God's manna from heaven

Sunday 28^th November (Advent Sunday) by Alan Walden

Reading: 1 Corinthians 11:23-34 (also if time 1 Kings 17 1-16, Matthew 26:20-30)

What is it that makes a great meal? The food, the company, the ambiance, the warmth of the welcome? I am at a stage in life when I don’t often manage to host or attend a good dinner party - the combination of children and evening meetings mean there are few opportunities. Perhaps that’s why one of my favourite TV programmes at the moment is ‘Come Dine with Me’ which offers a second hand dinner party experience. Four people each take it in turns to host a dinner party, and they award points for the overall experience - the winner, the one who hosts the best dinner party wins £1000. Each evening there is a sense of expectation - what will it be like (the house, the food the people). And there is also a good deal of preparation - by the host, but also by the guests (what they wear, how they plan to behave).

When it comes to Holy Communion, we are all guests at the Lord’s Supper. Jesus says to us ‘Come dine with me.’ What is it that we get when we come to his table? What should we be expecting to happen and how should we prepare?

The Lord’s Supper is such a special part of Christian experience, that whenever we talk about it, we can only approach it with a kind of humble recognition that we will not fully understand it in this life. It is a holy mystery - with many layers of meaning. We can explore some of those layers, but we do so in the full knowledge that we will never reach the end of our exploration.

The idea of God meeting with his people at a meal is something which happens throughout the Bible. In the Garden of Eden, before there was a companion for Adam, God gave him trees that were good for food, and gave him freedom to eat what he chose (with one exception). With no sin and no separation from God, every meal would have been a God given feast in his presence. (It was of course in disobedience over a meal that they fell from grace - trying to feed themselves in God’s absence). We read of God feeding Elijah in the wilderness to equip him for what he had to do. And there are other instances of eating and drinking in God’s presence at key points in Scripture. For example, just after God gave the 10 commandments to Moses, there was a meal with the elders in Gods presence (Exodus 24:11) ‘They beheld God and they ate and drank’. And of course there was the Passover Supper - a meal to remember God’s saving his people from slavery. And in the section just before our Gospel, Matthew 26:17-19 makes it clear that it was just such a Passover Supper at which the Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper which we celebrate today. And on into the future, the wonderful idea of feasting in God’s presence is still present in Revelation 19:9 ’Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb’ - that is the ultimate celebration of God’s reconciliation with humans at the end of time. So the Bible has God feeding us as a key part of his relationship with us from start to finish.

So we come to look at the fellowship meal as instituted and commanded by Christ in that Gospel reading. As we think about its role in our Christian discipleship, there are various meanings which we can find - all woven together. I want to point to four in particular, and they all relate to the actions involved.

Firstly, braking symbolises Christ’s death. In verse 26 ’Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it’. That action which is repeated in every communion service, reminds us of his death: broken bread for his slaughtered body, flowing wine for his blood which was shed. Verse 28 ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins’. When we say these words and do these actions, we are ‘proclaiming his death’ His death reminds us of his love for us. Because ‘No greater love’ could he have than to give up his life.

Secondly, taking. Jesus said in verse 26 - take, eat, and again ‘drink.. all of you’. As we each reach out and receive the bread and the wine, we are saying - I take the benefits of Christ’s death for myself. He was poured out for the forgiveness of sins, and we accept the forgiveness, the reconciliation with God, the promise of eternal life. Because an action is required by us - coming forward, reaching out, taking the bread and the wine, we are recognising that God’s gift doesn’t just need to be known about, it needs to be received. So at communion we take bread and wine and we receive the benefits of Christ’s death for ourselves.

Thirdly, nourishment. Just as we all need food and drink to keep our physical bodies healthy, and there is also spiritual nourishment which our souls require. The eating and drinking are a picture and a symbol of that, but they are more than that, because as we participate in the physical eating and drinking, our souls really are fed spiritually.

Sacraments are described as being ‘An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.’ The outward form is the bread and wine being received - the inward grace is the blessings which are conveyed. Forgiveness, strength, faith, a sense of God’s love and power at work in us. When we come to communion we should come expecting spiritual nourishment - according to what we need. We should expect to be changed, renewed, re-energised by God’s Spirit. That is the spiritual nourishment which we receive, and it is both symbolised and genuinely experienced as we participate in the Eucharist. We read that the disciples sung a hymn immediately after the first Lord’s Supper - a joyful response of praise. We too sing after receiving communion.

