“Worshipping at the Table”

I Corinthians 11:17-26

March 2, 2003

What in the world are you doing?

I have an idea this is what many early Christians would say if they could be at our observance of the Lord’s Table today…because the way we observe the taking of the bread and cup is very different from the way they observed it back in the earliest days of the church.

Then, the Lord’s Table was more of a regular meal…  and the meal was called the agape meal or the love meal.

It was observed not in temples but in homes, and there’s evidence that the person who officiated at the meal was the person who owned the home. 

The bread which was eaten would be the regular bread of the dinner table and the wine would be the table wine.

What in the world are you doing?

This might be the question some of us would ask if we sat in on the way they observed the Lord’s Table. 

Some of us might think their meals were too informal because they were  more like fellowship meals – more like something we would do in Lorimer Hall or or Sanders Hall.

In fact in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians he cautioned them and told them that their observances are getting out of hand.

It seems that some of the folks were stuffing themselves  and when there were leftovers

they weren’t sharing the food with the poor.

And some of the brothers and sisters were drinking too much at the meals...to the point of getting drunk.

So Paul wrote to the Corinthians and said in essence….you’re gathering to eat and to remember the Lord  Jesus but you’re violating the very spirit of the breaking of bread and drinking the cup.

So it’s clear that Paul was very disturbed by the excesses of some as they gathered at the Lord’s Table.

But to summarize…

The early Christians didn’t observe the table like we do in the context of temple worship. 

They gathered in homes. 

They ate. 

They talked. 

They laughed. 

They told the kids to keep quiet and they broke the bread and drank the cup.

But please don’t misunderstand…the early Christians looked at the Lord’s Table through very serious eyes.  Many associated the broken bread and the cup with Jesus as the sacrificial lamb who died for their sins.

At the table the words of Jesus were recited faithfully…”this is my body, this is my blood.”  And the community would be reminded of Jesus betrayal…and the way he was beaten…and the crown of thorns placed on his head…and his hands and feet …and the spear…and his ultimate death. 

For many in the early church the cross was the central focus as they broke the bread and drank the cup.

Then also there were many who came to the table with a somewhat different focus. 

Their focus was on the resurrection and the risen Christ.

Now there had to be some solemnity in them…but for them the meal was primarily one of celebration –it was a meal of thanksgiving because of the honored guest who was with them.

For many in the early church thankfulness and joy and celebration was the focus and the mood.

Those people really believed the stone was rolled away…and they really believed Christ appeared to Magdalene…and he appeared to the disciples…and said to them…

“Go into the world, and tell the good news and baptize and lo I am with you until the end of the age”.

For many Jesus present with them was the big thing as they ate and drank together.

And now I want to make just one more point with you.  To get to it lets look again at the words of Jesus in the gospel of Matthew.

He said “Take, eat, this is my body. For this is my blood of the covenant.  I will never again drink of the fruit of this vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my father’s kingdom.”

For many the Lord’s Table was a forerunner of the ultimate feast which would take place in the Kingdom of God.

The meal was prophetic.

The meal was about a promise.

The meal was like a rehearsal celebration, preparing them for the mother of all celebrations in the presence of Christ and in the presence of God.  The celebration when God’s will would be done on earth as well as in heaven.  The celebration when the chairs would be filled by the saints of old and all the saints who would come afterward.  The celebration when justice would cover the earth like a blanket and there would be no more death or crying or tears.

It’s no wonder that things got out of hand in those early days. Many of those folks felt there was something to party about.

                    *

Well, how do I finish my communion sermon today?

Maybe just by saying that the Lord’s Table is the central ritual of the church.  It is the core, the hub, the primary observance.  As a good friend of mine says…”it all begins here.”

We break the bread and drink the cup and we do so with many different perspectives and beliefs, just as the early Christians came to the table with different beliefs and perspectives.  But above all may this ritual, this observance never become perfunctory to us.

·     May it never become just a habit.  May we never do it and just go through the motions.

·     God deliver us from ever putting the bread in our mouth when our minds are elsewhere.

·     God forbid that we ever drink the cup and it has no mystery to us.

·     And God forbid that we ever receive the elements without in some way being touched and healed….

or without being empowered to go forth into the world to be the disciples of our resurrected Lord.

Amen