Peace Amongst Chaos

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I listened to a TED talk a few years ago that has been brought to mind because of these recent events. The TED talk is titled, “Is the world getting better or worse? A look at the numbers” by Steven Pinker. People at the time were calling 2016 the “Worst. Year. Ever.” And then 2017 came along and said, “Challenge accepted!” It seems like each year has begun with “This will be a good year” and then everyone starts looking for the reset button. 

I’ve seen a lot of panic posts on Facebook. People think the world is ending. This start of a new decade is just the start of bigger problems for our world. Reading all of this, I was reminded of this TED talk by Steven Pinker, a psychologist and Harvard professor. The basic premise of his talk was that the world has progressed over the last 30 years rather than declined. He gave data to back up his claim. Thirty years ago vs today:

America: 

30 yrs ago    – Homicides 8.5 per 100k and 12% poverty rate

2017                – Homicides 5.3 per 100k and 7% poverty rate

World:

30 yrs ago    – 23 ongoing wars, 37% in extreme poverty, 60,000 nuclear weapons

2017                – 12 ongoing wars, 10% in extreme poverty, 10,000 nuclear weapons

(200 years ago 90% of the world’s population was in extreme poverty)

2016 was a bad year for terrorism in Western Europe with 238 deaths. 1988 was worse with 440 deaths.

And how has this fact been covered in the news? A tabulation of positive and negative emotion words in news stories has shown that during the decades in which humanity has gotten healthier, wealthier, wiser, safer and happier, the "New York Times" has become increasingly morose and the world's broadcasts too have gotten steadily glummier.

Journalists do not usually chase after stories of peace and prosperity. The papers could have run the headline, "137,000 people escaped from extreme poverty yesterday" every day for the last 25 years.But they don’t! They don’t stand in front of cities reporting “40 years of peace.”

The world is getting better but that doesn’t sell headlines.

 “You can always fool yourself into seeing a decline if you compare bleeding headlines of the present with rose-tinted images of the past.”

Satirical headline from "The Onion," "CNN Holds Morning Meeting to Decide What Viewers Should Panic About For Rest of Day."

I don’t share any of this to now say, “The Covid-19 Coronavirus is fine, and we should go about life as normal.” What I want to communicate it that the media sells fear and panic. Fear is a virus that is extremely contagious. It is at times like these that we need to be reminded of who we are. We are Christians. Children of the Father who has not given up on redeeming his creation. We are people of hope and peace.

During this time of Lent, we are in a time of waiting and watching. We see the world around us is not as God intended for it to be. Christians around the world give up something for Lent to remind them that the world is lacking and in need of redemption. Lent is a time where we are reminded to keep looking forward to Easter, Christ’s Resurrection. Because of the Resurrection, we are not people who give in to fear. Death has been conquered. We live in light of the life that has been given to us through the Spirit. During this time of chaos and fear we need to be the people our neighbors can look to who are people of peace and joy. 

Romans 8:18-27

18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

Go read the rest of Romans 8. Read it every day with your family to be reminded of who we are in Christ. All of creation is groaning in anticipation for the Resurrection where all things will be made right. We have the firstfruits of the Resurrection within us through the Spirit. How does that change how you act in the world? How does that change how you address the chaos of the world? 

 John 14:15-21

15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

Jesus did not leave us alone. God is with us and in us. Wherever you go, God is with you. This should change your reality. God’s presence in you is also God’s presence through you for a world in desperate need of peace.

John 20:19-23

19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Spend some time meditating on this passage in John 20. Jesus walks into the room where the disciples were hiding, and he breathes peace on them. He walks into the room and offers them peace. We are in a crazy time right now where people are literally staying behind closed doors to keep this virus from spreading. We do need to practice social distancing right now, but many people are hiding behind closed doors in fear and terror…and with loads of toilet paper. 

Spend time meditating on John 20. Sit with the disciples in the room. Feel their fear after Jesus’ death. What does it feel like to receive peace from Christ during that time? Sit with that for a while. If you have kids, talk about the fear that the disciples would have had during that time and ask them to use their imaginations to have Jesus show up in the room and place peace on them. This is a beautiful exercise of interacting with the text. Not just for kids, you can do it too!

What would it look like for you to be Jesus today and offer peace to your neighbors? To offer peace to children without access to school lunches? Who can you be Christ to in the coming weeks? 

 Prayer

Lord, you breathed peace on your disciples who were behind closed doors in fear. You walked in peace amongst a people who were hurting and had no hope. You offered peace to those who thought they could provide peace for themselves. We are in a habit of rejecting your peace because we have it all figured out. During these times of chaos, remind us that we have the Spirit within us. This Spirit of peace moves through us and creates space for us to find rest. Help us to create spaces for peace for the world that is in chaos around us. Bring an end to this pandemic quickly and help our world to be reminded that we are better when we come together in unity. Lord, come quickly. Amen.

Henri Nouwen

Joyful persons do not necessarily make jokes, laugh, or even smile. They are not people with an optimistic outlook on life who always relativize the seriousness of a moment or an event. No, joyful persons see with open eyes the hard reality of human existence and at the same time are not imprisoned by it. They have no illusion about the evil powers that roam around, “looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8), but they also know that death has no final power. They suffer with those who suffer, yet they do not hold on to suffering; they point beyond it to an everlasting peace.

C.S. Lewis – “On Living in an Atomic Age” (1948)

In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. “How are we to live in an atomic age?” I am tempted to reply: “Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.”

