World Communion Sunday 2021 (Proper 22B) Oct 3, 2021
Genesis 1:26-30, 1 Corinthians 12:12-26, Mark 14:22-25 Panzer Liturgical Service
In 1933, a Presbyterian minister in Pittsburgh, PA
proposed that the city’s churches celebrate a Sunday celebrating the common
practice of taking Holy Communion. The theme was church unity, focusing on the
practices which united their mission rather than on the things that made them
different. It was highly successful, and by 1936, the entire denomination had
taken up this practice. In 1940, World Communion Sunday was adopted by the 38
denominations of the US’s National Council of Churches with the key focus being
unity and community.[i]
There are a lot of differences in the ways we all
experience our Christian journeys… different ways to worship, different music,
different languages, different in almost as many ways as there are each of us.
But we do share with Christians a few important, defining practices… baptism
and Holy Communion, or as many of us call it, the Eucharist.
In our congregation here at Panzer, we are a little
bit of an oddity. We celebrate the Eucharist on most Sundays… it’s what defines
and sets apart our ministry. Many of us have the communion liturgy memorized. We
find comfort, peace, and stability in hearing the same words each week as we
prepared to come to the table. But there are many ways of acting out this
liturgy within many different traditions, and our purpose here today is not to
point out our differences, but the commonalities we share with every other
Christian who is communing today. And while our various experiences may feel
different to us, there are truths evident as we come which we will think about
today.
In our Old Testament lesson, we heard a part of the
creation story. In these verses, we see God creating human beings. And in this
version of the creation story, God does something that makes humans different
from the rest of the created order. God created man and woman in God’s image. I
think this might be my favorite passage from the whole Old Testament, and
certainly from Genesis because, here, we see the divine intention that God had
for us and the world. We were created to be like God and to give care to the
world that God created. Our consciousness, our ability to form relationships
and memories, all of this came to us because God didn’t want to be alone. The
whole creation was designed to work in harmony – we are supposed to be the
caregivers of the world God made.
The study of Genesis will teach us interesting things
– that there are two versions of the creation story. Things happen in a
different order. The humans are named, and when allowed to partake of anything
they want in the Garden except the fruit of one single tree – well, they just
can’t resist. And this sets forward a sequence of events that some people think
explains the mess that we are in these days. And it’s easy to get caught up in
that version of the story – it’s very Days of Our Lives… Even so, the rest of
Genesis and the whole biblical story is continuing evidence that even our habit
of wandering away and outright defiance does not separate us from the love of
God.
But especially in this first chapter of Genesis, we
see God’s purpose in creating the world and our place in it. It is our common
humanity and God’s boundless love that gives us a place in God’s world and a
seat at God’s table.
In our second reading, we hear Paul teaching (with a
little bit of scolding) the divided Corinthian congregation on the real definition
of unity. The church in Corinth is known today for its various disagreements –
Paul wrote two letters to try to bring them back in line. Here in chapter 12,
Paul is explaining the difference between being the same and being different,
but unified.
We are one body, he says, united by our baptisms, but
not carbon copies of one another. Everybody has unique gifts. Everybody brings
something important to the table. Every piece of the puzzle is necessary – like
putting together an IKEA shelf or chair. It’s easy to think that the little
pieces don’t matter, at least until you end up on the floor because you
couldn’t figure out what to do with those last three screws.
Paul spends a lot of time reminding us that our
success or failure as a church will depend on our ability to respect the
differences between us. No one gift is more important than another. Just like
every organ in the body has a purpose, so does every gift in the church. And
those gifts need to be used.
And while it’s easy for us to slip into the practice
of honoring power over other gifts, God intends that we make sure the whole
body of Christ and all of its members are welcomed and instructed equally in
how to build up the Church so that we can offer the best representation of
Jesus we can. We must be careful to remember that people often get their first
impression of who Jesus is by how we act. Are we reflecting a positive,
unifying image when we interact with people around us? Most days, it doesn’t
matter what we say if our behavior doesn’t model the love that Jesus offers
everyone.
