Looking Ahead to October 1, 2023 -- Worldwide Communion Sunday

 

For many years now the 1st Sunday of October has been called Worldwide Communion Sunday. The spirit of the designation is that on that Sunday Christians all over the world will celebrate communion on the same day as a sign of unity. Practically speaking it appears that it may be more of a North American thing, with maybe some European buy in. Also it really speaks more to those traditions (such as Presbyterianism) that do not already gather at the table of faith every week (Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran for example).

At any rate, many United Churches, including St. Paul's, have made a concerted effort to mark Worldwide Communion Sunday over the years. Which mean that this Sunday we will gather together at the table of faith to eat and drink together. If you are joining us online you are invited, or even encouraged, to have bread and juice available so we can all eat and drink together across the electrons and miles.

The Scripture Reading this week is 1 Corinthians 11:17-34

The Sermon title is Table Fellowship

Early Thoughts: There is something special about eating together. It can be a great way to create and build community. Discussion over food has a slightly different feel to it somehow.

When done well that is.

Paul has heard that the people in Corinth have got the idea of table fellowship all wrong. The old class distinctions are showing up at the table of faith. Privilege is leading some to eat really well while others get the crumbs. And he is a little bit annoyed about it!

From the beginning of the Jesus movement eating together has been a key feature of the community. Indeed Jesus was routinely criticized for eating and drinking with the 'wrong sorts of people'. Table fellowship in the early church appears to have included that piece we now call Communion/Eucharist/Lord's Supper but also a whole meal where the community gathered, likely in the evening after the day's work was done, to eat at the same table. And this is where the Corinthians have gotten it wrong.

All evidence suggests that the Corinthian church had a mixture of free folk and slaves, wealthy folk and those who served them. From what Paul says it seems that the wealthy, those who have a more leisure-filled life, show up early and start the feast. Then those who have to work longer show up and the best food and wine are already gone. Paul has been trying to bring the Corinthians into a vision of the Kingdom, where there is no longer slave or free, Jew or Greek, man or woman (to borrow from his letter to the Galatians). In the Kingdom that Jesus proclaimed and Paul shares there is no place for some to feast and others get crumbs. Table fellowship in the church needs to mean that all are welcome to eat and all have an equal share in what is served.

In part this is why I see it as so important that we have what is called an open table. In some traditions only members of that denomination, or even of that congregation, can be served when communion comes around. Indeed within United Church history this has been the case. When I was growing up the expectation was that only confirmed members would take communion (though I don't think there were gatekeepers standing there with lists), with some people having memories of the Elder coming to visit before the quarterly communion service and leaving a communion card or token showing that one was in fact a ember in good standing. But our understanding of communion has changed over time and by the time I was a young adult the common language of United Church invitations tot he table reminded us that the table belongs to God, not to the church. Because it is God's table and God is the host all who seek to live in God's way are welcome to eat and drink at it. The gatekeeper is the person making the choice, not some church official. Paul exhorts the Corinthians about those who partake in an unworthy fashion (it is my understanding that this is part of why Roman Catholics are supposed to go to Confession before being served at Mass) but the determination is left up to the people themselves.

There is something special about gathering with friends at the table of faith. It might be an intricately carved high altar in a medieval cathedral, or a rickety table in a mud hut, or a flat rock along the riverside, or even a folded down tailgate. The flat surface itself is less important than the fact that people of faith gather together, share prayers, remember Christ, and eat together as beloved children of God.

Shall we gather at the table?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to September 17, 2023 -- 16th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 19A

The Scripture Reading this week is Matthew 18:21-35

The Sermon title is Forgiven as We Forgive Others???

Early Thoughts: Do you sometimes wrestle with forgiveness? I know I do. Can everything actually be forgiven? And looking at the phrase from the Lord's Prayer, do we really want to be forgiven only so well as we forgive others?

This week's passage would be confounding enough with just the first few verses. I am with Peter, forgiving someone 7 times seems extravagant enough but 77 times?!?!? (or even more challenging 70 TIME 7 -- 490). That just seems unrealistic. How might one do that?

Then I listened to a podcast this morning which called to memory things like the shooting at an Amish school where the community response was to offer forgiveness. At the time many people simply could not understand how the community could be so quick to forgive the shooter. The podcast pointed out that if your whole life you have lived out forgiveness, if it is a part of who you are, then forgiveness may become the natural response. Maybe Jesus is encouraging us to make forgiveness so much a part of our being as renewed, transformed people (a new creation Paul might say) that it becomes our first response rather than recrimination or vengefulness.

