A Holy Time-Out

In The Holy Space 

Before I begin this morning I would like to say Thank You for your thoughts and prayers this past week. Many of you know my brother Matt was in a terrible car wreck two weeks ago. Last Friday, he took a dramatic decline and we spent a harrowing 24 hours. Yesterday, he talked. He has a long road of recovery yet to go but I wanted to thank you for your thoughts and your care on behalf of my family. 

Communion means different things for different faiths and different people. A friend recently told me a story, which captures this point:

At a spiritual retreat the group she was participating in had a ritual where participants go through the communion line twice. The first time, a dying moment, every one takes a piece of bread and stands before the altar allowing that piece to symbolize an impediment in their relationship with God. The bread is left on the altar. The second time through the participants take the bread and partake of communion with the cup. They offer two loaves of bread – one for the Dying Moment and one for communion. After the dying moment, the clergy lifted the breadbasket asked the people, “Do you know what we are going to do with this?” With one swift movement she dumped the communion bread from the basket into the trashcan at her feet. A huge cheer erupted from the crowd. Participants jumped to their feet, applauding. Everyone was overjoyed – everyone, that is, except the two Catholic participants who sat with their mouths open, shocked at what had just occurred. While everyone else saw a symbolic act of getting rid of our roadblocks, the Catholics had witnessed Christ being thrown in the trash. 

Christ Church you are a Sanctuary filled with different people, and you bring your histories to the communion table. Whether you were born and bred Methodist, raised Catholic, or associated with any other protestant denomination, you all bring your individuality to the Eucharist. What does communion mean to you?  

In about 15 minutes we will share in the ritual of communion. I’ve often wondered what goes through the mind as we walk slowly towards the bread and cup. These are some of my musings over the years:
“God, I really made some big mistakes this week”
“I’m glad that sermon is over”
“I’m very very hurt by my partner’s actions”
“How long is this going to take, the broncos are playing in 45 minutes”
“God, thank you…”
“Am I worthy to take?”
“Got to remember to get milk on the way home”
Maybe you have silently spoken one of these statements, or something like them, as you are standing in the communion line. This is the 5th consecutive week we have done communion, what are you contemplating as you walk towards the bread and cup?
 
Communion is supposed to be a time of meditation, serenity and solitude.  It is a time to connect with the Divine in our midst. However, the Last Supper started out as anything but tranquil. First, we have two disciples arguing over who will be the greatest. Who will sit at Jesus’ right and who will sit at the left? Arguing about petty details. Then Jesus shares that one of the twelve will betray him, one will destroy it all. You can see the disciples fearfully claiming, is it I? The disciples are focused on themselves. Jesus is trying to have a final meal with his friends, the people closest to him and they are all arguing with each other. This is not a situation where the disciples are seeking out God; rather they are letting the chaos of the moment take over. But, then Jesus calls for a sort of holy time-out. Jesus does something he isn’t supposed to do. In Jewish tradition, at Passover there is always a cup placed on the table for Elijah. This cup is left untouched as a symbol of the return of Elijah. Jesus reaches for this cup, signifying something different was happening. The disciples had entered a holy space with Jesus. Jesus is making the moment about God and not about the individual.
 
What is communion all about? Some answers might be: asking for forgiveness, bringing our sorrows to God, taking a symbolic step into new life, or engaging in the remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice for us. These are true answers but they all focus on the self. They are individualistic. They limit what God can do in the holy act of communion. God’s possibilities are endless when we get of out the way and let God work. Have you ever said to a friend, in sarcastic honesty, it is not always about you? The same approach can be taken with communion. It does not always have to be about us.
 
A few weeks ago, I asked Jill Conner and her son, Cael to join me in serving communion. Jill was holding the cup and Cale was standing next to her. During the communion ritual, Jill overheard Cael saying something, very softly to people as they passed through the line. Very softly. It took her most of the time to realize what Cael was saying. As each person was walking though Cael would say, “Jesus Christ.” “Jesus Christ” “Jesus Christ” Cale gets communion, it’s about something other than ourselves, it’s about Jesus. It’s about emptying ourselves to meet God ready to be filled.
 
Henri Nouwen, a catholic priest and theologian says this of communion with God. “God does not hold back, God gives all.”  This is a holy space that God hold for us. God brings everything to the table, nothing is held back. Are we vulnerable enough to leave everything in the pews? To come to the table with nothing but the desire for God’s grace? To be willing to let the unimaginable happen? This is the vulnerable communion of Jesus. Recognizing how far we are from being in union with God and all creation is part of the vulnerable act of communion. Bearing in ourselves the hope of a new promise and the pain of a broken past.
 
When we approach communion vulnerable, we keep God at the center of the experience. But, what does it take to be vulnerable walking down the aisle? Jesus gave us the example, the holy-time-out.
 
In 1994, I was a freshman in high school, spending a week of my summer vacation in Okemah, Oklahoma. This is in the middle of nowhere. My youth group was working to frame a fellowship hall for an Indian Missionary Church. We worked for four days framing for a church where the youngest member was 69. Putting 2 x 4’s together, nailing and nailing. It was hot exhaustive work in the middle of a July Oklahoma summer. We were cleaning up the job site on Friday afternoon – delirious from our work - when the pastor of the church came to us with a few of the parishioners.  She wanted to offer us communion. It was the strangest communion I had ever experienced and yet it was also the most spiritual communion act of my life. The pastor put the communion elements in the center of the framed hall. She put on the ground, a hot dog bun and a Dixie cup, which she poured grape pop into. My initial reaction was anger. This is not communion; we use Hawaiian bread and Welch’s grape juice. A hot dog bun? Grape pop? I needed a holy-time-out. (pause – slow) And my holy space was delivered. The pastor asked each of the parishioners to share what the building will mean to them when it is completed. “A space of community.” “A place for meals.” “Shelter.”
 
For me, communion is not about getting it theologically correct, getting it spiritually right. Communion is about being vulnerable enough to let God work in our lives, to let God lead, to let the holy space be.
 
The pastor offered no words; she just read the scriptural passage from Matthew. “Take and eat. Drink from it, all of you.” We stood in a circle as she passed from person to person, each of us taking and drinking. I had to do a holy-time-out, to be reminded what communion is all about.

Walking back to the pews, what is on the mind after communion? 

“I hope that kid didn’t have a cold”

“Ok, I can do this”

“I felt nothing, is it me?”

“ Thank you, God”

Before you stand to walk down this aisle, I invite you to take a holy-time-out and remember we never know what will happen during communion: the person in front of you might have to dive into the cup for their bread, the server may sneeze all over you, someone might drink from the cup, you might leave changed and so full of God your life will never be the same, you may feel nothing and your bread might get thrown in the trash.  

We come to the table vulnerable but we are not alone. There is someone in front of you and someone behind you and the presence of Christ is always with us. 

AMEN.