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June 4, 2006 ~ 1 Corinthians 11:21-26

Each month the clergy of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) are invited to a gathering here at Franklin Circle Christian Church. We share in worship, asking for and offering help and support to one another, and we learn about things that are important to us as ministers and to the church as a whole. Last month, our leader, the Rev. David Stout of Bedford Christian Church led us in a fascinating discussion about the Pentecostal movement, which commemorates its 100th Anniversary this year.

David made the case that one of the fundamental differences between Pentecostals and the rest of us Christians lies in our primary focus for our work and worship. For Pentecostals, the event of Pentecost actually was the baptism of the Holy Spirit and out of that moment came the “sacrament” of speaking in tongues. For Pentecostals, this gifting of the Holy Spirit leads unequivocally and necessarily to the act of proclamation, sharing the good news.
For many of the rest of us, we’re more likely to recall two events during the life of Jesus, his baptism in the Jordan River by John and the last meal he shared with his band of disciples. Baptism with water and the receiving of the Lord’s Supper, or Holy Communion serve as the core of our work and worship. Communion, especially for us Disciples, is at the center of how and why we worship. Now it can be said for certain that out of baptism comes the urgent call to proclaim the gospel, but do we have the same urgency for Holy Communion? That is the question I want to explore today. Does Communion lead us to proclamation, or do we allow it to inhibit us from sharing the good news?

Today is Pentecost Sunday (just as the Inaugural day for our Redevelopment was in June of 2001) and we give thanks to God for the birth of the Church Universal as well as for our congregation's renewal. In the Acts of the Apostles, the book of the Bible we know simply as “Acts” we read of the days following Jesus’ death and resurrection. The disciples first attend to some housework – finding Mathias as a replacement for Judas Iscariot in order to maintain twelve disciples – and waiting.
Then, as Jews from far and wide gather in Jerusalem for the holy day of Pentecost to commemorate the giving of the Ten Commandments by God to Moses, those who had been named and claimed by Jesus had a most marvelous experience. The Holy Spirit, God’s free agent, came upon them and they were preaching and teaching, each in a different language. And if that wasn’t enough, something akin to flames danced over the heads of the disciples, like “tongues of fire. Others crowding around them either marveled at the sights and sounds or mistook them for being drunk.

Then Peter, being the Type A leader that he was, claimed the moment and began to preach. Using Hebrew Scripture with which the crowd would have been familiar, he explained to them the meaning and purpose of Jesus Christ. In a reaction envied by many a preacher, three thousand persons responded and confessed Jesus as Lord and Savior. “…and that day about three thousand persons were added.” The very next line in scripture is beautiful and compelling: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayers.”

If you have as your central tenet of faith this moment of speaking in tongues and proclaiming the gospel, as Pentecostals do, and scripture has such an amazing and clear show of results, then it is no wonder why Pentacostalism is one of the fasting growing movements in the world. If you place at the heart of all you believe, all you do, all you hope for an outwardly focused event, such as the preaching of Peter in an open courtyard of the capital city on a busy holiday weekend, then it is a no-brainer to understand why such a faith tradition will expand and grow and be dynamic.

So I have to ask myself and those of my rather serene, Protestant tradition, “Have we done ourselves a disservice placing at the core of our work and worship an action done quietly in an upper room with only a core group of believers that seems to primarily inspire personal devotion, inwardly focused prayer, and piety?” Or, rather, should the question be, “Have we done a disservice to the sacrament of Holy Communion by keeping it only as a ritual of personal devotion and private nurture?”

Looking at the line in the text that comes immediately after the three thousand were brought to the faith, “they devoted themselves to the breaking of the bread,” I begin to think Holy Communion is more of a bold call to proclamation than we often think. Likewise, reading Paul’s account of the Last Supper in 1st Corinthians, we notice two things. First, he places his “Words of Institution” in the context of scolding the church at Corinth for allowing a disparity of resources between believers where some have so much they eat their fill and get drunk and others have none. So Paul is clearly making the case that Communion is directly related to justice, that one cannot get lost in self-focused piety (and hear me out – piety can be a wonderful and worthy facet of faith) at the expense of failing to notice or respond to the needs of the neighbor.

Then, Paul shares what he “received from the Lord,” the words of institution. Yet, he concludes with a sentence that is not in the gospel accounts of the last supper: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” Holy Communion is an act of Proclamation! Each time we receive communion, we should be reminding ourselves that the good news that we experience here was never meant to remain here. Unlike Las Vegas, what happens here cannot stay here… it must be told to all, sung from the rooftops, preached on street corners, lived out in the highways and byways of the world.

Using both the Pentecost story from Acts 2 as well as Paul's telling of the Lord's Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:21-26 I believe that Holy Communion is an outward mission-focused act just as much as it is an inward devotional act. Reclaiming this can transform all that we do as a church. Does it mean that I can’t “find my quiet center” here in Communion? Of course not! All of us need a time away, a rest from it all, a place to be recharged and renewed. But we can’t let it be just that! It has to be more, and this is where I think we are missing out on a chance to really share what matters most to us, which is the only thing that really convinces people about the truth of the gospel anyway!

When we think of Pentecost, let us think first and foremost of Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist – for it is here that we remember why we’re Christians in the first place, and that should excite us, empower us, provoke us enough to go and tell others about it and work for justice, compassion, and wisdom in our world.

So you find the Last Supper to be the best place in your world to relax, let down, listen for God’s still, small voice. FANTASTIC! Who needs to hear your story? So your life has been transformed by the sacrificial love shown in the bread as body and cup as blood? WONDERFUL! Others are literally dying to know the very same thing! So you feel empowered and renewed when you come to Communion? GREAT! Go tell someone about it.

And may Communion always be the Pentecost moment the early church knew it could and should be.

Amen.
 

Copyright 2006 -- The Rev. Allen V. Harris

Franklin Circle Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

1688 Fulton Rd., Cleveland, OH 44113-3096