Christian Ritual III: The Lord's Supper

Have you ever sat down to dinner with your family on a weeknight? Have you had those moments in the dining room or kitchen area when all of your family convenes to eat together? Growing up in Oregon, my parents made it a point to eat with one another. I am sure some of you, if not all, have taken up a meal with your family. There is something about eating as a family that seems to strengthen and re-inforce the bonds between family members. Sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, even those outside the immediate family, appear to share something of value when they take up a meal with each other.

My parents made it very clear to me that dinner time was “our” time. There was the occasional hick-up in the schedule which prevented us from gathering together, but for the most part, we ate together, regularly. In fact, I came to expect and enjoy those moments that my family ate together. Some looked upon it as dopey, silly, or old-fashioned, but I found joy and happiness in the community that I experienced with my family. Sharing together, in meal and in company, made my family more of a family. It re-inforced the connections of heredity with bonds of emotion. Time, love, and energy were invested in those moments, and as a result, a sense of family existed there. I hope that you had those moments, that you understand what that is like, because those moments are something to treasure and to seek after.

Today we complete the series we began two weeks ago. This is the culmination of our investigation into Christian Ritual. We will examine the second of the Christian Sacraments: Holy Communion, also called the Lord's Supper, or the Eucharist. This communal meal is one that our family participates in. This is the meal for the family of God. This is the meal where beleivers convene to share together that which makes them the same behind their individual exterior. But before we re-examine this important ritual in the life of both the church and the believer, we must remember the importance of Christian Ritual in general.

The Lord's Supper is a Sacred Ritual within Christianity. Like we have discussed before, Sacred Ritual is symbolic activity relaing to God. Thus the Lord's Supper, as a Sacred Ritual, is a specific symbolic act that is related to God. Now symbols are not just signifiers, they don't just point to something. Symbols are not that simple, no, they are complex. They are complex because they point to something, in our case God, but they also participate in the power of that to which they point. For it is in Christian Ritual that we have the opportunity to see, hear, feel, and entirely experience God in a unique and irreplaceable way. It is at the Lord's Table that we connect with God in a way that nothing else allows.

But it is more than an experience with God, it is a transformation with God. Christian Ritual provides the environment to be truly affected by God, to be changed by God. Thus, Christian Ritual changes how we connect to the world out there, because it changes how we understand the “us” in here. Christian Ritual provides the soul with a new dimension, a new depth, a level of experience with God that cannot be opened up in any other way. Christian Ritual is unique because it is irreplaceable.

Christian Ritual is also a continuation of that proclamation Paul affirms. We proclaim, through Christian Ritual, that we have identity in Christ. We have become re-identified, and as a result of that shift, are now something new, something transformed. We are afforded the opportunity through Christian Ritual to re-affirm what we have already shouted to the world: I am God's. I am a Child of the Most High God. I am God's.

Now we found with Baptism that this is the Believer's first proclamation to the world that “I am a Christian.” This is not an isolated event, however. No, the Lord's Supper allows us, as Proclaimers, to continue in that process of proclamation, to continue to re-affirm that “I am God's own.” Christian Ritual keeps Christ at the fore of our thoughts and actions. Christian Ritual focuses our attention on our identity so that we can make that identity real to the world in which we live. The “out there” changes because of the “in here.”

We must also remember from last week that Baptism was not transformative by virtue of how it was performed, but because it was performed. You see, the form of Baptism, while not entirely void of meaning, is not something that must be regulated as if it were the deciding factor in the believer's transformative experience. No, the Believer is transformed by the internal realization of the Love and Sacrifice of God as experienced in the unique way only a baptismal event can offer. Baptism, by virtue of being Baptism, whether by immersion or sprinkling, provides an environment where the Believer's attention is brought to the symbolic activity of dieing with Christ, and then rising with Christ anew.

In much the same fashion, the Believer is transformed through the Lord's Supper. It is not necessarily the form of this ceremony that determines its validity. It is not the type of bread or the decision to use grape juice instead of wine that makes it powerful, transformative, or meaningful. Instead it is the very presence of the symbolic activity which directs the attention of the Believer toward the Sacrifice of Christ and the Love of God. There need not be any stipulation but this, that the presence of Bread and Beverage point toward and participate in the understanding of the Sacrifice and Love of God. This provides an experience with God that is both unique and irreplaceable.

