World Communion Sunday 2010

Amy Mann, the singer, once said that even as a child she heard notes of sadness even in the happy, cheerful material of the Beatles. The blues usually are bemoaning one's life, often of being hurt in love. Sometimes the basic pattern turns upbeat for a party. This morning, let's use the two readings to get at that dual sense of the Lord's Supper. It cannot be an accident that the very center of the central poem in the five poems of lamentations is a word of hope amid all of the torment. Indeed, Communion includes lament, the agony in the garden, the shed blood, the broken body, the cry, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Maybe it's a good practice that the tunes behind our communion songs song mournful, not only to remember the death of Jesus but to remember that human life is a mix of successes and hardships.

 

At the same time, Communion tells us that the Lord is our portion. The cup of life and the bread of life encapsulate our lives: the joys and sorrows together. What sort of celebration, what sort of soul feast do we actualize today? In both cases, we share the experiences in Communion, and God shares them with us; to relive a wedding party, a baby shower, a mercy lunch after a funeral. In thanksgiving, we remember to celebrate the goodness of life and the God who sets it up and continues to be active in and through it. We also remember the healing, the teaching, the example of Jesus, especially the resurrection when we celebrate Communion. the Lord's Super feeds the new life already within us, already in our grasp, already growing in the church.

 

As Jesus says in Luke, we can do great, unexpected things through God. Perhaps God comes to expect them from us.Even when we don;t want to, we are capable of forgiving people. Forgiving is not condoning repeated wrongs, but it does start with refusing revenge against the person who hurt us repeatedly. In Communion we ingest forgiveness, our own forgiveness, the forgiveness not offered, the forgiveness thrown back, the forgiveness accepted with grateful tears. We do so out of a proper response, not that we expect a pat on the back. It is a Christian expectation, part of our job description. We get the chance to have Communion.Being a good Christian does not push us into elevating the faith above others, especially by denigrating others. This World Communion Sunday is a stark reminder that we are one baptized family in Christ. 

 

In the Lord's table we incorporate those hopes and hurts into the whole church, the body of Christ. Private issues seek significance by placing them on a public stage. We call it building awareness now; we used to call it publicizing. Shared life elevates the private into the public realm. On this day, we especially remember that Christianity is all over the globe, the messianic feast come to life.

 

What is new every morning? Thoughts, as every once in a while we are inspired to a newer, richer, fuller understanding. grace, as God's life and love come to us in unexpected but needed ways, often through someone else: cell changes (Stomach lining is almost constantly being renewed. Even our bones change over in time. The liver is basically regenerated every year or so.) loves don't fade but continue and even grow over the years, an astonishment. Sometimes we get up and notice a new ache and expect new troubles. To continue the sense of Communion please consider a spiritual  exercise. The opposite of a day's review would be to set out some hopes in receiving the day. It may be a good spiritual exercise to start the day to hope for something at home, at work, in one's spirit., to ask, "where would I like to see God's hand in my life today-where would I like to sense God's presence today?"