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St. Andrew's Church
An Anglican Church • Grimsby, Ontario, Canada
Preached by
Stuart Pike
Rector
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Proper 20 B - Christ's Community
John 6: 51-58
20 August, 2006
St. Andrew's Church, Grimsby
For me, the idea of community is where it all begins and ends. Community, communion, compassion, companion. All the "com" words. "Com" being the Latin for "with".
Community or communion: Having unity with others or union with others.
Compassion: sharing the passion of another (for example feeling their sorrow or joy).
Companion: "Com" plus "Pan" (or bread), sharing bread together. These are the essence of our faith.
Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that I grew up moving every year or so. Church (especially Anglican Church) became a place of stability and permanence in an otherwise impermanent life. The "com" words were important: it meant that I was not alone: that there were others who shared with me: their bread, their space, their passion, and I and my family belonged.
There are people who ask me about the Holy Communion service. "It doesn't make sense", they might say. "You don't really think it is the real body of Christ, do you?" they might ask.. "Why do we have to do it every week?"
Holy Communion isn't and never was supposed to be an exercise in logic. It is, rather, an experience of community, commitment, compassion and whole lot of other "com" words. It is a meal, and includes the best of what a meal can be: other people sharing food, drink, conversation - sharing themselves, really, and that is what communion is about.
And so it is, wherever I live, wherever I visit, there is a community gathered each week to share their time, their prayers and their holy bread which makes us companions on a holy journey, and that means that none of us are alone.
Through my life, in the community which I found each week there were all sorts of seemingly ordinary people. Some were smart, some were lowly, some were beautiful, some weren't so beautiful, some I liked and knew well, some I didn't like so much and some I didn't know, but in communion with one another I felt, more than understood, that there was among us a holy presence and I always left feeling blessed and being part of something important and lovely and even holy.
Now there have been thousands of theologians who have argued over what Jesus meant by the words which we read in today's gospel lesson. How is this bread his body, this wine, his blood? Wars have been fought and people have been martyred over the way they understood Christ's presence to be real in the holy communion. While this was happening many people, learned and earnest though they were, were certainly not experiencing the real presence of the prince of peace. Many of them seemed to understand Jesus' words and Holy Scripture in only a literal way, missing the deep truth of Jesus.
Jesus is bread for our souls. It is only by absorbing Jesus' body into our own that we become wholly alive: that is the way in which we will live forever. It is only by being "with" Jesus- so close that he is within us, that we realize his presence among us.
On my desk top (my real desk top - not my computer desk top) I have a small piece of paper with a schematic which I imagined entitled, "Holy Communion" and it shows a triangle with a word at each point of the triangle. Those words are: Liturgical, Spiritual and Practical.
Holy Communion is Liturgical in what we do each week as we physically share in the body and blood at the altar. This is the weekly liturgical feast which represents the holy feast of heaven and the real presence of Christ in our community.
Holy Communion is Spiritual in that it mystically unites us to Christ and to each other, and even to the saints and our loved ones who have gone before and who now feast, beyond time, in Christ's heavenly home. This spiritual nature of Holy Communion is what transforms us. It makes us what we call the body of Christ in the world today.
And this aspect of Holy Communion is what leads us to the practical. It is in being and becoming the body of Christ, that we act to welcome others into communion with us. It is in being the body of Christ: his hands, his feet, his voice, that we make possible all of those other "com" words: compassion and commitment and community. It is about welcoming and gathering in those who might now be outside. It is about sharing with those in need and feeling the passion of others.
And so, when we gather each week to share communion, remember what this feast is really about. Remember to be there, not only for the physical event of sharing bread and wine, but to be there for the spiritual reality. Remember just how important all the people who are there with you really are. Remember why this feast is central to our worship. Remember how you belong here, and realize who you are to be as you leave this place.
Communion, companions, compassion, commitment, common ground, community. This is who we really are. Amen.
