Fed, Loved, and Blessed
By: The Rev. Pete Martin
When I was a boy, I spent three years living in a small town in Georgia called Cedartown nestled in the Appalachian foothills. Our family attended a very small Episcopal church there called St. James. It is still active today, in fact. There was also a Catholic Church there that was even smaller than our church was. There must have been an arrangement made between the two dioceses because I have never heard of this happening ever since. Sometimes we would attend their church and share communion and sometimes they would attend our church and share communion. Since I was a young boy, I thought nothing of it, of course. They were just fellow brothers and sisters just as we were to them.
Fast forward to when I was a young man and joined the Navy. At the Navy base in Orlando, Florida, they offered three services a Catholic service, a Protestant service and a Jewish service. Since the Protestant service there was more of the Southern Baptist variety, I chose the Catholic mass. When it came time for communion, I went to accept the host and wine when the Priest asked me if I was Roman Catholic. I said, “No Father, I am Episcopalian”. He looked at me and said, “Then I cannot give you communion”. I was stunned. I looked at him with confusion and blurted out “Since when?” It made no sense to me and in a way, it still doesn’t make sense.
I offer this story as a way we might reconsider what happens every Sunday when we take communion. I see it as a gift that we should never take for granted.
I have spoken with a few young people who have told me that eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood might seem a little ghoulish. The way I have explained it is that we show love by what we are willing to give up. God shows the depth of love by giving up his own son Jesus Christ to us. Communion is displaying God’s love for us so we can take that love out and into the world. At this table, everyone is invited and everyone receives bread, wine and a blessing. And everyone leaves differently than how they came here fed, nourished and blessed.
I have always been struck by the beauty of the Episcopal Eucharist. It begins with an opening hymn. A welcome or greeting to God’s house on Sunday morning. This is followed by readings where we hear the word of God spoken aloud to all of God’s community. This is followed by a sermon, where the speaker shares what this Sunday’s word of God says to them. It is a slow, ascending buildup to the climax – the sharing of God’s gift at the communal alter to the followers of God. Finally, we have a final hymn which sends us out into the world, fed, loved and blessed. Now, don’t get me wrong. Other Christian denominations have similar services that are equally meaningful to them but as a cradle Episcopalian like myself, this is where I feel most comfortable. The flow of the Eucharist puts God’s gift where it belongs – as the most important part of the service.
Twice in today’s reading, Jesus says that he is the “Bread of Life” and he ends the reading with a similar declaration when he says “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Maybe it is not a ghoulish as we might think it is!
We feed from God’s table so that we can go out with that love inside of us, into a world that needs it, into our homes that may need it, Come to this table. Lay all your burdens down. Fill up again with God’s love, and the love of this community, the body of Christ but it is not only us in this room that need this bread from heaven.
Consider those without a place to live, those who are alone and/or heartbroken, those caretakers who are caring for those in need and, of course, those who are hungry or struggling with mental illnesses and so many others who desperately need to know that God loves them and blesses them. In my work with the homeless, I have seen this so many times. They know their struggle and they are ridiculed and mocked all day long and yet, they are some of the most hopeful people who are willing to hear God’s word that I have ever met. For a lot of them, God’s love is all they have.
So I will conclude with my original story about being denied the bread of life by a Priest when I was a young recruit. It is worth a chuckle but there is a deeper meaning and one that I hope stays with you as you come to the altar for communion. This represents much more than just bread and wine. It represents God’s love and devotion to each of us. Whoever we are. However, we have sinned and fallen short, we are always welcome to come to God’s table for nourishment and love. No matter if you have sinned or fallen short, you are welcomed in this community. No exceptions. Amen.
