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The Eucharist: the Strength to Reveal Christ to Others…
English: The Lord’s Supper. Christ standing at an Orthodox altar, giving the Eucharist to the Twelve Apostles. Frescoes in the upper church of Spaso-Preobrazhenski cathedral. Valaam Monastery Русский: Алтарная апсида верхнего храма Спасо-Преображенского собора Валаамского монастыря. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Devotional/Discussion Thought of the Day:
This can only mean that whenever you eat this bread or drink of this cup, you are proclaiming that the Lord has died for you, and you will do that until he comes again. So that, whoever eats the bread or drinks the wine without due thought is making himself like one of those who allowed the Lord to be put to death without discerning who he was. 1 Corinthians 11:26 (Phillips NT)
If you don’t keep in touch with Christ in prayer and in the bread, how can you make him known to others? (1)
Though I have been in churches of many denominations and brotherhoods, the three I have spent the most time in, have had something in Common. The weekly celebration of the Lord’s Supper, also known as Communion, or my preference, the Eucharist.
To be honest, it is something that I took for granted far too often. The Eucharist was something that when I was younger I thought was a spiritual “fill-up”, an opportunity to refocus, a chance to be reminded of God’s promises, a chance to remember His grace covering my sin, as surely as His blood was poured out on the ground.
You might be saying, well Pastor Dt, that’ what it is all about – isn’t it? That moment of refreshing, a weekly “mountain top” experience, a break and rest from the norm, and a break from the sin which haunts them. A chance to really realize what holiness is about…
As we think about what the Eucharist results in, we slowly lose sight about it is… the Body of Christ, given for us; the Blood of Christ, shed for us…
It is not just about knowing God’s love – it is time with Him. A time for His to comfort and cleanse and help us explore with Him the height and depth, breadth and width of His love, and the Father’s love. A time not just where we are reminded of His covenant and its promises, but where He, Himself, reminds us of that promise – most specifically His loving presence. That we are His family, called to dinner with Him as the Host…
That is why Paul can say we proclaim His death – it is ours, we who are untied to Him in His death and resurrection (our re-birth) It is time with Him in that moment beyond time, that foretaste of the feast that will be thrown when we all have come home. We proclaim it – not just for our benefit – but that others would join us at this incredible moment, in this incredible time with Him…celebrating out union…our being the beloved. It is from there, from that depth of intimacy with Christ, that knowing Him and being known by Him, that the kerygma – the desire to introduce others to Him springs forth.
Not from duty…
But from the passion He has for us, the unbelievable love He has for us….
And we know who we are introducing people to, not just a way to “be saved”, but the God, the incredible, majestic, glorious God who loves them, Who gives them life… and brings them into His glory.
It is where we find the answer to our plea… Lord have mercy…. and know He does that in a way beyond expression… and it is He, even more than us, the is joyous in the reunion.
Godspeed us all to this realization.
Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 396-397). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition
Related articles
- Will we trust what God has revealed? Or must we explain (and know) more than that? (justifiedandsinner.com)
Stirred, not Shaken!
Basic Bond coat of arms with motto translated as The World is Not Enough (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
“Stirred but not Shaken”
Acts 2: 14a ,22-36
† Father, Son, and Holy Spirit †
May you realize the grace of of knowing the Triune God desires and works to know you, and make you perfect, perfect for a relationship
Anybody get the number of that creed?
Even though I dearly love the Athanasian Creed, even though I love how it lays out the relationship of the Trinity, even though I love spending a couple of hours with it, and highly recommend that to you, there is a certain feeling I get, reading it in a worship service.
Two ways to describe it…
The first is, I feel like Wiley E Coyote at the end of every scene in the old Roadrunner cartoons….
The other, I wonder if anyone got the license plate number of the theological 18 wheeler than just hit me. I almost wonder if Anthony of the Desert, who is credited with writing it, and Athanasius, a deacon who presented the creed to a gathering of pastors and bishops – comprehended the depth of the creed’s teaching….
