Just Do It

This is the message given in the Onida and Agar Sunday, August 3, 2014.  It will be given in Gettysburg Sunday, August 10, 2014.

            As you can see, today is Communion Sunday.  We get to enjoy the honor and privilege of sharing in Holy Communion.  So, as we move into the second week of our sermon series, “Why Do We Do That?”, we’re going to ask the question, “Why do we take communion?”

            Well, in the narrow sense, we take communion because Jesus told us to.  Now, that was not in Matthew’s version of the Last Supper, which we read a little bit ago, but it is in Luke.  Luke tells us that Jesus specifically says, “Do this in remembrance of me.”

            For some people, that’s reason enough right there.  And I’m not saying it’s not.  After all, if Jesus tells us to do something, it’s probably a pretty good idea to do it, right?  We don’t necessarily need more of a reason than that.

            Still, we’d like to understand why we’re supposed to do it.  After all, “Because I said so” is never a reason that satisfies us very well.  Even when we were kids, if we asked Mom or Dad why we had to do something, and they came back at us with “Because I said so”, we were not very happy.  We might have to accept that as a reason, but we sure did not like it very much.

            And it’s important that we know why, because that’s the only way taking communion will be meaningful to us.  And you know, before I became a pastor, it never really was all that meaningful to me.  I mean, I did it, and I knew it was something the church considered important, but I never really knew why.  It was just something we did.

            In fact, the first time communion really became meaningful to me was when I became a pastor and was authorized to give it.  And the meaning it had for me, that first time I gave communion, was that I was totally unworthy to be doing this.  Who did I think I was, anyway?  I hold up the bread and the juice, I say a few words, and somehow something magical is supposed to happen?  I felt like a complete fraud.

            And of course, I was totally unworthy of giving communion.  I still am.  And you’re unworthy of taking it.  It we had to be worthy of taking communion, none of us would ever be able to.  And of course, too, nothing happens because I hold up bread and juice and say a few words.  Whatever happens, happens because of God, not because of me.

            So what’s communion all about?  Why do we take it?  To remember Jesus, of course, but there has to be more to it than that.  We could remember Jesus without taking communion.  In fact, a lot of people do.  So while it is important that we remember Jesus, that cannot be the only reason.

            What we remember, when we take communion and remember Jesus, is what Jesus did for us.  Jesus literally did give up his body and give up his blood for us, for the forgiveness of our sins.  Remember, the reason it’s called the Last Supper is because it was, literally, the last meal Jesus ate while he was on earth.  He went from this meal to the Garden of Gethsemane, where he was arrested.  Eventually, he would be beaten and killed.  The body and blood of Christ were given up for us.

            But in the context of communion, what exactly does that mean?  When Jesus said of the bread, “this is my body” and of the wine “this is my blood”, how are we supposed to take that?

            Well, some denominations take it literally.  They believe that when Jesus said, “This is my body” and “This is my blood”, he meant exactly what he said.  There are some denominations which believe that, when we take communion, the elements that we take actually transform, so that we literally eat Jesus’ body and drink Jesus’ blood.  Other denominations believe the meaning is symbolic only.  They rely more on the “do this in remembrance of me” part and say that all communion does is remember the sacrifice Jesus made for us.

            As I said last week, it’s not my intention to criticize other denominations in this sermon series.  They have reasons for believing what they do.  As United Methodists, though, we take a middle ground.   We don’t believe that the bread and juice physically transform into the body and blood of Christ, so that somehow Jesus has a physical presence in those elements.  We believe the bread remains bread and the juice remains juice.  But we don’t just believe that the meaning is symbolic, either.  We believe that, while Jesus is not physically present in the bread and the juice, Jesus does have a spiritual presence in the communion elements.  And of course, as Christians, we believe that a spiritual presence is just as important as a physical presence.

            So how’s that work, exactly?  Well, we don’t really know.  A spiritual presence is not something that can be seen or heard or touched.  It has to be felt.  It’s not something that comes into our minds as a result of logic.  It’s something that comes into the heart, out of love.  

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, and others have called communion one of God’s “means of grace”.  In other words, communion is one of the ways in which God’s grace, God’s spirit, comes into us.  It’s not the only way, of course, but it’s an important way.  And we believe that all of us are in need of God’s grace, and should take advantage of every chance we can get to have God’s grace come into us.

And because we believe we all need God’s grace, we make communion available to everyone.  As I say every time I give communion, you don’t have to be a member of this church to take communion with us.  You don’t have to be a member of any United Methodist church.  You don’t have to be a member of any church at all.  All you need is a desire to have the grace of God in your heart and in your life.  If you have that desire, you are more than welcome to share in Holy Communion with us.  I would never want to be in the position of having tried to deny the grace of God to anyone.

            So, if taking communion is that important, why don’t we take it every week, instead of just once a month?  Well, John Wesley would’ve said we should.  Wesley said that, if he could, he would take it every day.  That shows the importance Wesley placed on Holy Communion and how much he believed we are all in need of God’s grace.

            There’s nothing in the United Methodist rules that says how often we should take communion.  It says we should take it, but that’s all.  There are denominations that believe you should take communion every week.  In fact, there are United Methodist churches in which communion is offered every week.  Once a month seems to be the tradition among United Methodist churches in this area, but that’s all it is, a tradition.  We could celebrate Holy Communion more often if we chose to.  We could celebrate it less often, too, if we chose to, although I personally would not be in favor of that.

            There are a few other issues in regard to communion I want to address.  As many of you know, in the United Methodist church we use grape juice for communion instead of wine.  Why do we do that?  Because we recognize the danger of alcoholism.  We would not want the taking of Holy Communion to cause someone to lose their battle with alcohol.  Also, using grape juice makes communion more accessible to children.

            And children are welcome to take communion in the United Methodist church.  I understand that some parents prefer to have their kids wait until they’re old enough to understand it better, and if that’s your choice I respect that.  I’m not telling you you’re wrong.  But if any child comes to me and wants to take communion, I’m willing to give it to them, because, again, it’s a means by which God’s grace comes into us, and I never want to be in the position of having tried to deny God’s grace to anyone.

            Sometimes we use little pieces of bread, and sometimes we have you pull it off a loaf.  Sometimes we have little cups of juice, sometimes we have you did the bread into a larger cup of juice.  Why do we do that?  What difference does it make?  Well, it makes no difference at all.  It’s whatever someone prefers, that’s all.  It does not matter how we take communion.  What matters is that we take communion.

            So, when we offer communion here in a little bit, please come.  It does not matter that you don’t feel worthy.  You’re not worthy.  Neither am I.  If we were worthy of taking communion we would not need to take it.  None of us is worthy.  We are made worthy by the grace of God.

            The grace of God is something we all need.  We all need to feel God’s Spirit in our hearts.  We all need to remember the sacrifice Jesus made for us.  We all need to be grateful for that sacrifice.  We all need to ask for God’s forgiveness and feel God’s grace, so we can be God’s people living in God’s world.

I said I would never want to be in the position of having tried to deny the grace of God to anyone.  Please don’t try to deny it to yourself, either.  We are going to move now into our time of sharing Holy Communion.  Please join us.