10/5/08                                                                                         John 14:1-7

THE IMPORTANCE OF WORLD COMMUNION SUNDAY

Rev. James Singleton

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life.’”

            I don’t know if anyone knows just how many Christians there are in the world today.  I suppose the number is somewhere in excess of 2 billion. Not bad considering it all began with just twelve. Still, in a world where the population exceeds 6 billion, disbelievers and other believers continue to greatly outnumber believers in Jesus Christ.

            And even among we believers in Jesus Christ, there are wide and various understandings as to what it actually means to be a Christian. You will find Christians on both sides of many fences and there are more divisions, sects, and denominations among Christians than there are agencies in the Federal government.

            So you can’t blame the majority of the world for not getting excited about World Communion Sunday. I suppose they see it as a rather silly thing to do for a segment of the world’s population to gather on a single day and participate together in eating a piece of bread and drinking from a cup of juice.       The question is, “Why do we take communion?”

No doubt Christians have many reasons for partaking of communion, but I also believe that there lies within us all, wherever we are participating this day, a common reason. When you peal back all the secondary layers, at rock bottom, all of us gather around this mysterious table because what sits upon it we perceive to be the Truth.

            In a world, which floods our eyes and ears and souls with lies, half-truths, and deceptions, here is where we come and commune with God’s Truth. Here is where we get ourselves set right again. Here is the one true vine in a jungle world.

            In every nation we are told the lie that salvation, happiness, peace, prosperity, and fullness simply depend upon having the right government or the right party or the right person in office. We are told that corruption is not a universal problem, only a problem with the other political side. And we are tempted to place all our hopes for the future upon a politician or a party or a group of human beings who will say whatever they have to say to convince us that he or she or they will bring all the change for the good that we need.

            In addition, we are tricked into believing that materialism can fulfill us. If we only buy the right car, wear the right clothes, drink the right beer our life will be full of all the right stuff. And we are saturated with all these lies and find ourselves growing confused and getting lost.

            And then we come here around this table and commune with the One who believed none of these lies—and we know the Truth again. We know that God and God alone has the power to save our lives and fill our souls to overflowing.

These elements remind us that our basic problems in life are problems of the heart and that sin is the corrupting force that drives every human being on earth. And there is no one who is an agent of the good alone. It is here that we realize that until we have found the grace of God that frees us from our selfish ways and experience God’s love poured out upon us unconditionally, no government, no political party, no politician, and no thing can ever fill the void in our soul. Only God’s grace and love can fill that void. Here we communion with the Truth.

            Wherever we Christians live in the world, we are brainwashed with the message of living only for ourselves; doing unto others before they do unto us; the message of success and win at all cost; torture or be killed. Our movie heroes are always those who choose the way of violence and end up fulfilling their lust for revenge. And we grow confused and lost. How are we to live? How are we to treat our fellow human beings? How are we to act toward our enemies? What is our purpose in life?

            And then we come here and commune with the One who refused to be brainwashed and who had the courage to live a new way and we know the Truth again. We know that we were not given this life to horde and keep, but we are given it that we may give it to others.

            Communion doesn’t brainwash us but washes our brain clean from the filth of the world. It reminds us that hatred and revenge lead only to ruin and destruction, and that life and renewal are found only through forgiveness and mercy. No amount of success or victory can give our life meaning and purpose if it is obtained by tearing down another. In this broken body and spilled blood, we see once again what life is all about—sacrificial love.

            Wherever we Christians live in the world, the world has seemingly gone mad. It is a world that rocks and reels with economic turmoil. Many are wondering if there is any hope at all. People are frightened about what the world is coming to. The erratic stock market is evidence of the level of our over all fear. The future appears no longer to be a horizon where we expect the sun to rise; the future is now the place where the sun sets, leaving only a dark world groping in chaos.

            But today groups of people gather around a common meal and remember what it is God did because He so loved the world. We remember who is the Creator and who is the creature; and that God is part of everything that is happening and that God has the power to bring something out of nothing; life out of death; salvation out of human chaos.

            The world is no different now that it has always been. It is no more chaotic now than it was before creation and no more uncertain than when Caesar ruled the world. But out of chaos God brought forth order; into the dark Roman world God shined forth a star; from the tomb of silent death God trumpeted forth the sound of eternal life. These elements confront us with the Truth that our future is in the hands of God—not man.

            Wherever we Christians live in this world, we all face the same terrors and challenges and heartbreaks. Grief, fear, pain, and despair know no boundaries. The world has a way of bringing us down and grinding us into the ground. Unemployment, poverty, death, disease, failure, disaster, loneliness, disappointments all make us feel like helpless victims.

            And then we come here to communion and see that there is another who also faced these universal enemies. There is another who was torn apart, heartbroken, ground into the earth and yet we are here, not at a funeral meal but at a birthday meal. We are here to celebrate Resurrection, Rebirth, and the triumph of Jesus over the powers that threaten to destroy us all.

            The Truth these elements proclaim is that life overcomes death, joy defeats sorrow, and blessings will outnumber curses for those who are in Christ Jesus.

            It is called “communion” because it is here that we commune with the Truth and get ourselves right again. World Communion Sunday means:

• The world will continue to be salted with people who do not follow the ways of everyone else, because they commune with the Way of their Master.

• The world continues to have in its midst a people who do not believe all the lies they hear because they commune with the Truth of their Lord.

• The world continues to have a people who refuse to lie down and die of despair because they commune with the Life of their Savior.

All of this is why I am excited about our chancel renovation. Of all the changes that will be made, one of the most important has to do with the communion table. The communion table, which now resides hidden from over half of those who come to worship and the other half see it only as it resides in the shadowy back of the chancel, will become the central focus of our worship in the renovation.   

The walls that have fenced it off from view will be removed. It will be brought forward into our midst to become the predominant witness to us of who we are and what God has done for us. It will be illuminated by light rather than darkened by shadow. And it will stand before a stained-glass cross that, combined, will proclaim the Way, the Truth and the Life of Jesus Christ to all who enter here.

Today, gathered in every nation are a people who believe love is more powerful than hate; giving more blessed than receiving; community more sacred than individuality; repentance more needed than pride; forgiveness more fulfilling than vengeance; and hope more certain than despair.

The world will little note today what we do, but I ask you, what is happening in the world that is of more significance than World Communion Sunday? And what can we do of more significance to enhance our worship experience than to make the communion table the center piece for all who worship here?

                                                                                    AMEN.