Do
you remember the first time you received Holy Communion? The first time I received
the Eucharist was on Palm Sunday, 1961, at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Columbus,
Ohio. I was thirteen years old. I had been through two years of every Saturday
morning catechetical instruction leading up to my Confirmation and First Communion
on that Sunday.
I
remember vividly my thought as I received my first communion: "What's the
big deal here?" I did not dare say those words out loud for fear of the wrath
of God (in the form of my father who was the pastor) coming down upon me.
I
have since learned that Holy Communion is a "big deal," although maybe
not in the sense that I first thought it might be. In this sacramental act we
remember what God has done for us in Jesus and proclaim the Lord's death
and resurrection. But it is not what we do in the sacrament that is important.
It is what God is doing.
I
like what Eugene Peterson said in his most recent book, Christ Plays in Ten
thousand Places: "The Eucharist puts Jesus in his place: dying on the
cross and giving us that sacrificed life. And it puts us in our place: opening
our hands and receiving the remission of sins, which is our salvation." (p.203)
God acts and we receive. As a disciple of Jesus I often need to be put into my
place in order to receive the blessings of the Kingdom of Heaven.
As
I write this message to you I am preparing to head to Orlando, Florida, for the
Ninth Churchwide Assembly of the ELCA. And it gives me great joy and comfort to
realize that we are all about to be "put into our place." For the first
thing we will do as we gather is to celebrate the Eucharist. And in the middle
of each day at 11:00 a.m. we will cease from business and break for worship to
hear the Word and receive the Sacrament.
Each
day we will be reminded of who God is and what God has done for us on the Cross.
And we will be reminded of who we are: children of God dependent on God for all
things. We will be forced to set aside our agendas and whatever political tendencies
we might have to hear God's agenda for us and the world. We need this action of
God in our midst so that what we do will be to God's glory and reflect God's love
for all people.
This
is also true for each congregation. Gathering each week around Word and Sacrament
helps us keep our focus on God's mission. This sacramental act helps us remember
and proclaim Christ. It helps us to set aside our own agendas (as worthy and well
intended as they may be) so that we can be about God's agenda in this place at
this time. God acts and we receive. Out of that receiving then comes our ability
to act.
The
"big deal" of Holy Communion is God's action and our receiving. The
German piety that I grew up with symbolized this truth in the actual act of receiving
the elements from the pastor. The pastor would place the wafer directly into the
mouth on the tongue and would place the chalice to the lips with no assistance
from the communicant, thus emphasizing our place in the Eucharist. We simply receive.
Indeed,
as disciples we are simply recipients of the blessings that God has for us so
that we might be a blessing to the world. May God grant the Holy Spirit to us
that we might believe this promise.
Yours in Christ, Bishop Jim Stuck
"We
will be forced to set aside our agendas and whatever political tendencies we might
have to hear God's agenda for us and the world. We need this action of God in
our midst so that what we do will be to God's glory and reflect God's love for
all people."