It is a custom around
the world to welcome people to our homes for gatherings. There are those who
excel at making visitors feel at home. We call the skill or talent,
hospitality. I have discovered in my tenure here at St. Patrick’s that the
people here excel at hospitality. Take, for instance, the many gatherings this
summer organized by parishioners either at homes or restaurants that helped us
continue to build strong relationships across the parish. I hope that you
enjoyed an opportunity to take part in these gatherings and might attend next
week’s ice cream social for families with kids
Every one of us, some
more often than others, shares the gift of hospitality with our neighbors. Some
are good at it and for others, like me, it is more a challenge. I hosted a
party at my home this past week for the Camp EDOW committee and staff members.
I put a little more energy into cleaning, moved the clutter to an inconspicuous
place, and arranged the furniture so that it would encourage good conversation
and easy movement. The day before, I hung pictures that had been stacked on
shelves since I moved almost six months ago. In welcoming guests, I made every
effort to make the place look good. You have probably followed these or similar
steps before.
Most parties have at
least a little bit of food. For a camp party, I warmed up the grill, opened
bags of potato chips, and chilled a watermelon. There were other things, but
the food enlivened our conversation to share stories and rekindle relationship.
It allowed us to connect, once again, as a team. Food has a way of doing that.
There are some who say that food is the 8th sacrament of the Church.
What they mean when they say this is that food is that outward sign of the
inner grace that permeates our lives together. I am not a foodie, but I have to
agree that gathering around one of the necessities of life, shared as one,
binds us in a special way.
Hamburgers and potato
chips are the American equivalent of a meal that has been shared for thousands
of years. For many cultures throughout history, the staple of the common meal
was and is bread. Many restaurants serve bread either with the meal or as a
gathering appetizer. Some restaurants would cease to be without bread. I’m
thinking of Pizza Hut. Bread often serves as the base of various entrees
including the hamburger. Even for diabetics and celiacs, bread is an important
staple and a primary source of energy for nearly every human around the world.
Over the past several
weeks, our gospel lesson has included portions of Jesus’ long metaphor about bread.
It makes us, just as it did the original disciples, squirm. Squirm because Jesus talks about people eating
him as a way to live forever. His disciples heard it and said, “What? We can’t
do that.” The disciples didn’t know about communion; they had not shared the last
supper with Jesus; they hadn’t been instructed to reenact the breaking of bread
in remembrance of Jesus. So when Jesus speaks metaphorically about eating his
flesh and drinking his blood, the disciples recoil. Even after Jesus explains
that he is not talking about his physical flesh but his Spirit, disciples turn
away from him.
So maybe Jesus
overestimated his audience, or the meaning doesn’t come together until the
entire puzzle is put together. Whatever the reason, it took a while for it to
sink in. Even today, thousands of years later when Christians and non-Christians
know more about Jesus’ message and significance than those who literally walked
beside him, it is not unheard of to hear people question the power of sharing
God’s bread. There is certainly a diverse understanding about the true
substance of the Eucharistic feast. Is it a metaphor or is it really the body
and blood of Christ? The most disturbing mode of thinking that I encounter from
day-to-day is that people don’t understand why we hold the Holy Eucharist to be
the central sacramental experience of the worshiping community in the Episcopal
Church (and in other sacramental churches).
I hear from some who say
that it is outdated in modern times. That in a rational and scientific world,
the supernatural has no meaning and that the Church should get rid of the
old-fashioned traditions and rely on logic.
I understand where they
are coming from, as I grew up in the same age and have been educated in the
sciences (to some extent). At the same time, I hear in the concerns of the
modern, skeptical, and in many cases secular opponent of communion the response
of the first disciples who in many cases were uneducated, often illiterate, and
quite susceptible to unexplainable miracles.
See, many of the
disciples pushed back on Jesus because they didn’t quite understand why they
would need to eat Jesus’ flesh and drink his blood. They were doubters just
like we are. We like to think that we are much more sophisticated than our long
ago ancestors, but the truth is that we have much more in common with them than
we like to admit.
Jesus turned to his
skeptics and explained why. He said, this spiritual food is different from the
food we share at our common table, instead it is something that feeds the
spirit, that provides strength that last longer than the calories. It is the
food that feeds the soul. Last week, I spoke about the soul in relation to
wisdom, but the soul is greater than wisdom, there is something that we tap
into when we encounter the soul. There is something in the soul that makes us
who we are. If we just let it sit there, undeveloped and unexercised, then we
have failed to respond credibly to the power of God that exists within each of
us.
So in this modern era,
which is very similar to other eras, the Church and believers must explain why
we gather to share the gifts of bread and wine. It isn’t about the calories or
the taste or the texture. The bread and wine that we eat are instruments to
connect us with one another. They provide a bridge to a greater community that
cannot be seen or engineered, but which gives us an ability to see our role in
the larger community, in something greater than ourselves.
In addition to
connecting us to a community that is not confined by the space-time continuum,
the spiritual food is a reminder of what Jesus gives to us. Yes, it is easy to
say that Jesus died for us, but I am talking about what Jesus gave us in the
sense of helping us see our role in an ever-changing world. Jesus didn’t teach
that we needed to be set in stone, but that we could adapt and change by
faithfully remembering the essentials of the faith. We can do this only if we
are continuing to take in spiritual sustenance, recalling our connection with
Jesus who loved everyone equally and expected us to attempt to do the same.
This spiritual food is greater than the fabled manna from heaven, it is the
food that continues to give even in the smallest of quantities.
The modern critics are
right. There is not a scientific reason to share the communion meal, but there
is a reason. It is the gift that keeps us grounded in who we are, in why we are
here, and how we are to respond to that blessing. It cements our relationship
with each other and helps us deepen our lives. It is an outward sign of
something amazing happening deep within us, something that can’t be tested in
the laboratory or understood using logic, but contains the power to provide us
with the strength, comfort and resolve to be God’s face to the world.
So as we gather together
every week to join together with a diverse group of people at this altar, I am
hopeful that you will discover the spiritual sustenance that will provide us
with grounding in faith, love, and community.
Our altar is a table
open to all, because I am convinced that Jesus would want it that way. Jesus,
the greatest host, demonstrated radical hospitality even to those who were on
the margins. Jesus opened his kingdom to all people and recognized the faith of
those who didn’t know God. He gave them spiritual food.
As we share our common
meal, I pray that we can do the same.
August 26, 2012
Thanks, Kurt. As you say, this is a good understanding for Christians and non-Christians alike. It is the performance and participation of the Eucharist that make it a part of our lives.
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