Maybe it overwhelmed them a bit two… as if as they read it, they wondered who was driving the chariot that ran over them….
Even as I love this incredible Creed, as I love how it teaches us about the mystery of the Trinity – the Tri-une God, the Three yet One, I realize it has one shortcoming. It was written to challenge all the false teachings about the Trinity, and about the nature of Christ…it seeks to teach us to know about how the Trinity is, and how Jesus is both fully God and fully man…
But it assumes one thing…. That we know this Trinity, this Triune God.
It does a wonderful job stripping away many, if not most of the false teachings about Jesus… yet leaves us there… needing to get to know Him…
May this day, we rejoice, in not just knowing who God is not, but may we rejoice in knowing our Triune God…..
And as we grow in knowing the Trinity, this God of ours, may we be just the opposite of James Bond’s famous drink – may we be stirred, and know we cannot be shaken.
Stirred
Still a little overwhelmed by the theological semi that ran over my brain, I’m going to do the sermon backward today – and give you the gospel, before the law…
Hear King David’s words again, really hear them….
‘I see that the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. 26 No wonder my heart is glad, and my tongue shouts his praises! My body rests in hope. 27 For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your Holy One to rot in the grave. 28 You have shown me the way of life, and you will fill me with the joy of your presence.’
The very God we proclaimed that we trusted a moment ago, David said is right before his eyes. As God is here, right in our midst. Here to protect, here to be our shepherd, here to be all that we need as our Father, as our Lord, as our God.
He is here…The Triune God who has been at work in our lives since we were created, is with us. He has called us together, He has brought us here, in order that we can know His love, that we can remember His mercy. The Holy Spirit drew us that we can literally taste and see that the Lord is good.
Walking with Him, on this way, which He has revealed, is what our lives are to be, and are, because of that presence of His. To know He is here, To realize that love which causes Him to cleanse us, to assure us that our souls will not fade into nothingness, even as Christ’s body was not meant to tor in the grave.
Paul explain this, in this way,
12 For when you were baptized, you were buried with Christ, and in baptism you were also raised with Christ through your faith in the active power of God, who raised him from death. 13 You were at one time spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were Gentiles without the Law. But God has now brought you to life with Christ. God forgave us all our sins; 14 he canceled the unfavorable record of our debts with its binding rules and did away with it completely by nailing it to the cross. Colossians 2:12-14 (TEV)
That is what the presence of God in our lives means… it’s the time to rejoice in everything that has opened up to us. It is time for a party, for the feast – for the incredible life that God has given us…. And would live with us.
No wonder David says that His heart dances, it rejoices, (forget this line “glad” GRR) and his tongue SHOUTS his praises – the special shout reserved for the jubilee – that one time in life, everything you are shout!
He is here – He has given us life – He has given us the joy of His presence….
He is right beside me… and I shall not, will not, cannot be shaken…
Not Shaken
That is where the Law comes in, this idea of being “shaken”. Being shaken is like being out in the middle of Lake Galilee with 80 mph winds raising waves much bigger than our fishing boats, or a spiritual earthquake. Those are the words that are used for those traumas, when life is so in turmoil that you cannot determine which way is which – not just east and west or north and south, but forward and back and upside down.
The Trinity’s presence in our lives takes care of that – for it completely changes our point of orientation. It is no longer us that is spinning out of control, even as the world is spinning – and in such a way that people have to realize God is with us.
As we do, as our lives, as our desires, as our dreams ocme into line with His, as we see that our redemption, our deliverance has been the Father’s goal all along, things change.
The law – which is the way in which God orders the universe, which we struggle with, is revealed to be what drives us to Him, looking for hope, looking for something which will cause the storm…
And when we are with God, Triune, majestic, beyond our ability to comprehend, at least during this life, we do find ourselves able to rest in hope, our heart finds that gladness, and we shout His praise, as we realize His desire is to be here – with us, His people.
It’s His plan…no, we are His plan..
