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 May 21, 2023 -- 7th Sunday of Easter

 As we conclude the season of Easter we also conclude our journey through 1 Corinthians 15 with verses 24-26 and 50-58.

The Sermon title is The Final Victory

Early Thoughts: Linnea Good has a song which begins with the words "I am no longer afraid of death" (it is from her album There Is a Time). In it she sings that this is because, as the end of the chorus states, "I know these caverns that lead to life".

Can we say that boldly in our faith lives? Or do we still fear death? [Whenever I ask that question I am reminded of the Woody Allen quote "I am not afraid of death; I just don't want to be there when it happens".] 

Those who have listened to me preach over the years will know that I profess a belief that, in the end, life always wins. If life has not yet appeared to win then we have not yet reached the end.

"Thine is the glory, risen conquering son. Endless is the victory thou o'er death hast won". "The strife is o'er, the battle done; the victory of life is won" "the last enemy to be destroyed is death" "Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" 

In song and Scripture we proclaim that in the resurrection of Christ death has been defeated. We know the pathway that leads to life. So why would we be afraid of death?

What would it look like if we lived as if life will always win? How might that change our attitudes and actions, our priorities and plans, our hopes and fears?
--Gord

PS> stay tuned for a Harry Potter reference or two this Sunday....

Looking Ahead to April 30, 2023 -- 4th Sunday of Easter

Since we are unable to have communion on May 7th due to the Annual Meeting of Northern Spirit Regional Council, we will be having communion this Sunday.

This week we continue our journey through 1 Corinthians 15 with verses 35-49

The Sermon title is What Body?

Early Thoughts: When we talk about resurrection and death and funerary practices, what do we believe about the body? What happens to our body?

In one of the oldest statements of Christian faith in existence, the Apostles' Creed (many United Church folk once learned this creed by memory as part of their confirmation process), we read these words:

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body
and the life everlasting. Amen.

The resurrection of the body. What does that mean? Does our physical body become reanimated? What about decomposition? What if the body is damaged? What if one is cremated? Are we stuck with the same body we have now?

At its heart the belief in resurrection of the body suggests "The belief that after death one's departed soul will be restored, or resurrected, to a bodily life in heaven." (source). Certainly this is what Paul is affirming in these verses. I am just not sure it clarifies things all that much.

It appears that the Corinthians are wondering about the body. Some of those questions echo on all these years later.

The part of the Easter story that I have always wrestled with the most is "what happened to Jesus' body?" In Luke and John it appears that the resurrected Jesus is sometimes easily recognizable and sometimes not recognizable at all. What is this body that appears and disappears at random? It is easier for my mind to process the idea of a resurrection that is more of a mystical/visionary/otherworldly event than one that includes a body you can touch and feed. Then to extend this bodily piece to all of us complicates matters a bit more.

At the same time, I think it is very healthy to see body and souls as an integrated whole. So if the soul if resurrected there must be some involvement of the body...

In the end, I think I can follow where Paul leads on this question. At a quick read it seems that he may be trying to muddy the waters with his talk about a physical body and a spiritual body but I don't think so. I return to the fact that in the Easter stories the Risen Christ is sometimes hard to recognize and the fact that Paul's own experience is far more mystical and visionary than the Easter stories in the Gospel. Resurrection is not resuscitation, it has a transforming effect. I also like the image of a seed that Paul uses. I wonder if Paul knows that Jesus is reported to have used a similar image. In John 12:24 Jesus says " Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain, but if it dies it bears much fruit." The body does not need to be the same as it was (for some this is a great cause for hope).

So what body do we have after the resurrection? I think it helpful to think there is a bodily form rather than free-floating spirits. Just don't ask me to describe what that body looks like.

Historical side note...
For a long time many Christian groups resisted cremation, favoring the burial of the body (either with or without embalming). This is in part because Christians have historically pointed out that the body is a gift from God, not to be demeaned (think of the "body is a temple" language). As I understand it it is also in part because of questions about the resurrection of the body. Can one be resurrected if the body is destroyed?

Looking Ahead to April 23, 2023 -- 3rd Sunday of Easter

 We continue our exploration of 1 Corinthians 15 this week with verses 12-34

The Sermon title is Following the First Fruits

Early Thoughts: The resurrection is essential for Christian faith. So says Paul, and so say many other Christian thinkers over the years.  Even if, as some do, one believes that the life and teaching of Jesus are the key to what it means to follow The Way of Christ it can not be denied that the story of resurrection is a defining piece of Christian identity.

But do we believe it?

