Isn’t it
interesting how we can believe the pictures we have seen of the universe that
is beyond our naked eye? We have a sense that the universe expands well beyond
what our telescopes and technology can capture, even beyond what our math can
comprehend. Yet, when we see a “wet
paint” sign, we have a need to touch the surface to check to see if it really
is wet.
How many of
you have seen a perfect arrangement of flowers….and then had to touch a petal
to see if the flowers were fabricated or real?
In an age of computers,
where pictures are manipulated: by teeth being made whiter, pounds taken off,
skin blemishes made to disappear… how do we discern what is “real?”
Luke’s telling
of the resurrection story, includes the gem we heard earlier. In the telling of the story, Luke dissuades readers
and hearers from thinking that Jesus is a ghost, a shadow of himself, unreal so
to speak. The disciples are invited to
touch and see. Like a “wet paint” sign, the disciples still do not trust that
Jesus is real… not until he eats with them.
In the eating
of a piece of broiled fish Jesus becomes “real” to the frightened and perplexed
disciples. Previously to this story, two disciples were on the road to Emmaus,
talking with a stranger, whom they do not recognize. At the end of the journey,
they recognize the stranger as Jesus. When he broke bread with them, Jesus
became “real.”
This is all
very convenient and good for the disciples in 1st century Galilee,
but, what about disciples in the 21st century? What about us? That Jesus, who invited the
disciples to touch and see, and who ate with them – to my knowledge, has not
physically pulled up a chair to our tables.
Discerning who
the risen Jesus is, who Christ is, ---determining “real”--- for our time is expansively
altered.
Consider what
would happen, if we thought about Jesus, not in a sense of wanting to touch or
see, but, rather, in the way we believe in the universe beyond what our naked
eye can see, beyond what telescopes can capture, beyond the theoretical math
that is?
I invite you
to turn to page 89 in the front of the hymn book (Evang. Luth. Worship Bk, 2006). Study the art, as I read the intro. of
what the communion liturgy is all about on page 91:
In the principle service of Christian worship, the
Holy Spirit gathers people around the means of grace--- the saving Word of God
and the sacraments. From the table of
communion where Jesus Christ comes with forgiveness, life, and salvation, God
sends us out to share the good news and to care for those in need.
The basic pattern of this service --- gathering, word,
meal, sending --- is a structure that allows for freedom and flexibility in the
ways worship may be shaped locally, while focusing on what the church holds in
common. The whole people of God are
joined by the same gifts of grace, for the sake of the same mission of the
gospel, into the life of the one triune God.
The artist He
Qi, tells the whole story in his piece of art.
In the upper
righthand corner one sees three crosses on a hill --- and we begin our journey
in Jesus’ death on the cross. Below the crosses in the same hill is the open entrance
to the tomb, where outside two women witness that the tomb is empty. The women are moving forward, turning away
from the tomb, to go tell the disciples.
In the 50 days, following the resurrection, there are appearances of
Jesus, and here, the main focus – front and centre--- Jesus is sharing a meal –
wine and fish- with two disciples…note the turned up head of the one on the
right, as if in this moment there is an ah-ha, a recognition of who Jesus is in
the breaking of bread. Then one’s eyes
move to the upper left where there is a flame, representing Pentecost and the
coming of the Holy Spirit; the Spirit who works through the now Apostles to
tell the Gospel story. Behind this there
is a home with smaller ones behind, representing the gathering of community
from house to house, town to town; to pray and break bread….to eat
together. It is here that Christ became
“real.”
Where do we
experience the “real” Jesus? Not a Jesus that is just a shadow, or a hope, or a
dream?
One of my
preaching students asked this question in a sermon: “Could it be that Jesus is
saying that everything in the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms is summed up in
this very breakfast on a beach…a breakfast he shares with his friends?”