It’s His plan, the reading calls it His pre-arranged plan…
Even to the point where Jesus was betrayed, and fixed to a cross, and murdered. As Peter preaches to the very ones who killed him,
That He could, for the people the Father created, pay the price of redemption, and pour out His Holy Spirit, that we would become His Holy and Righteous people…
Yeah – no wonder our hearts are glad…joyous – know His presence, having been shown the way of life – through the death of Christ.
May we indeed know His peace, as we wait, resting in the hope that comes from knowing He is beside us. May such knowledge stir us to love and good deeds, even as we trust, as we know we’ll never be shaken…
AMEN?
The Body of Christ, united in Love…. that which remains!
That Which Remains…
1 Cor. 13
† In Jesus Name †
May your life be so lived in the mercy and love of God, that it resounds with trust, with hope and with the love of God!
For nearly two hundred years, the doors of a cathedral in Macao have stood open, and people have poured through them, cameras at the ready, with guards quickly reminding them that they couldn’t bring any food or drink into the church proper.
The day we visited there, you could not count the throng of people, as tour busses dropped people off at the base of the stairs, 66 steps below the church’s main doors, to see that hallowed ground. The church was on top of one of the hills in the city, and looked over the streets below, where everything you could think of was for sale.
It was a bit eerie walking through the doors, as your eyes ran the length of the stone floor, as you looked to where the altar should be, as you saw people snapping pictures. You’ll see a picture of the church later, well, of the one way that has been all that has remained since 1830….
As I read today’s epistle passage about the incredible things we are given the ability to do, and their value if we do them without love, St Paul’s Cathedral comes to mind. A Church, a place, designated as holy ground, with people thronging and busily moving about it, but without the word of God, without the altar to which people are called to share in Christ’s feast, It too, is lacking. For both, a ministry without sacrificial love, and a church without God’s word and sacrament, is worthless, a testimony of no value, a place where history may be celebrated, even bragged about, but no transformation, no repentance, occurs.
It may bring about awe for a moment, but really is a place of sadness, and regret.
Such is the nature of ministry without His love, no matter how great the charisma, not matter how many people throng and applaud the works done and the words said.
The Test
How do we judge how well we are doing in our vocation?
As individuals? As the church?
This test reminds me of 7-11 – we get a big gulp!
Just curious – how many people had 1 Corinthians 13 read at their wedding? How many of you remember your wedding?
You all know that this isn’t just the standard for you marriage, but for every relationship, you are in…in your entire life? Remember the two commandments? Love God with… (wait for answer) and love your…
So let’s take a test, and inventory of how well we love… how good we’ve gotten at it. I’ll even give you a pass on your love for God, and we’ll just talk about your love for your spouse, your families, and your neighbors and coworkers. So in this test – at the bottom of the prayer list, you have a little chart. First column goes the Bible’s characteristic of Love… then the second is your grade, pass or fail. The third would be the church’s grade.
Number One, put a check in the box a1 if you are patient and kind with you spouse if you are married, with your family (including in-laws) and with your neighbors and co-workers. Patient is from the word long-suffering and kind is to be merciful, willing to forgive and restore people to their original relationship with you… Okay, if you do that – no exceptions – put a check there.
Now put a check in box 1B if you believe the church has the same characteristic.
Same for box 2a and 2b if you are never jealous of what your spouse, your family or neighbors and co-workers have or do. Or if you never show off what you have. What about us as a church. Are we jealous that another church has a better…. Hmm well no other church has a better congregation or music team… O wait – just bragged about us – no check there!
Box 3a and 3b – Are you ever one who has to have your own way, that your spouse, your children, your neighbors have to do things your way or else it is not good enough? What about us as a church – do we demand we do things our way – and if others don’t like it, well they aren’t real Christians anyway, so who cares about them?
Box 4a and 4b – any of us easily irritated by our spouses, by our kids and/or grandkids, or that one co-worker, or the neighbor who plays their music too loud? What about the person who bashes Christianity? You can only put a check in the box if you ever irritable…
What about box 5a an b? Do we ever, as individuals, keep a records about the things people do wrong, or the sins people sin against us? The things of the past – that we said we forgave, yet still remember – and still hold against them?