The opening verses of this week's reading highlight that from the beginning (1 Corinthians is one of the earliest pieces of Christian writing that we have) there have been those who question, doubt, or openly deny the truth of resurrection. Paul addresses this doubt head on. For Paul, if the church is misleading itself or lying about the resurrection of the dead, and of Jesus in particular, then all of this is in vain. For Paul, the resurrection of the dead is of vital importance. To put it in language I often use, if life does not win in the end, what is the point?

In the first century CE there were a variety of understandings of what happens when you die. Within Judaism there was a group of people who believed in a general resurrection of the faithful that would happen when the eschaton came, when (to use more common language) the Reign of God would reach full bloom and the world would be changed. In part this was a reaction to the persecutions of earlier era when faithful Jewish folk were martyred because they remained faithful. What would their ultimate fate be? It is unclear what percentage of the general population would have held this belief or hope and I suspect that there were variations in how it was understood. After all, in 1st Century Judaism there was about as much uniformity of thought as there is in 21st Century Christianity (of Judaism or Islam for that matter). Our faith groups are very rarely totally united behind any one precept or understanding.

It is understood that the Pharisee party was a in the group that expected this general resurrection, and Paul self-describes as a member of the Pharisee party. So this helps to underlie Paul's understanding of what has happened in the Christ moment. Paul sees the Resurrection of Jesus as the sign that the general resurrection has begun. Paul, it seems, expects that the eschaton, the "2nd Coming of Jesus" is imminent and that the world is about to be totally transformed (as we read the Gospels it seems that this was a common belief in the early Christian community in general and that maybe even Jesus expected it to happen within a generation or so).

2000 years later we do not have that same sense of imminence. We do not expect that the world will be totally and dramatically transformed within our lifetimes in the same way that Paul did [though there are days where such a total dramatic transformation would seem really nice]. But we still proclaim resurrection. We still proclaim a hope that our last breath in this life is not the end of life. We still proclaim a hope that life will, somehow, win in the end. In some Christian circles this is seen as a "long sleep" until the end comes and the general resurrection happens. In many, possibly even most, Christian circles this hope takes the image of being taken up to heaven at the moment (or shortly thereafter) of death. Still our hope lies in resurrection.

We can preach that life wins because Jesus' resurrection shows us that life can break the bonds of death. We can hope that death and destruction and evil will not have the final say because Jesus' resurrection got the ball rolling. Are we all individually resurrected as we die or will we all sleep until the final trumpet sounds and we all rise together? None of us can say for certain. Personally I tend to believe the former. In any case, we proclaim that Jesus was raised from death and that this gives us hope. As Bill Gaither wrote 50 years ago:

Because He lives I can face tomorrow
Because He lives All fear is gone
Because I know He holds the future
And life is worth the living Just because He lives 

 

Paul tells us that Jesus' resurrection is the first fruit of what God is doing.  Is resurrection real?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to April 16, 2023 -- 2nd Sunday of Easter

 For some years now I have been pondering taking the season of Easter to work through 1 Corinthians 15 (Paul's full chapter exploring resurrection). So this year I am taking 4 Sundays to do just that.

This week we are reading the first few verses: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

The Sermon title is One of Many Witnesses

Early Thoughts: Does a long list of witnesses make a difference? What allows one to become one of those witnesses?

As he approaches the end of this letter Paul gets to the basics of the faith. He reminds the Corinthians of the basis of the faith he has passed on to them -- Jesus crucified and risen. As he begins this discussion he starts to list the many people to whom the Risen Christ appeared. Is this to prove that it happened? Is it an attempt to show that there are others?

Then, after all the others Paul includes himself as a witness. Which makes sense since Paul is passing on what has been passed on to him. It also sets the precedent that a witness to the resurrection does not have to have been part of the first Easter Day. Witnessing the resurrection can happen long afterward, even to very unlikely people [Paul himself names that he was an unlikely choice].

2000 years later who is on our list of witnesses?

Who in our lives have been able to tell us of their experience of the Risen Christ? What do those stories sound like?

Witnesses are important. They do help us know that we are not alone. As they share their experiences they open our eyes to what is possible. Without witnesses who are willing to share their story so much would fail to happen. In the life of faith communities, in the justice system, in the world at large witnesses are key to how we pass on experiences and wisdom.

In the end, I am not sure that only the testimony of other witnesses brings the transformation of resurrection into our lives. I think that it is our own experience that truly transforms our lives. But we need those witnesses. They help open us to the promise and possibility of transformation. They help us process what we experience.

Then we are called/challenged/invited to be witnesses in our own turn. The story never stands or falls on our witness, we are one of many who have gone before. Still we need to be ready to share our story of faith.

What is our story? What did we witness?
--Gord