Could it be
that in gathering together, witnessing, and partaking in the weekly drama of
Holy Communion, everything in the Law, the Prophets, the Psalms, diverges – and
we experience Christ’s “real presence?”
This is
it! It is the story of the art piece by
He Qi. A connection is made from the cross all the way to the sharing of the
Good News through gathering, praying, and eating together, from house to house
to house…from the time of the disciples, to when they became Apostles, shared
to John’s community over the next century, to the following generation, …all
the way to us. Christ’s “real presence” is shared in eating together.
As I have been
out running the past couple of days, my routes have taken me past St. Mark’s
Anglican church on Gottigen St. Their church
sign says: “God often sends vertical help through horizontal means.”
Is this not an
explanation for Holy Communion?
Through prayer
and Word in the gathered community, the horizontal elements of bread and wine, are
infused with God – the Real Presence.
We so often
strive to experience God in the vertical, that we miss God in horizontal means.
In the Holy meal we are fed; we touch and see Christ in this way; and then as
He Qi’s art illustrates, we go to spread the resurrected Christ one house, one
shared meal at a time.
If eating is
about Christ, the Real Presence, if this is our resurrection experience,
similar, to Jesus eating broiled fish with the disciples on the beach, how does
it change us? How do we apply the experience, how do we live it, and share it?
A visit to our
kitchen shelves and pantries, is bound to include a perusal of foods of which
one might question their “realness.”
Taking a gander at the ingredients we are liable to find an assortment
of unpronounceable additives and chemicals. This discussion is not about discerning “real”
food – early Christian communities used a variety of earthly elements in the
celebrating of the Lord’s Supper; at times fish, others bread, crackers, wine,
juice. The poignant application practice
was about the gathering, the community--- with whom do we choose to eat?
The disciples
ate together. As the message spread and
followers included those who served un-kosher items, where the rich sat
side-by-side with the poor receiving the same portion, and where those who were
unclean drank and shared the same cup as everyone else --- eating together,
from human perspectives, became complicated.
I have had
some bodacious experiences eating with others – always at those times when it
would be rude not to partake. In one example it was obvious that food was offered
as a test of relationship, not just with me as the pastor, but me as a member
of a community that had placed this household on the outskirts – shunned,
ignored. This was a test to see if God
would sit at their table and eat with them. And it was hard. The 1950s table sat in the centre of the only
common room in the house; where four chairs sat at the table, with additional
family and pets sitting on the long couch against the wall, and on the bottom
stair that went to the upper room. The
cake served, I assume was made from the bag of flour sitting in the corner, the
clear bag showed the mouse poop through it.
The tea, was served in mugs, that were pulled out of the pile of dishes
haphazardly stacked in the sink (there were no cupboards). Clean or dirty, the
cup was simply rinsed. … in the breaking of cake and drinking tea (many silent
prayers said on my part that I wouldn’t get sick), Jesus became present. I know
because I was a witness to these things, I touched and saw. It was in the depth of conversation, the light
in the family’s eyes, and the warming countenance of their faces. The mom came
back to church, the children acted differently at school having greater
self-esteem, two of the teens wanted confirmation class and on confirmation
Sunday the community hosted a potluck for them – with cake that had their names
printed on top; the church welcomed the teens’ quirky friends by holding their
tongues and making an effort to make conversation. I heard confession, and was
invited to walk through mental health issues, new relationships, and see all
members of the family have hopes and dreams of a future with promise. The
breaking of cake and drinking of tea became, was, the Real Presence.
In a world
where our shelves house fake food, where anything can be deceivingly altered on
line, where fabricated flowers look more alive than the real thing, and where
we remain sceptical of “wet paint” signs…
May we have
faith as expansive as the universe and beyond.
In our horizontal reality, may we welcome the “Real Presence”--
resurrecting Christ in gathering together and breaking bread with this family, with
our own families, and especially with families on the outskirts.
“Real” is Word
and sacrament, the good news of Easter spreading from house, to house, to
house.