Do we do that as a church? Have we realized that God’s grace doesn’t just cleanse our slates of our sin, but the sins committed against our people?
I suppose I could go on, and deal with the rest of the list, but I am already feeling a little cymbalistic and worthless….
How many of us can claim to be loving, to act, towards all people in every instance in the ways described in this passage?
It’s a pretty sobering inventory…but I am not sure that we totally grasp the passage, and what it means. Matter of fact, I think we take it one of two ways. As a naïve romantic statement about how the perfect marriage will be… or perhaps, as a list to prove how messed up we are, or our spouse is. I mean – aren’t they supposed to never lose faith, never give up and endure every circumstance?
Used the wrong way, this passage becomes a great weapon to beat others into the ground with, or to beat ourselves up with! Either way, everything becomes like St Paul’s Church/wall in Macau… a sorrow-ful shell of what once was a vibrant place filled with the presence of God.
But Paul was showing them a better way
That is why we always need to consider the context of our reading. We need to take into consideration not just our chapter, but the ones before and after it. We need to look at the entire book as well.
In this case – we started the reading by Paul talking about showing a better way – so we have to ask, a better way than what? Last week you heard Mike talk about how the body of Christ is knit together, with each having its own role, and how we are one, even as we rejoice together, and cry together, as we show compassion and as we love.
In this reading, he gets deeper into the mystery that is the body of Christ, How we are bound together, how what God does in us, as a diverse body, is yet a ministry that is whole and one.
It is something that requires something beyond our vision, beyond our comprehension. The purest love, the kind that will bring life to that which is empty and hallow. The kind of love that will be impossible to explain, yet give meaning to it all…
The kind of love that comes only as we live, together, in Christ.
The kind of love that is the life of the church.. That is our life.
What remains…of us
That which we trust in..
That reason we have hope
The very love…of Christ
I think that is perhaps my biggest take away from this trip, as I worked with young missionaries, who are living in the shadow of a church, that is but a wall. For reasons I can’t get into in the sermon, they can go without the Lord’s supper for a month, or ever two or three. They don’t get to celebrate with the family of God, the very gifts that God has for them.
It shows. A pastor like me is treated like a royal guest, not because I am the greatest preacher or teacher, but because I bring them a tangible reminder of God’s love. The words of absolution, the word of God around which they can gather and celebrate, the precious, life giving, life renewing celebration and feast – where they can know God’s love. I introduced them to the concept of how we shared God’s peace with each other, after the words of institution, before we feast together as we commune. The fact that the Body and Blood of Christ is shed for them, that because of it there is God’s peace among them. Fifteen people from two cities, people that work together, yet… need the power of God’s love, and yeah – they learned to pass the incredible peace of God.
Do we even begin to realize what the love of God brings into our life? Do we understand how it cleanses, and reconciles and forgives? Do we realize how it is the very skeleton and the blood that pumps through our lives?
Do we even realize it is why we are here?
Those characteristics, they aren’t about us, though we should strive to imitate the one they describe.
The reason that the the gifts and talents and abilities we have – no matter how great or how small – have meaning, is that love…the reason the church can overcome sin, see reconciliation comes down to this.
The Lord of love…is with you.
AMEN?
Overlooking The Gift….
Devotional/Discussion thought of the day: (why do I write discussion – in the hope someday this is discussed, of course)
“If all those people became so enthusiastic and were ready to acclaim you over a piece of bread, even though the multiplication was a very great miracle, shouldn’t we be doing much more for all the many gifts you have granted us, and especially for giving us your very self unreservedly in the Eucharist?” (1)
In view of these days, when we are arguing and doing battle over what the government can, can’t, should or shouldn’t do for those it governs, this quote by St. Josemarie seems incredibly important. For indeed we get excited about what is physically/financially provided for us, and because of the similarities of those running, the only real argument I can see is about whether people are given to, or have taken from them, money and that which it can buy.