In our gospel lesson, Jesus sits with his followers
after the Passover meal. Here he redefines what this common table will come to
mean. As we have read through Mark this year, we have seen the disciples show
small glimpses of realization – some days that get that Jesus is a different
kind of Savior. But many also were fixated on the historic expectation – a
savior would come to rescue the Israelites from the tyranny of their oppressors
and establish a new kingdom. Here at this table, Jesus once again says, I am
not your white knight. I have not come to save you from death… I have come to
die for you. But don’t worry that this will be the end, because God has
something bigger and better in mind.
When we come to this communion table – to this
Eucharist or Thanksgiving – we are all equal. Bishop Curry, the presiding
bishop of The Episcopal Church, tells a story about the first time his parents
went to church together – it was the next big step in their dating life. His
father grew increasingly worried as the communion service preceded because he
saw that every person was walking to the front of the church to receive a wafer
and drink from a common cup. And this was significant because they were the
only black folks in an all-white congregation that morning. He had never seen a
black person and a white person drink from the same water fountain, much less
from the same communion cup.
But he watched his girlfriend receive the wafer, and
then get offered the cup, and she drank from it just like everyone else had
done, with these words spoken as a reminder of what they were doing… This is
the blood of Christ, shed for you. And he decided that day that any church
where black and white folks drank from the same cup, well that was something
powerful he wanted to be a part of. And that’s why Bishop Curry is an
Episcopalian.[ii]
On a Sunday like today, we are called to remember the
unity of the table. All are welcome. Rarely do we deserve to be here. I’ve used
this quote from Rachel Held Evan before, but it bears repeating today: “This is
what God's kingdom is like: a bunch of outcasts and oddballs gathered at a
table, not because they are rich or worthy or good, but because they are hungry
- because they said yes. And there's always room for more.” (Searching for
Sunday).
Why is World Communion Sunday especially needed now?
Because we need to be reminded that Jesus called us to unity. And that is being
threatened by their fearful state of the world around us. There are so many
gaps to bridge – from racial to political to economic to theology and even
health… it feels like any possibility of unity might have gone the way of the
dinosaur – extinct with no hope of return.
Surely that’s not what God intends for us!
I think there is a great benefit, not just by coming
to this table together, but by imagining ourselves at every table where the
Lord’s supper is being shared. This is a potent reminder that we are all equal
recipients of the sacred gifts of Jesus’ body and blood and that they give us
all life.
Imagine the word “communion” in your head. Now change
two letters – and you have the word “community.” And wasn’t that Jesus’
intention after all? He knew that there were difficult times ahead, and this coming
together of different kinds of people would help them discover something in
“common” that would lead them to “unity!” and be the change that the world
needed – and that we still need today.[iii]
What does that look like?
In the communion liturgy, we say these words:
And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in
Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and
living sacrifice, in union with Christ's offering for us, as we proclaim the
mystery of faith: and everyone responds: Christ has died; Christ is risen;
Christ will come again.
That’s what a day like World Communion Sunday asks us to
think about… how do we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving – as a holy
and living sacrifice, and how do we remember that it’s in union with what Jesus
has already done for us?
I saw this poem by Jan Richardson – think she’s on the
right track.
 |
| The Best Supper by Jan RIchardson |
[i]Ian
Heston Doescher, www.ministrymatters.com/all/entry/3201/world-communion-sunday-why-we-do-it-and-how
[ii]
Rachel Held Evans, The Table, https://rachelheldevans.com/blog/the-table-michael-curry
[iii]
Rod Anderson, https://www.eplocalnews.org/2021/09/27/world-communion-sunday-is-so-needed-now/
[iv]
Jan Richardson, www.facebook.com/JanRichardsonAuthor/posts/3016645398654819
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