As Disciple's we are reminded of the central place of the Lord's Supper through the image of the chalice that signifies the denomination. The red chalice beckons the individual to the Lord's Table to partake of a Christian Ritual that is repeated every Sunday, but is anything but commonplace. As you may well know, Holy Communion has brought as much or more controversy as Baptism has to the Christian community at large. Theologians have debated, discussed, and argued over the correct biblical interpretation, the correct ceremony to undertake, the frequency or infrequency of the meal, or the proper types of elements to be chosen. Like our examination of Baptism and Christian Ritual has unovered for us before, we must look back to the New Testament authors for guidance and insight into our own modern day approach of this Sacred Christian Tradition.

Text: Mark 14: 22-24
1 Co. 10: 16-17
1 Co. 11: 23-26

As these texts point out, the early church was concerned with repeating and re-examining the importance of the Last Supper that Jesus had with his Disciple's. The early church recognized the significance of that meal, and took up breaking bread together. These meals, usually full meals, were accompanied by the presence of bread and wine which would be ceremoniously recognized and consumed. These events created not only an environement for the believer to re-connect with God and the Sacrifice of Christ, but also to re-affirm an identity in Christ that was not purely individual.

The communal meal was just that: it was one of community. As a meal of community, it fostered a realization that an identity in Christ was also an identity with others. For Christ came so that all might experience the Grace and Love of the Most High God. Thus, the Lord's Supper was an event that re-affirmed Christian identity both communally and individually.

We can see how imporant this was to Paul after hearing his words in his letter to the church at Corinth. The Corinthians, bogged down by a division between rich and poor allowed that economic split to creep into its celebration of the Lord's Supper. As a result, the communal meal was not shared. It was not communal, rather it was divisive. The richer, wealthier Christians at Corinth could afford to get to the house church earlier, and could begin to eat the meal, consuming the bread and more than enough wine. Then, when the poorer laborers arrived--late because of their longer hours--there would be no food or wine. This was causing distress and division within the church, the exact opposite of what the Christian Ritual was intended to do. Instead of a community being developed, there were separate groups unhappy with one another.

When Paul became aware of the situation at Corinth he chastised the Corinthians for their lack of unity and misuse of the meal. Paul reminded the Corinthians of the meal's importance, significance, and meaning. He reminded the Corinthians that the meal allows the individual to be transformed by the recognition, realization, and reality of Christ's Sacrifice and Love. Paul also demonstrated that the sharing of the meal was intended to foster community and identity in the one Christ who saved them all.

As modern-day readers we must see these words and also recognize the central importance of the Lord's Supper. The bread and wine (or juice in our case) create a horizontal as well as vertical connection. We are connected individually to God, and we are connected communally to each other. Our identities are re-affirmed in Christ, the same Christ in whom our fellow believers place their trust. Thus, we not only share a juice that comes from the same container, and crackers that come from the same cracker, we also share in the identity of Christ. This identity is thus one that shapes our personal existence and our communal existence.

The Lord's Supper enables us to fully realize the power of Christian Ritual in general. Not only is Christian Ritual a process of re-proclomation, but it transforms us on the inside (personally), as well as on the outside (communally). It changes the “in here” by giving us insight and depth in our experience of God and Christ, and it changes the “out there” by establishing a community of believers with which we worship, learn, and grow. The Lord's Supper establishes the feel of family that many of us have experienced at our own dining room tables. When we partake of the “bread” and “wine” we are symbolically participating with Christ in The Death that made us whole. We engage God in a unique and irreplaceable way, experiencing the Grace of God in our own lives, and the beauty of God's community coming together under the banner of Love.

Now, let us take this opportunity to re-act to the Lord's Supper. Let us re-consider and re-approach this Christian Ritual right now. I would ask that those who will be providing the Lord's Supper will come forward, and as they do so, let us begin to reflect on the significance of this symbolic activity. See your Sin on that Cross, the one where Jesus hangs, broken for you. See your own life transformed by the realization of that Love, and finally observe how your actions must now resemble that event. See your deeds colored with the Love and Grace of God, see yourself as an instrument of Kindness, Sacrifice, and Care. Do not let the bread touch your lips, or the juice flow toward your mouth without carefully consdering the identity you have in Christ, and the responsibility you have in the name of Love and Sacrifice. Come, may we pray together, break bread together, and commune with God... together.