Sermon Sunday
25th.
September, 2005
Reading: Take,
eat, this is my Body……………. Matthew 26
I
was reading recently about a man who went back home. A man who went back home
and went to visit a country church which sits beside Lochbroom, the church
where his family used to worship. He made a return visit, and wrote down his
thoughts and impressions.
He
tells us, that inside this little
The
writer reminds us that in days gone by, the Communion season, would affect the
lives of everyone in the village and surrounding hills,
family and friends gathered
and it was a time to rest from working the rocky soil, or fishing the
unforgiving sea,
Ordinary
life was suspended whether at the plough, or at the anvil, or on the hill, or
at home, or out in the boat
the days before Communion
Sunday became a time of quiet thought, and preparation for the Lord’s Supper
During
the service, after the sermon, the
minister would invite the men and women in the congregation, to the long tables
to come and sit at communion - you can picture it in your mind – fishermen, crofters, shepherds, the laird,
cooks from the big house, domestic servants, estate workers all there at the
long tables.
Without romanticising it too much, when they
came and sat together around the table –
and the bread was passed
round and the wine in the silver cups .
it was for many men and
women there
an awe-inspiring moment
- a time they would remember for days, or weeks, or a lifetime to come
Let’s
move from that
Over the
past few weeks we have been hearing about a famous survey done over the last
15 or so
years in the small town of
You’ll remember by now
that the survey shows a slow shift away from the churches in Kendal, and the
growth of new groups focussing much more on self, astrology groups, psychic
consultancy groups and so on.
The researchers tell
us that a very widespread shift is taking place
away from
living for others, towards living for self,
a shift from
life centred outside yourself to life centred in yourself.
and so away
from the churches and Christian faith, to living much more for yourself
Well, in some ways,
the researchers have got it exactly right about Christian faith,
the New
Testament does indeed speak of life centred, not in ourselves, but beyond
ourselves
we read that Jesus called the crowd and his disciples to
him: and said
if
anyone wants to come with me he must forget self… and come, follow me, that could not be
clearer
……what Jesus says to
His followers is to forget self, yes, there’s no doubt about that, to forget
self.
But He is offering an
invitation to live life centred in Him, from Him, through Him,…..
to know Him, to draw on His life, and love,
Jesus invites us to give
our own life to Him, but in doing so - and here is the wonder -
we discover
that this is
not to lose life, but to find it !
For living life
centred in Jesus, from Jesus,
through Him,….. means not having to depend on our own faltering,
frail selves, but means relying for
everything on Him, it means not having to depend on our own faltering, frail
faith, but relying on Jesus, who shapes
and upholds, and creates ever deepening
faith in us.
And as Paul says, this
is by God’s grace…. It is not the result
of your own efforts, but God’s gift……….. To know Jesus Christ, to draw on
His life, and love, is not to lose life but to find it……….
Let’s
go back to that
with those old traditional
Scottish communion tables, the people gathered.
You
know, when the men and women in the congregation, came
to sit together around the table –
when the bread was passed
round and the wine in the silver cups at the Lord’s Supper
that was, and still is, a
sign of everything we have been saying about Christian faith over the past few
weeks, when the bread is passed round and the wine in the silver cups at the
Lord’s Supper.
This
is a sign of the way we live as a Christians,
living in Jesus Christ
and
serving one another
the bread and the wine of
the Lord’s Supper are a sign of two
things:
First
living in
Jesus Christ,
and Second a sign of
serving one another
First:
living in Jesus
Christ,
Let’s
go back to the
you know, when the men
and women in the congregation, fishermen, crofters, the laird, when they came and sat together
around the table –
and the bread was passed
round and the wine in the silver cups
something was happening,
something was taking place
and it’s this………. they
were sharing the bread and the wine in the presence of Jesus Christ.
For
His promise is this, that whenever we gather together
to take the bread and wine He is with us. Not simply as a memory, but present
with us.
The one who was crucified is Present as Lord of
all, present among us..
so when we take the bread
and the wine something happens, something takes place.
Jesus Christ is present among us, who has promised that
when we take the bread and wine we take His life into our very souls, and live !
for Jesus Christ is the Bread of Life
Now, of course, we meet Jesus in many times and
places – in times of worship, or of quietness, or when the path of life becomes
dark, when the shades lengthen around us, when we are lost and alone,
or when once again we have failed Him, and ourselves.
But then, there comes a moment of sheer grace, and
we know His presence once again
for, as Paul says, in Romans 8, In
Jesus Christ we have a relationship which nothing can break.
But in a special way,
When we take the bread and the wine to ourselves His life
is at work in us,
Jesus
shares His life with us through the Holy Spirit –.
strengthening us, imparting life to
us.
so that the life we have in Him, that relationship with Him is renewed
when the bread and the wine are shared out among us
bread and wine speak of the source of our life in Jesus,
who is the Bread of Life.
And when
the bread and wine are shared, they also speak of how we are called to serve
each other
Let’s
go back to
you know, when the men
and women in the congregation, fishermen, crofters, the laird, when they came and sat together
around the table –
the bread was passed from
person to person, from the fisherman to his wife, to the crofter to the laird,
to the minister,
each man and woman there
had to receive the bread from someone else, and then give the bread to the
person at their side……….
each one receiving and
giving, giving and receiving,
each person, being served
by the one next to them and then serving the other at his or her side
just as we do.
Isn’t
that a perfect sign, there in that Highland Church long ago, and here in Kirk o’ Field, of the way that
Jesus Christ has called us, to serve one another,
to give and to receive ?
That
the writer…..
describing men and women gathering together apart from the busyness, from the
routine, from the sorrows, of the world,
meeting with Jesus Christ
to share in the living Jesus Christ
and finding life for their dry, dusty, parched, bruised spirits
however long ago that was, how like them we are !
hungry for bread that will
satisfy us, to the very depths of our souls and beings
and –
we
find it unfailingly in Jesus Christ,
who is the very Bread of
Life Himself
AMEN