Fourthly, unity. As we gather and receive together we are giving a sign of our unity. From the account of the first Lord’s Supper there is a real sense of togetherness around the Table in the presence of Jesus. In 1 Cor 1:17, Paul says ‘Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread’. Words which we use in the Eucharistic prayer.

It is clear however that this unity had broken down by the time Paul wrote to the Corinthians. They were too focussed on eating, in their own little world with God, and not on being together - on fellowship. So from that time it seems, the meal became simplified, and a symbolic meal rather than a full meal. Because, its not about the food, but about the company. It’s not Masterchef - it’s ‘Come, Dine with Me’

So when we put these four things together, what a great cause of thanksgiving and joy there is in the Eucharist - indeed Eucharist mans ‘thanksgiving’! We come into the presence of Christ, remembering his death for us, receiving for ourselves the benefits of that death, gaining spiritual nourishment, in unity with all believers who do the same - not just here and now, but everywhere and forever.

Now, as most of you know, I was ordained priest last summer, meaning that I could preside at Communion for the first time, and in preparation for that, there was much training and study. One of the final stages of that preparation was a day I spent with all the other people being ordained priest at the same time, when the whole day given over a communion service. At each stage (gathering, confession, readings, sermon, peace, praying the Eucharistic prayer, sending out), we lingered, shared our reflections on the significance and the meaning to us. This was a rich experience - with contributions from people with a wide range of backgrounds and from different traditions in the church. It was so good to have that extra time to reflect together on the richness of the significance of the Eucharist, and the way which we participate in it. And indeed, we can go just a little deeper on the significance of Holy Communion. Why is it so important to do it rather than just to say the words?

I want to suggest that the physical nature of Communion should be a celebration of the way God is present and active in the physical world. We can easily slip into feeling that God is only involved in some other-worldly way - spiritual, but not physical. (That comes not from Christianity but from Greek thinkers like Plato, who wanted to downgrade physical existence). But Christian worship celebrates physical things, as a powerful affirmation of the gospel. We proclaim that God became flesh, he entered into the physical world, becoming a human being. That is what we are preparing for in Advent. So as we take physical things and use them to symbolise spiritual reality, it is more than just a symbol, or just a remembrance. There is a real link between the physical and the spiritual. Christ’s real presence, with us, and in us, as we receive communion, is the wonder of the Lord’s Supper.

How is he present is a wonderful mystery, too great for us to fully understand. Christians have a range of understanding of how he is present , but they do not disagree that he is genuinely present and around and through the Eucharist. The presence is symbolic, genuine and spiritual, and it conveys a real spiritual blessing, and that is why participation in the Eucharist is of such value.

So I want to finish with some comments on how we should participate. 1 Cor 11:27 ‘Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup’. While it is good to receive communion regularly, it should not become such a habit that it loses it’s meaning, or that we come unprepared. It is beneficial if received after appropriate preparation (hence we always have a gathering, a confession, prayer, listening to God’s word etc - we prepare together. There is also personal preparation - is there anything which is particularly hampering you - then deal with it with God before coming.

In the early church, there was clearly a great problem, which we can barely conceive, of people coming to communion as if to a wild party, eager to eat and drink, not mindful of God or of one another. It must have been rather like a particularly wild episode of ‘Come Dine with Me’. We don’t do that of course, but nevertheless, St Pauls warning on the importance of coming to communion in a state where we can ‘discern the body’, recognise the presence of God and be able to come into that presence, speaks to us. Do we prepare as well as we might for entering the presence of such a holy God?

So Jesus says - Come Dine with Me. At his table, Christ affirms his love for us, and our salvation through his blood, and we affirm our faith in him - by participating, by receiving. There is always something new available for us when we do. And If we come suitably prepared to the Lord’s Table, expecting to meet with him and be changed, then we will surely be spiritually nourished, strengthened by his presence with us, refreshed for the next stage in our journey of discipleship.

Questions

What aspects of the meaning of communion are most important for you?

What aspects do you tend to ignore, or to miss out on?

What preparations do you make to come to Holy Communion, and how could you be better prepared?

Do you find Communion spiritually nourishing - why (or why not)? What could you do to get more from Communion services?