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Sunday 7 June 2015

Holy Communion "Myth Or A Reality"

How many of us reading grew up in families where eating regular meals together was a household practice?   What do you remember from those times?  
June 7 2015   Psalm 138  Luke 22: 14-20
That ideal of eating runs deep in our culture but when the experts talk about the value of family dinners, they sometimes fail to express the reality of the modern family.   Many families may eat together but it does not mean we eat right:   Today we have the Big Mack attack, the so called hormone free healthy hamburger at A&W, Tim’s processed meats sandwiches and of course the Tim bits.  Did you know that  Domino's alone delivers about a million pizzas on an average day.  Just because we are sitting together doesn't mean we have anything to say either, children bicker and fidget and daydream; as do we adults who may be stewing over the remains of the day.   Often the richest conversations, the moments of genuine intimacy, take place somewhere else.  It could be while taking a drive in the car or on the way back from a sporting event with the kids.  Other times it is in the quiet moments of an evening when hand or eye contact allow secrets to be shared.
Yet for all that, there is something about a shared meal.   At home with family or together in a worship setting with Church family.  Much like the fellowship time we had last night after our musical event, wasn't that great, music fellowship and food I mean. 
What I am not talking about is some holiday blow-out or blow up as many of them turn into. You know the kind I am talking about, they happen once or twice a year.  No, what I am speaking about is the regular meals that anchors us as a  family, even on nights when the food is fast and the talk seems cheap and everyone has some other place they want to be.  There’s something special about gathering over food and refreshments. 
Christians for centuries have recognize the power that eating together holds.  The gospel of Luke records over 100 occasions alone.  For Christians, sharing food is crucial because in the sharing of food, we are actually shaping our communities.  Perhaps the most universal and sacred ritual of our faith is Holy Communion.  The name itself implies uniting, coming together, in a kind of oneness.   The unity of the shared meal, was so important to the early church that in their worship, they included a version of Jesus last Passover meal with his disciples. The early church didn't call it the sacrament of Holy Communion but practiced a ritual called the Love Feast or the Agape meal; and there are some denominations that continue this ritual today.  In Congregational fellowship meals, small group dinners or a weekly event with neighbours, the practice of eating together is of major importance to the life of any family or community.  These informal times are certainly important to our shared faith.  Relationships flourish and communities are strengthened just as much during spontaneous pot luck meals as they are during the liturgical ones, such as when we feast on the word during worship.    
Of the four gospels, John’s Gospel is the only one who omits the upper room account of the Lord's Supper.   But only John includes this teaching:  Jesus as the Bread of Life  found in (John 6:25-71).   When John wrote it, I believe he knew that his readers would understand it in light of the Lord's Supper – especially these words from verses 53 to 57.  Take a moment to really digest what John is saying here.  
Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me."
This is an important passage to meditate on and understand, since it sheds the truth and real meaning of the Lord's Supper.   Whether you believe this passage literally, that the bread and wine become that actual body and blood of Jesus, as do some of our Christian sisters and brothers ,or understand it as a metaphor; either way, with its acceptance, we do become one with Jesus.  
In modern terms we might think about it as if by taking in the blessed food and drink we take into our bodies the DNA of the Christ, therefore, because Jesus is one with the Father, we also become one with Father and Son.   
Jesus prays this prayer not just for the disciples whom he will be sending out on His behalf but for all those who hear and accept the message.       Jesus Prays for All Believers John 17: 20-21 {NIV} My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.   May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  
Take a quiet moment to meditate on this message and then offer in silence, your prayer of thanksgiving as you listen to Joan Baez sing:  "Let us Break Bread Together" 




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