It is never miraculous, the government cannot turn 5 loaves and 2 fishes into enough to feed 12,000 people. And we applaud or crucify those who promise to do something about it, based on its perceived short term affect on us. Yet we waste more time contemplating politics than the ministry of Jesus in our midst. We get more excited about a juicy bit of gossip that we can copy and paste to bash “the other guy” than we do about the word of God which reveals to us that we aren’t alone, that we are loved, that this world isn’t a random and without a purpose.
We aren’t alone.
We are loved…
A little bit of bread, a small sip of wine, a gift that changes everything, that fulfills a promise, that indeed reminds us of the greatest gift, and is a gift that is worth more than any thing,.
Celebrate it, think about what is given you there, as you Take and Eat the Body Broken for you, and you take and drink, the blood outpoured for the forgiveness of sin. All sin.
And may you live, as those God would call to His feast…
(1)Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 1228-1231). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Time to Go Home…& the Eucharist…
Devotional/discussion thought of the Day:
It’s been too many days away…. even though the men I am with on this retreat are fun loving guys, and there is a great sense of camaraderie among them, it is not the same as being home with my wife and son, and my congregation. I have confidence in the vicar preaching there this morning, ( as I do in the other vicar and deacon extending the ministry this morning) but there is something about being there.
I can’t wait to get home. I can’t wait to get back to my people. (and out of the range of the country western stuff I was subjected to all week)
As i long for that, I think about the Lord’s Supper, the Communion feast of God and His people, the Eucharist.
It is, more than anything, the place I know I am home. It is where we belong, very consciously aware of the presence of God, the awe found in His presence, which rips our sin, our idols, our anxieties away.
I have to admit a bit of jealousy of my Catholic brothers in ministry, who don’t wait a week in between celebrating this feast, this homecoming, this little glimpse of the joy of heaven, this peace which crushes all else.
It’s time for going home… it’s time for the family to dine, the host to bless us, even as He thanks the Father for the cross that made this feast possible.
I love how St. Josemarie Escriva put it, “As he was giving out Holy Communion that priest felt like shouting out: this is Happiness I am giving to you!” (1)
This is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, happy are those who are called to His Supper,
Lord, we are not worthy to receive, but only say the words……and we are healed….
For we are home, with God.
(1)Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 1105-1106). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Built up in love!
Built Up in Love
Eph 4:7-16
† In His Name †
As the waves of this life, and the strong winds that would steal from you the hope given you by Jesus, may you realize the grasp of God on your life, as He surrounds you with His love and mercy, and may you rest and rejoice in His peace!
The Tossed Church
This week, a scrap of parchment, no bigger than a business card, was supposed to have enormous impact on Christianity. It was supposed to revolutionize everything, and it was soon nicknamed in the press – the “gospel of Jesus wife”.
All the major papers and news stations picked up on the story, as a lady Ph.D. showed the 4th century Coptic manuscript, which she claimed was a translation of a second century Greek manuscript. She “translated” the passage, then interpreted the words as meaning that Mary Magdalene was Jesus wife. The articles then extrapolated that since the 4 true gospels never mentioned Jesus having a wife, that they were unreliable, and this business card size peace of parchment was the true gospel. One reporter said, that even if it wasn’t authentic, it should cause us to re-examine (i.e. doubt) what scripture tells us about Jesus.
Nice.
Do you remember the Ossuary’s of James, those white marble boxes where Jesus’ bones were supposed to be? What about The Gospel of Judas Iscariot? This wasn’t the first time in the last decade that someone promised their revelation would drastically change our faith, and I seriously doubt it will be the last attempt to discredit the claims of Jesus.
For each one of these lies, for each one of these hoaxes, there are people who hear them, and as Paul describes – are carried about like a feather floating in the wind, or like someone caught in the winds and riptides at the beach. Some of us buy into the “experts” analysis, some of us get caught up in the hype and have to try and prove their theory wrong, with so little to work with, and both gradually lose focus on the why God created the church, the Body of Christ. They are blown about, tossed about, and distracted from why the church exists… what its purpose is…
What is the church’s purpose – What is our goal?
