Sermon: “Communion”
Presented at ARK Community Church in Dalton, MA
October 6, 2013
Scripture readings:
2 Timothy 1:1-14 (from “The Message”),
Luke 17:5-10 (from “The Message”)
Additional Scripture:
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (NRSV)
This morning is World Communion Sunday, a day where we join with our fellow Christians throughout the world in proclaiming the unity and diversity of our faith through the symbolic sharing of Christ’s Body and Blood: gathering together as one to participate in Christ’s death and resurrection, which in turn frees us to partake of the bounty of the Lord’s Table, filled with Grace and Love for each and every one of us.
But, what is Communion? It has to be more than just a bit of bread and juice. Why does it matter? What good is it? For that matter, why is it a Sacrament?
Please join me in prayer…
Lord, open our eyes that we may see the truth you have for us here today; place in our hands and hearts the key that shall unite us, bridging the differences that isolate us from each other and from you. Open my mouth, Lord, that I may be a faithful witness to your Gospel, that the eyes of our hearts might be opened, and that your love for all of us, your children, is made manifest, and that our hearts are prepared for sharing your gospel with all we whom encounter today, and in the days ahead. Amen.
This past January, I was in China, and had the opportunity to attend a Mandarin language worship service at St. John’s Cathedral, the Anglican Congregation in Central Hong Kong.
It was a communion service, delivered by intinction, as we will be doing here today; all who were there joining together as one to share the Lord’s Supper. After I returned to my second row seat, I watched and prayed as the rest of the numerous members of the congregation filed past me.
The last to receive communion were a small family – mother, father, and their two little girls; ages perhaps 5 and 3. The littlest, in her lacy white dress and shiny black shoes, was the last. The priest had to bend down for her to dip her bread in the cup. It seemed that this was the first time she’d had communion, and she was very excited, though not quite sure how it all worked. She took her bit of bread, and promptly dropped it in the cup. …Oh dear!
The Here and the Hereafter 