1 Corinthians 10: 16-17 & 1 Corinthians 11: 23-25
Roger Lynn
October 7, 2018
World Communion Sunday
Why do we do it? Why do we continue to gather around the communion table and share together in this symbolic feast? Because Jesus did it? Almost 2,000 years ago a man shared a meal with twelve of his friends on the night before he died. What does that have to do with us? Because Paul told the Church at Corinth it was important? Paul told the early churches lots of things. Why have we chosen to make this one so central to our lives? Because it has been a part of the Church’s tradition for almost 20 centuries. “Because we’ve always done it this way” is not the firmest of foundations upon which to build a solid and lasting community.
Perhaps we gather to break the bread and share the cup because we hope and pray and believe that it is true – that behind the symbols and the words and the rituals which make up this thing we call Communion or the Lord’s Supper or the Eucharist stands nothing less than the very presence of God. We trust it is God whom we find here. We believe it is God’s Grace which is revealed in the breaking of the bread and the pouring of the cup. We hope that around this table we will discover the source for abundant life.
But even then – even when we can make that kind of affirmation of faith about the Lord’s Supper – we must still return to the question, “Why do we do it?” Or at least we must ask, “Why do we do it this way?” It is not a private endeavor, this communion which we share. It is a celebration which is open to all who will come. Indeed, it is most fully experienced and most deeply rewarding when it is fully shared with those around us. This is not simply about our relationship with God – it is also about our relationship with one another. As we encounter God’s love we are opened to the possibility of loving each other. As we experience God’s grace we are empowered to share forgiveness with our neighbor. We gather around this table and share together in this sacred ritual in the hopes that we will encounter God and each other in ways which will transform our lives, our living, and our world.
And what makes all of this particularly amazing is that we continue to hold out such hope in spite of our track record thus far. After almost 2,000 years of striving to be the Church which God calls us to be, we have seen fights and splits and wars over how we gather around this table, and what happens when we gather here, and who can gather here, and who can preside here. We live in a time when there are more different denominations than there are kinds of cars, and all of them, in one form or another, view the Lord’s Supper as being important, and yet many of us are barely on speaking terms with each other. The United Church of Christ is a denomination which brought together four diverse groups of churches in an effort to experience the unity of the Body of Christ, and yet there are still conflicts and divisions within our ranks. During my time in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) I attended numerous gatherings of their biennial General Assembly, where we shared the bread and the cup with several thousands people, even though the tension which was present around issues being addressed at the assembly threatened to tear us apart at the seams.
The Church’s track record has not supported our claim that “at the Table of the Lord we are made one with the whole people of God.” Paul’s assertion that “we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” has often seemed more theoretical than practical. But perhaps our persistence in returning to the table, even in the face of such overwhelming failure, makes a claim for the ability of God’s grace to transcend even the shortcomings of the whole Church. We gather today to celebrate World Communion Sunday. In countless places around the world, in a wide variety of settings, using a diversity of languages and traditions and practices, countless millions of people will meet to share the bread and the cup which is the Lord’s Supper. We remember that today we are joined not just by those who are here in this place, or even by those who share with us in the United Church of Christ, but by Christians of every time and every place who gather around this table and share together in this meal. And as we do so we readily acknowledge that full, concrete, practical unity has not yet been achieved among us. Indeed, in more ways than we even care to think about we have a very long way to go. But even the longest of journeys begins with a single step, and is sustained by continuing to take one step at a time. Today we take one small step as we remember that we are not alone around this table. The reality is that we are all united in Christ. By the grace of God may we begin to live into that reality with our whole being. Come, let us gather together around this most expansive of tables!
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