That question, “What is the church’s purpose?” is on our second reading focuses us upon this morning. The purpose doesn’t change by location, it doesn’t change by the name on the sign, or how the pastor dresses, or even what kind of music and liturgy is used. The purpose of the church, both a congregation and the church throughout the world is simple.
The purpose of the church is the title of the sermon – “to build itself up in love,” which means that it is “to build itself up in Christ”.
Let me read verse 12 and 13 from a different translation:
4:12 …(Christ gave the office of holy ministry) to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Ephesians 4:12-13 (NLT)
Three times it describes this “building up in love” as our purpose, our goal.
It’s why the people of God are equipped to serve, to do the work of God.
It is what is described if all come to such unity as we trust and know Jesus
It is what it means to mature in the Lord, to measure up to His completeness, to meet the Father’s expectation of His children.
For when we are described as such, we are living in complete accord with the two basic commandments, to love our Father in heaven with everything we are, and to love His children, our neighbors, even as we love ourselves.
Not an easy task, and yet it is why God has given the church those who would proclaim the gospel – apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastor-teachers. Not to do the work building each other up, but rather to equip the church to do that work in their daily lives. My friends we have a lot of work to do, both in the equipping, and in the actual work, what is called the poeima Theo in Greek, the Gottesdienst in German, the Opus Dei In Latin. Or to use the words of Paul two chapters prior to our reading today,
2:10 We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus for the good works which God has already designated to make up our way of life. Ephesians 2:10 (NJB)
That’s what it means to live in Christ – that each of us works in the same vocation as Jesus, working to see every person mature in Christ. That’s what I call “job security”.
How do we measure it?
In business, when you have a task – there are things called benchmarks. Ways you can measure both progress and effectiveness of the work being done. It’s not a pass/fail thing for us, but there is a benchmark for our growth as believers.
It is our unity, how we truly work together, how we see ourselves so joined together in Christ, To understand that we are so united in Christ, that we can together stand, even thru the challenges in life.
That is why Paul encourages us to not be subject to the schemes and manipulations that would distract us from Christ, but rather to “speak the truth in love”. To speak in such a way requires tremendous faith in God, and tremendous love for those to whom we are speaking.
In talking about the truth spoken in love, the Greek word pictures not just our words, but all of our communication being focus and communicated through love, as it is translated in 1 John 3:18, “let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” It isn’t talking just about speaking truth in love as we confront each other either, it isn’t about what some have called “tough love” in the past. Were we talk about our needs as well as helping others reveal their need. Speaking the truth in love means sharing the difficult burdens and tasks, and identifying how we need to grow, together. It’s talking about a life lived transparently, and know that we can expect care and compassion and that God will use every situation, every pain, every challenge that have, or that we bring to others.
It’s the kind of love Jesus showed, as He willingly forgave others, as He shared His life on the cross, and the night before in, through and under the bread and wine. As he sought to bring healing more than He sought His own pleasure.
So can we live lives like that, can we trust in God deep enough?
We are equipped, built up, given hope
The answer is no.. and yes.
No if we try to love each other that completely on our own. No if we protect ourselves from pain, and hold back. No if we are waiting for others to make the first step. There will be times were we are betrayed, hurt, and the challenge is not to become to defensive, to accept the challenge and even the pain, knowing the strength the enables Jesus to love in such a way, and endure the cross.
Remember, this passage started out by listing the various roles within what we call the Office of Holy Ministry, or the “Pastoral office” and that they were given to equip you all to do this work, to fulfill this commission.
Each of those aspects of the office of ministry exist to train the Body of Christ to build itself up in love – to do the incredible work of God of living a life that is true and loving and merciful, where we do that which God has always desired,
6:8 …the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 (NLT)
The way it is done is described in those four offices, which we’ll talk more about in Sunday School. Yet how is relatively simple – we speak the greatest truth in love, when we reveal our need for Christ to heal us of our sin, and reveal the promise of that healing as well.
