Welcome
So glad you’ve joined us this morning. It is a joy to be together, even if it is virtually.
Announcements
There are now socks in the male bin as well as the female bin. You are welcome to bring some by the church during office hours. And when you come by, you may pick up an Advent packet from the church during office hours Thanks to Becky and Andrea who worked hard putting those together. We have a congregational meeting on Sunday, December 6th, at noon, to vote on leadership for the coming year and our budget for 2021.
Call to Worship
We’ve received from our ancestors the gift of faith: Oral and written messages of God’s presence in the world. Today, we celebrate the ways God has shown up among us. Today, we offer our praise to God and commit ourselves to being present for each other and present for the world in which we live.
Pastoral Prayer
Join me in prayer:
O Holy One who set the table before us, we admit that this table gets a little crowded. Not everyone has the same manners we are used to, some people eat more than what we think is their fair share, and there are those who barely make it in time for dessert. Some decorum would be nice, is all I’m saying. I mean, you gave us the elements, the bread and wine, and you gave us the words, remember remember, but Your standards seem a little low. This a banquet, after all, O Great Host, not a soup kitchen. It’s not even a potluck, though if You would let us take some ownership every once in awhile, we could clean up this haphazard way of doing things under Your watch.
But O Holy One who sets the table before us, we realize that You never really seemed to care about people’s manners. You’re the one who invited yourself over to people’s houses for dinner, and washed people’s feet in the middle of the main course, and entertained the sketchy and the weepers and even those who would do you harm.
And O Generous Host, we suppose that You had a lot to say about fairness and who deserves what, and it was usually the people who were talking about fairness that caught Your ire the most. Maybe we don’t understand fairness after all. Maybe while we trifle in petty matters, You are busy cutting another piece of the pie for the hungry one next to You. Maybe you’re sneaking a dollop of icing Yourself.
And God who seems perpetually late, perhaps punctuality is not the virtue we think it is. Perhaps attendance is predicated on more than just sheer willpower but also on the powers and principalities that govern our lives, the commitments we have chosen and the commitments we are beholden to like it or not. Perhaps, perhaps, O God of the Great Perhaps, You do not show up to the table Yourself until the last one we were waiting for finally arrives ahead of You, walked by You.
It does get a bit crowded, O Holy One. But there is a space for each of us, saved by You, even a space for the grumbling ones like me.
And so Holy One, we pray softly the prayer together that Jesus, our brother and redeemer gave us to hold onto:
Our Father, who art in heaven
Hallowed be Thy name
Thy Kingdom come
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever.
Amen.
Children’s Message
Scripture
1 Corinthians 11:17-34
Now in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. For, to begin with, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you; and to some extent I believe it. Indeed, there have to be factions among you, for only so will it become clear who among you are genuine. When you come together, it is not really to eat the Lord’s supper. For when the time comes to eat, each of you goes ahead with your own supper, and one goes hungry and another becomes drunk. What! Do you not have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you show contempt for the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I commend you? In this matter I do not commend you!
For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord. Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgement against themselves. For this reason many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
So then, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If you are hungry, eat at home, so that when you come together, it will not be for your condemnation. About the other things I will give instructions when I come.
Sermon
Sometimes I think of Paul driving the new church movement “bus,” and yelling: “You people settle down, don’t make me come back there. I’ll turn this church thing around, and then you’ll be sorry. The phrase at the beginning of our scripture, “In this I do not commend you,” is one of the nicest ways to begin an unpleasant employee review that I’ve ever heard.
Let’s set the scene a little more clearly. Even back then, all over the known world, there was a class system. Some people had found wealth and prosperity, often at the expense of others. “Built their wealth on the backs of the poor,” some people say. Greed, and a lust for power are not modern inventions. Slavery and the Caste system have been around since Moses was a little boy, maybe longer.
So in this earliest of church gatherings, when they were just figuring out how to worship together, whether to sing 3 verses or 4 of Amazing Grace, and when to take up the offering, they were doing communion in a unique way. It was a fellowship supper of sorts, not just a cracker and a spoonful of wine, it was a meal. After all, isn’t that the way Jesus did it? Start with a regular meal, then share the bread and the cup with the words of institution. But in this gathered meal, certain bad habits had crept in. They weren’t waiting for each other. Some would start before others even arrived. Maybe they had to work late, traffic was bad, perhaps they were stopped by the Roman police because they didn’t use their turn signals. Paul says, “I do not commend you for this. Wait for each other, eat in fellowship. There is something powerful about sharing a meal with someone else.
