Today we
begin a new sermon series. We’re going to take a deeper look at our
liturgy of Holy Communion.
By liturgy, I mean the words we say
on the first Sunday of every month when we prepare to share in Holy Communion.
They start on page thirteen of the hymnal. We put them on the screen. We say these words every time we have
Communion. But how often do we really think about what they say?
In asking that question, I’m not
criticizing anyone. It’s just human nature. When we say something numerous times, over
and over again, the exact same thing, there’s a natural human tendency to stop
thinking about them. Our attention wanders. Almost all of us do that. Whether it’s the Lord’s Prayer, or the Pledge
of Allegiance, or anything else, it just becomes automatic. Our minds go somewhere else. It’s just
how we are.
So, in this sermon series, our goal
is to break down the Communion liturgy. We’re going to look at it in
parts and really think about what it says.
And I hope, when we do that, that it will make our Communion liturgy a
lot more meaningful to us. So that when we take Communion, it won’t just
be a ritual. It won’t just be
absent-mindedly saying words. It’ll be
something that truly does have meaning and power. In fact, I hope it’ll make taking Communion
something that changes our lives. All of our lives, including mine. Because that’s what Holy Communion is
supposed to do. That’s why we call it
one of God’s means of grace. The act of
taking Holy Communion is not supposed to be something that we just do once a
month out of obligation. It’s supposed to be something truly does change
our lives.
So let’s look at the start of the
liturgy. It should be on the screen.
It starts out, “The Lord be with you.” “And also with you.” “Lift up your hearts.” “We lift them up to the Lord.” Then it
says, “Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.”
“It is right to give our thanks and praise.” “It is right, and a
good and joyful thing, always and everywhere, to give thanks to you, Father
Almighty, the creator of heaven and earth.”
Giving thanks. That’s the
first emphasis of our Communion liturgy. To give thanks to the Lord, our
God.
Now, giving thanks to God is one of
those churchy things we talk about all the time. And we just accept
it. But remember, the point of this
sermon series is to get us thinking about things. So let’s ask the question: why?
Why does our Communion liturgy tell us to give thanks to God?
Well, the liturgy itself gives us a
couple of reasons. The first thing it says is that we should give thanks
to God because “it is right”. It is right to give our thanks and praise.
And you know, maybe we could just
stop right there. Because, when you think about it, maybe that should be
enough for us. I mean, do we really need reasons to do the right
thing? Maybe it should be enough for us
to do the right thing for no other reason than the fact that it is the right
thing. Maybe we should just give thanks to God because it’s the right
thing to do, and not go any farther.
But we’re going to go farther, for a
couple of reasons. One of them is that, well, this would be a pretty
short sermon if I stopped now. But the other is that our liturgy gives us
more reasons than that. It goes on to
say that it is “a good and joyful thing” to give thanks to God.
Think about that. It’s not
just a good thing to give thanks to God. If that was all the liturgy
said, it would just be another way of saying that it was the right thing.
But the liturgy goes on to say that giving thanks to God is a joyful
thing. It will make us happy, it will
make us feel joy, to give thanks to God.
Do you ever think of it that way?
Have you ever had it happen that way? When we give thanks to God,
does it make us happy? Does it make us feel joy?
For most of us, the answer is
probably sometimes yes, sometimes no. But what I suspect is that, in
those times where giving thanks to God does not make us happy, does not make us
feel joy, there’s a reason for it. I suspect that, in those times, we’re
not really feeling thankful to God.
We’re saying the words, because we know we’re supposed to. We know that giving thanks to God is right
and is a good thing to do. So we do it.
But we don’t feel it. We don’t really
feel thankful to God.
It’s understandable. Life is
hard sometimes. Life throws a lot of things at us, and some of them are
not very good. We all run into times when it can be really hard to give
thanks to God. We have times when we
look at what’s happening and we don’t really see much reason to be thankful.
I get that. And God gets it,
too. God’s not going to beat us up if we have trouble feeling thankful
sometimes. The reason “it is right to give our thanks and praise” is not
because God is so vain and conceited that God needs to hear us saying how great
God is. It’s not that God needs to hear it. It’s that we need to say it. And we need to feel it. And it will make us feel happier and more
joyful when we do.
But how do we actually do it?
I mean, I know it says we should give thanks “always and everywhere”, but
how do we actually do that? How do we make ourselves mean the words we
know we should say? How do we make
ourselves not just give thanks to God with our words, but feel thankful to God
in our hearts?
Well, I don’t have the whole answer.
But here’s something that might help.
I want to read just three verses of our Bible reading for today again.
It’s verses seventeen through nineteen.
It says, “After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it
among you. For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine
until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, gave thanks and broke
it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in
remembrance of me.”
Jesus took the cup, and he gave
thanks. He took the bread, and he gave thanks. And before you say, “well, so what, he’s
Jesus, that’s what he should do”, think about what was going on here.
There’s a reason we call this the Last Supper. Jesus and the disciples were going to leave
this room. They were going to go to the
Mount of Olives. Jesus was going to be
arrested. He was going to be questioned.
He was going to be beaten. He was
going to be killed. And Jesus knew all
that was going to happen.
If there was ever someone who had a
reason to not feel very thankful, it was Jesus at that moment. And yet,
Jesus gives thanks. He gives thanks not
once, but twice. He gives thanks when he
takes the cup, and he gives thanks when he takes the bread. Facing all
that he was facing, Jesus still gave thanks to God.
Did it make him feel joyful, do you
think? Well, we’re not told. The
Bible usually does not tell us what Jesus thought or how he felt. I
suspect Jesus kept that to himself most of the time. But my guess is that it did. Because Jesus was able to find things to be
thankful for, even in that moment.
Not thankful that he was going to be tortured and killed,
obviously--no one would feel thankful about that. But I think he was
thankful to know that God the Father was with him. I think he was thankful to know that he was
doing what God the Father wanted him to do. He was probably also thankful
to know that he had stayed faithful and was going to fulfill his mission, that
he was going to conquer death itself and truly be the Savior. And,
perhaps, he was also thankful to know that his mission on earth would soon be
completed, and that he would soon be re-joining God the Father in heaven.
In his darkest moments on earth, Jesus found things to be thankful
for. And in our darkest moments, we can find things to be thankful for,
too. Not thankful for the situation
itself, necessarily. But thankful to know that, no matter what our
situation is, God will be with us.
Thankful when we know we are doing what God wants us to do, despite our
situation. Thankful when we can stay faithful to God in all
circumstances. And thankful to know
that, someday, through our faith and because of God’s love and grace and mercy,
we will join God in heaven.
It is right to give thanks to God. It is not just a good
thing, it is a joyful thing, to give God our thanks and praise. It’s
joyful thing always and everywhere, to give thanks to God. Because no matter what happens, God will be
with us. And if we stay faithful to God and do what God wants us to do,
God will see us through. The next time
we share Holy Communion, and at all other times, too, let us give thanks to the
Lord, our God.
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