Another way the way the church is equipped is described in our confessions – the teaching and administering the sacraments, being in a sense, the conduit of grace that is poured out upon the church. Pipes aren’t special – what they carry is – and that is the basic role of pastor-teachers – to pour out on you grace as we preach and teach, and to feed you the nourishment needed to have the strength to love, to be the people of God, entrusted with building up each other in love.
And there, as we live in His love, we find His strength, His wisdom, in His presence we find that which allows us to heal, and be knit together, to see that happen, as we live in peace.
The peace of God which passes all understanding and guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. And may you always know, and be reminded, that that peace is yours.
The Communion-Community of Christ
Discussion/Devotional Thought of the Day:
“544 The Communion of the Saints. How shall I explain it to you? You know what blood transfusions can do for the body? Well, that’s what the Communion of the Saints does for the soul.” Escriva, Josemaria. The Way
As a pastor, one of the things I do is to bring the Lord’s Supper to those who cannot make it to church, to those too weak or sick, to those who were once quite active, but now are counted as shut-ins. In doing so, the discussion always includes their asking about how things are going at church, it never fails to astound me, how concerned they are for their brothers and sisters in Christ. Often they talk of their desire to get well, to gain strength, just so they can once again commune in the sanctuary, with their friends, the people they love, with whom they have walked through their lives, even if they only knew the people at church for a small while.
We are on their hearts and minds.. and in bringing communion to them, they are reminded that they are part of the community. It is bittersweet, for they realize they are part of the community that Christ has established.
How I wish we were in the future, and we had transporter units like in Star Trek. Then we could beam them into the sanctuary, and fulfill a desire that they would have. (It would also be cool if upon “reassenbly” their ills and pains and weaknesses could be quarantined and separated from them!
St Escriva’s words hit home a lot today, as I consider one of the people I visit, who I can’t anymore. I know how much visiting him meant to me, how in many ways it was like the transfusion spoke of in this quote. Yet in bringing him communion, he two received a transfusion I am learning. The very life of the church was shared, the life we share in every time we gather and we eat together and drink together. For sharing in the Lord’s Table, kneeling at the Altar together is a community, thing, just as our life as Christ’s body is a community thing.
It is tragic that we don’t comprehend this blessing we have in sharing in the feast of Christ – that we would relegate it to less important than other things we do, that we place limits on its time, both the time we spend preparing for it, and the time we spend celebrating it. That we reduce the precious words to a formula, a incantation, rather than savor them, listen intently, and hear and absorb them. It is tragic that the gathering of God’s people is an afterthought in many lives.
As a pastor, I am partially responsible. If you know not why a priest, or a pastor, could describe the gathering of God’s people together around His sacrament as a spiritual transfusion, we haven’t done our job as those who proclaim the world well enough. If we haven’t taught you to treasure this incredible time, we have, in large part failed. If we don’t keep you in prayer, and help your prepare for this incredible gift, then perhaps we need to reconsider what our job is, to preach the word in its fullness, and to administer the sacrament – that those who are broken can encounter His healing, His mercy His presence.
Keep us, all the pastors and priests – and the deacons and elders and worship leaders who stand alongisde us, ready to serve, to minister to you… in your prayers. That we would feed you so richly that your heart would long for the next gathering the next time His people gather around His word, and His table.
“Lord Have Mercy!” we cry, and as we kneel and take and eat… and drink of the Blood shed that sins would be forgiven, we realize how much He has had the mercy we pray for!
Anxiety, Temptation, Fear, or Peace…. Choose you this day…
Discussion Quote/Devotional THought of the Day:
“God is with you!” So cast far away from you that fear and spiritual agitation. They are reactions to avoid in the first place, for they only serve to multiply temptations and increase danger! ” St Josemarie Escriva,
Within our worship service, multiple times a phrase is said by the pastor, noting that the presence, the peace of God is with His people, and then we pray together, or feast together at the Lord’s table. It is a powerful thing, this knowing that the Lord is present, that He is here, that we have a relationship with Him, and that He is the Paraclete, the Encourager/Comforter/one who comes alongside and supports us.