I remember working with the Leadership Fort Worth group, and each year taking a tour of the Salvation Army and the Union Gospel Mission where Jerry takes our socks and coats. One year, the “students” went through the line first, I felt really awkward about that, and what it meant was, we all sat with our similar people, and were half finished before the people, the regular customers even came through. It felt segregated, it felt wrong. The next year, when I planned the day, we paired students with clients. They stood in line together, they ate together, they shared stories with each other. For those who had phones, they exchanged numbers. It was, as Pastor Ashley says, a “Pop Up” of the kingdom of God.
But Paul also “would not recommend” their eating habits. Some ate their fill while others starved. Some feasted, some were famished. “Eat at home,” he scolds them. Don’t make this about your wealth and prosperity. Make this about your sister, your brother. Discipleship is a constant and conscious effort that requires us to reorient our lives around the most vulnerable among us.
There’s a story, a vision really, of a person who visited a room. There, they saw people seated at a round table, with every wonderful food available, within reach for everyone. The only problem: these people had no elbows. They could reach whatever they desired, but there was no way to bring it to their lips. They were miserable, starving, wailing for the cruelty of this place. But then, in the very next room, there was the same setting, the same kind of people without elbows, seated in front of the same sort of table, filled to overflowing with the same feast. But these people were happy, joyful, eating their fill … because they reached each item of food, … and fed it to their neighbors, and in turn, were fed by their neighbors. Isn’t that a vision of the realm of God?
Sometimes I wonder if Paul’s literal description of the events at the worship experiences in Corinth, are a metaphor for our experiences in the world. How often do I finish my meal, at home, or out somewhere, then drive to my next errand and find someone who is hungry, begging for food at the street corner? Paul didn’t ask why the people were poor and hungry. Paul just said “Wait for each other.” And “Share your food.” We don’t know what people are dealing with in private. All we need to consider is how best to feed them.
For Paul, the table is the great equalizer. He’d written, maybe three years prior, to the people of Galatia: “Now there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male or female, for you are all one in Christ.” I’m sure he was frustrated that the people of Corinth still didn’t understand and practice that message. Being in Christ should, necessarily, re-orient your life. It should transform how you view and interact with the people God puts right in front of you every day.
You know, our Bible isn’t arranged in the order the books were written. The gospels were written some years after the letters. Acts written maybe 15 years after 1 Corinthians, but it describes the days, just after Pentecost when the church was brand new, no scratches or dents. And one of the beautiful images described about that sleek, gleaming new church, goes like this:
“Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:43-47)
As any had need. Broke bread together, they ate with glad and generous hearts,
At the table, we say everyone is welcome, everyone is valued, everyone is equal. We say it, but if Paul were here, he’d ask, “Do you live it?” Beyond these walls, does your life reflect the generosity of God with your neighbors?
Communion
When Aaron was 6 or 7, we hosted a Thanksgiving meal for some of our friends. Remember when you could have friends over for a meal? We had the traditional “Adults” table and our sons sat with some of their friends at the “Kids” table. As we were eating, Aaron asked for a roll, went back to the kids table, and spontaneously began, “Jesus took the bread, gave thanks and gave it to his disciples.”
We were shocked. We stifled our giggles, but then, I wept a little. He was listening to the words we were saying in church! Here was living proof that our faith was being handed on to the next generation of Disciples. It’s like Alison sitting here on the second row and reciting the Lord’s Prayer with us, in a wonderfully distinct voice. We wouldn’t be here without Paul and a thousand other disciples who received from the Lord and then handed on to us. Thanks be to God for this gift, thanks be to God for those who have given it to us.
In Paul’s own ancient words: For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Sharing Resources
Wait for each other. We walk this road together. We share our resources with those who have needs. We are grateful for the ways you have shown up for this church with your energy, your commitment, your passion and your financial support. I want to remind you that there are several ways you can give to the church listed in our comments. Also, we would love for you to pledge to the ministry of this church in the coming years. You can mail your pledge card, you can call with your commitment to the church office, or you can fill one out electronically on our web page.
Benediction
The precious gift of God has been handed to us. But it is not ours to hoard, and to hide. It is ours for a moment in time to be cherished, and then to be given. May God’s blessings be yours in the receiving, in the holding and in the sharing. Amen.