4. then we go from the Table
back into the world
Christ’s gift is not for keeping, but for sharing
We go out with our brothers and sisters in Christ to all the world to join with the Risen Christ, who has met us at his Table.
Conclusion: 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, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ 25In 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.’ 26For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Listen to the story. Be a part of the story.
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