To lack that presence is to invite in something else, Escriva says agitation, I tend to call that anxiety, the peace robbing emotional reaction that doesn’t trust in God, but wonders about all the permutations of the situation and starts spinning our hearts and minds out of control, as fears take over. We seek to escape such, and there is Satan, holding out temptations that will kill the anxiety, or at least hide it, for a few hours, for a few minutes. Those temptations often become addictions, because we turn, over and over, for some kind of release, some kind of escape, a vacation from the stressful strain of the world. With those temptations is always danger, always a struggle, always…..more stress
The option to it is simple – to simply rest and find yourself in the presence of God. To know His peace is with you. Luther talked of dwelling on the promises of your baptism, others talk about contemplating the incredible truth found in the Lord’s Supper – that there, we come face to face with the truth of how much the Father loves us, how much Christ was willing to sacrifice. ( Our brothers and sisters in the RCC talk about Eucharistic Adoration – a complex devotional time before a host that is saved for that very time – it is my thought that it developed simply from stopping and considering what the Lord’s Supper reveals, and not wanting that moment to just come and go so quickly) How deep the Father’s love for us… for me… to dwell on these things…. how the burdens, the transient, temporary burdens disappear! How the escapes that we had planned, as we broke before temptation now seem so.. empty… because we know that which makes a difference.
The peace of the Lord Jesus Christ is with you always……
And even as I write, I can hear my people say “AMEN!”
(and under their breaths… utter.. Thank God!)
A Desire for the Supernatural
Discussion/Devotional thought of the day….
“I advised you to inject a great deal of supernatural outlook into every detail of your ordinary life. And I added immediately that living with other people provided you with ample opportunity through the day!” (Esciva, The Furrow)
My comments:
Having just finished about preaching about those whose faith and life are withered and, for all we can tell, extinct, this one hits home hard. So often I see people writing off others as fallen, or congregations and parishes as “dead”. Have to admit – I’ve been there as well. Indeed, Sunday I quoted the lyrics of Casting Crowns song about Ezekiel’s experience….
A pastor stands before his congregation
Once a mighty army for the Lord
But now he stares into the lifeless eyes
Believers leading carnal lives
He wonders what they’re fighting for
But driven by a calling on his life
He spoke God’s word
Like he’d done a hundred times before
But this time he comes broken and weeping
With tears of a broken heart
And he cries out to the Lord
Oh Lord send Your wind into this valley
And breathe the breath of life into their souls
And raise them again a mighty army
For soon these arisen warriors will battle again
For they have been filled with the spirit wind
But a person’s spiritual life, or for that matter a congregations, is not measured by its faithfulness, but by God’s. Our work in revitalizing congregations and parishes that appears lifeless is never successful if the call is fire them up, to get them to work – but rather – to cause them to see the supernatural that occurs. Our work: to help them see the Spirit’s presence and promise in their lives, this will free them from the anxieties, guilt, and damage of their own sin, and that of the world.
It is then, as they see the Holy Spirit’s work and witness in their life, as they sense their lives changing that you see their desire to love God return, and then the desire to share the peace they know. You see more time in prayer, more hunger as they study the Bible. ( From my Lutheran/small “c” catholic perspective – even a greater desire for the Eucharist – the feast of Christ, the Lord’s Supper) As the Spirit sweeps clear their lives (which He actually did at their baptism – they often just don’t realize it for years or decades…) this abundant love brings them a peace… and that peace must be shared.
The supernatural which causes us to love and have compassion on each other is present…the challenge for a person… realizing it, reveling in it… the challenge for pastor’s and priests… helping people to see it, even as we struggle to as well.
This day… look for the supernatural – the dry bones coming to life, as God’s word bubbles forth from you,… and rejoice- the Lord is with you!