Sure that sounds like a laudable goal. I am still not sure it feels realistic.

I struggle with forgiveness. Or maybe it is more accurate to say I struggle with the letting go that is often part of the healing power of forgiveness (which I think is why we have the expression "forgive and forget", so we are encouraged not to hold on to the hurt). I don't think I hold grudges (well not all the time, or at least not intentionally). But I do remember damages done. I do replay events and discussions well after it is healthy to do so. Forgiveness is hard sometimes.

Then, to further complicate our discussion of forgiveness we have this troubling parable. A story where one is forgiven much and then proceeds to deny forgiveness to others  (with the result of losing the forgiveness first offered). It is certainly a story about hypocrisy, and many of us can wear the label hypocrite at times, but it is also a challenge to us a a community that regularly prays "and forgive us our trespasses (or sins or debts) as we forgive those who have trespassed against (or sinned against or are indebted to) us". Do we really want to claim that we are so good at forgiving others that we want the same treatment? Or are we sometimes like the servant in Jesus' story -- grateful to be forgiven but not as free to give it out?

Forgiveness can be a transformative thing. Forgiveness can bring freedom both to the forgiven and the forgiver. It can transform not only the people involved in a particular situation but can, I believe, cause ripples that help others see the world differently. It may not always mean that our relationships are the same as they once were. It may be that even with forgiveness and letting go the relationship is gone (or maybe the situation is such that there was nor relationship to begin with) but that does not take away the importance, and transformative power, of forgiveness.

If we can not forgive then we may be lead to the world of holding grudges, of wishing "they'll get theirs!", of wanting payback. This is a path that is common in the world today.  In the end, it is a path that is toxic to ourselves, to our neighbours (friends, family, enemies) and to the world around us.

As beloved children of God we are people who are forgiven. We are called to be people who forgive others. Even when that seems impossible ( think of the idea of the Unforgiveable Curses in Harry Potter -- total control over another, causing excruciating pain, murder) we are challenged to forgive. Not once, not twice, not even seven times but 77 (or 490). NO one said it would be easy. Can we try to allow forgiveness to transform us?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to September 10, 2023 -- 15th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 18A

The Scripture Reading this week is: Romans 12:1-2, 13:8-14

The Sermon title is Renewed to Love

Early Thoughts: How do we know if our minds are being renewed and our lives transformed? Are we aware when we are in fact being conformed to the world around us?

There are times I find Paul a challenging writer to read. There are times when I think he (or sometimes the people later writing in his name) is way off base. There are time I wonder if he himself knows what his position is (the passage in 1 Corinthians 8 about eating meat comes to mind). Then there are times when I find he hits the nail squarely and clearly on the head. This week's reading (and indeed the rest of Romans 12 which we are not reading this week) are in this last category.

The letter to the Romans is a little unique among Paul's letters. Most of the letters are Paul writing back to communities where he has been before to encourage them/remind them how to follow Christ/exhort them to do better, but as Paul writes to the Roman Christians he has yet to be in Rome. He plans to get there, or hopes to get there and this letter is his way of introducing himself to the community in preparation for his arrival.

Paul himself (according to his words and the descriptions of Paul's life we find in Acts) has experienced transformation and a renewed mind. He knows full well that to follow The Way of Jesus, the Christ, means allowing God to renew and transform you. We need to be opened to new ways of understanding the world so that we can discern how God is calling us to live. In fact Romans 12:2 is one of my favoured verses in all of Scripture.

To my mind, the biggest sign of renewed minds and transformed lives in Christ is love. After all Jesus tells us that we are to love our neighbours and enemies, either as we love ourselves or as God first loved us. The law of life in Christ is the law of love. Everything else flows from that.

We live in a world where the law of love does not always seem to be the primary guiding principle. We live in a world where there is strong encouragement to follow the way of the world, to conform to its values and assumptions and ways of living. This is not new, it has always been so. When we choose to follow Jesus we need to open ourselves to a different way of being. Sometimes conforming to the world around us leads us in the wrong direction.

Are we ready to allow our minds to be renewed and our lives transformed? Are we ready to listen, watch , and discern who God would have us be in the world?
--Gord