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April 02, 2015 Maundy Thursday

Exodus 12: 1-14
1 Corinthians 11: 23-26

Psalm 116: 1-2, 12-19

John 13: 1-17, 31b-35

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..
(1
Corinthians 11: 23-26)
This sermon is rooted in these words from the Apostle Paul. But
what is a sermon? It is a message. All sermons have one common
problem. You might listen. You might listen and decide the message
is not for you. OR, you might just not listen.
I know how this works. The sermon is a guaranteed break from
having to juggle the hymn book and bulletin. I know that moment
when you are holding the hymnal while trying to find the bulletin so
you can read at least SOME of the prayer of the day before its over.
Once the sermon starts you can stop juggling. It is when you just
bookmark the next hymn and then relax. The sermon allows you to
stop multi-tasking and just turn off your overloaded brain. Or
maybe this is when you turn TO your overloaded brain.
Gods word is living and active during preaching, but we all know
we can tune it out. Tune it out because it doesnt apply to you.

Tune it out because its boring. Tune it out because an unfamiliar

cultural reference makes you feel excluded. Tune it out because
youre thinking about something miles away or years ago, or out of
reach in the future.
Holy Communion is different. In the Lords Supper you receive
something you can taste and touch. You eat and drink. YOU, not
someone other somebody. You also hear the words Given for you.
Shed for you. Those words will be spoken to each one in turn.
There can be no mistaking who that message is for. When the
words are spoken directly to you it is for you, not someone else.
Yes, the gift is given to the MANY, but never in the form of a blanket
statement.
Each one individually hears the words, for you. You cant make
the mistake of assuming it is for someone else. You cant pretend
youre not there. For you.
You are given a bequest. When a person leaves a will, the people
named in the will receive a legacy, a gift from beyond the grave.
Each of us receives that testament and legacy here and now. At the
Last Supper Jesus made out his will, and you are named in the will.
This is FOR YOU.
But there is irony here. We like things that make us feel special.
We want our young people from the communion class to feel this
special. But even so, at Holy Communion the ego must take a back
seat.
Holy Communion is a humbling moment. Dont miss this part.

When we come to the altar of God, we receive a small morsel of

bread and a sip of wine or maybe juice. The ego is unimpressed.
The ego says, Thats it? The ego wants something more. An
encounter with God should make me TEN FEET TALL. The ego
wants to be important. Our nature wants something impressive.
The Tempter whispers that God should be giving us fireworks, or a
spa treatment, or a retreat in Sedona. We want a coronation, we
want LIGHTNING and THUNDER or at least some applause.
Instead we receive something that requires our humility. What God
has decided to give us is this: the body and blood of Jesus -in and
with the bread and wine. To the world, it looks small and
insignificant. The newspapers and social media see nothing to
report. Holy Communion fits in your hand. Narcissus looks at the
bread and wine and sees too little.
So, to receive Jesus body and blood is to die to self. It is FOR YOU,
but it is not ABOUT you. Holy Communion is the death of ego.
This is also the death of isolation- it is never just me and God. The
body of Christ is always known in the world as a community. There
is no Holy Communion for a solitary individual. Even in a private
communion there are always at least two people. And both of them
are part of a larger community.
Community. At Christs table you receive forgiveness of sin, but not
so you can go your way feeling smug and ignoring others. Gods
mercy is meant to lead to repentance and that means concern for
justice, for the widow and orphan, for the poor. It means forgiving
as we have been forgiven. This feast moves us to work so others can
eat.

But it is still a hungry world. We struggle to care, to serve and love.

It is hard to forgive.
We are together, but always as a broken people. We are a broken
fellowship called together in spite of our brokenness. We cannot replant Eden. We cannot build New Jerusalem. The belief that we
have things under control also dies on this altar.
You come because you are welcome, not because you earned it. You
receive the body and blood of Jesus, food for the soul.
If you did tune out of the sermon I forgive you. But it is time to
tune back in. The Lords Supper is not an alternative to preaching.
It IS preaching! Holy Communion is a proclamation. It is a
message in another form.
Holy Communion is the body and blood of Christ because Gods
word makes it so. That is why we quote the Bible as our words of
institution. The Lords Supper is the proclamation that you are
summoned, you are forgiven, you are included, and you are called.
It is a message for you.
This is not instead of the message or in addition to the message,
This IS a message. This is a sermon that we all preach together.
We proclaim the Lords death until he comes. We proclaim the
death that happened, but also proclaim what happened after. We
proclaim the resurrection, the ascension, and the promise Jesus is
with us to the end of time.
This gathering proclaims that the perfect kingdom, the New
Jerusalem touches us here and now in the body and blood of
Christ. Gods will is that you receive. Take and eat. It is the
humble action of needy people.

But when we do this together we are a three dimensional

proclamation of Christs presence and grace. We are a breathing
sermon- a proclamation to the world that there IS a place where
people are known and forgiven, loved and cherished, and where
there is justice- an equal share for all.
This is the kinetic sermon in which we all proclaim that Christ is
present.
We proclaim that this small and quiet meal is not an empty ritual,
not an allegory, not a representation. NO. This is the sacred time
when Gods future breaks into our present. This is the time when
all are loved, all receive a share, when the distinctions and
distractions of daily life are dissolved, and we become one body.
This feast is a word made flesh.
Thanks be to God. Amen.