In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways. We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.

This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.

Identity Centered on the Table

Have you ever had a meal that changed your life? I can think back to different things I have eaten over the years with different levels of nostalgia because of the events that took place around the food. Most meals for me are memorable because of the people that are brought around the table and the conversations that are shared. Food plays a major role in who we are and what is meaningful to us. Erin and I didn’t have cake at our wedding. That seems significant to a lot of people. We aren’t huge fans of cake, but we do love a good pie…and we eat lots of pie at different times of the year. It would be significant if a wedding didn’t have some kind of celebratory food.  

We often pair certain types of food with significant events. This is no different for the focus of this week’s sermon. When Jesus called his disciples to a deeper level of following him, he did not give them new doctrines. He gave them a meal. They ate the Passover meal together (Mt. 26:17–30, Mk. 14:12–26, Lk. 22:7–39 and Jn. 13:1–17:26) and he gave it new meaning for them. This meal has been central to Christian community from that moment moving forward. The Church receives her identity through this meal and this identity should shape everything we do together. It is in this meal that Jesus, God in the flesh, took on the role of the servant and washed the disciples’ feet (even Judas). He called them to do likewise. “This is my body… This is my blood…” are words that have echoed for two millennia. 

We’ve spent a lot of time over the last few months talking about what the Lord’s Supper is supposed to mean for us. We want to reclaim the importance of the Lord’s Supper for our community through being intentional with our practices around the meal. This Sunday, we will move the Lord’s Table to the center of our assembly as the visual center of who we are.

To prepare for this Sunday, take some time to read Exodus 12:1-14. The blood on the doorposts mark the people as set apart as the people of God. This is a reality that they carry with them through the wilderness and into the promise land. They kept this meal as central to their identity as those set apart by God. The problem Israel continued to struggle with is living out their identity of being set apart as the people of God. They continued to choose Egypt (slavery) over God (freedom). 

When Jesus made the new covenant in his blood, he set us apart as the people of God. We choose to be marked by his blood, to be set apart from those in the world. This is central to who we are as Christians. The divisions and the chaos of the world are not our ways.  

In Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth, he reminds them of their identity in Christ as those marked out by his blood. Paul addresses the flippancy of sin in 1 Corinthians 5:1-13. The main thing I want to focus on this Sunday is verse 6-8. How does focusing on our identity in Christ, set apart in the world, transform us from the ways of the world and into the image of Christ for the world? What areas of your life don’t come in line with what Christ has called us to in his death, burial, and resurrection? If you took a deep look each week at the call to be set apart in this world by the blood of Christ, how would your life begin to change? How would our Church Family change with this focus at the center of who we are? “Therefore, let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” – 1 Corinthians 5:8.

Decent and In Order - Matthew 12

In a world of distractions, we struggle to slow down and listen. This was the main point of the sermon last week. I want to continue with that focus this week and give an image of what we have Christians have often focused on and what listening does for us and, more importantly, in us. 

Jesus gives a brief parable in Matthew’s Gospel that has worked as an image of the Christian life for me over the years. Before we get to the parable, I want to share an odd memory that I have of a house I visited as a kid. I might have been 8 at the time. We were visiting distant relatives that I had only met a few times. I remember walking into their house and there being a rope sectioning off one of their rooms. The room was pristine. The floor was adorned with the whitest carpet I had ever seen. There was also a white couch, which may or may not have had a plastic cover. I don’t actually remember a plastic cover or not because I couldn’t get anywhere near the couch. 

The owners of the house kept this room immaculate. It was pure of dust and dirt. My embellished memory recalls the fear of my mother as she brought her 8 and 11-year-old boys into the house. I do remember a stern command to not go into that room. For whatever reason, that room pops into my memory from time to time. Years later, I thought about how silly it is to have a room where live wasn’t allowed to take place. 

Sometimes the Christian life is like that. We get really focused on making sure everything is clean and in order, but we don’t allow any life to enter in. I remember hearing a lot of “Don’ts” growing up. Good Christians don’t ___________. These lists aren’t bad in and of themselves, but do they lead to life? When we approach Christianity only from a point of do’s and don’ts, we place the emphasis on what we do to make our life right rather than submitting to God and allowing him to work within us. 

The fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:13-26) are not developed through sheer willpower. They are developed by allowing the Spirit to enter into your life. Then, the house will be decent and in order and will be a place where life is being lived. Read Matthew 12:43-50 with this in mind. If you’ve removed the demons from your life, gotten the house in order, but haven’t opened the door for God to take residence, then the demons will just keep coming back and you’ll be worse off than you were before. 

Where can you create space for listening to God in your life? What areas of your life are you struggling to “get in order”? Invite the Spirit’s guidance into those areas. 

Read Matthew 12:46-50 – Who are Jesus’ true Family? How do you know the will of God? How are you allowing God’s will to guide what you do in your life?

Slow Down. Listen. This is the Habit of Prayer.

I just got a holder for my phone to put in my car. There are a few reasons for this but one of the underlying reasons is that I realized that I struggle to sit for 20-30 seconds without doing something. When I come to a red light, I pick my phone up and check to see if there are any emails I need to glance at. It hit me one day that I’ve gotten to the point where I struggle to sit still. Writing this brings Psalm 46:10 to mind, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Reflecting on this verse, I begin to wonder if my desire to fill every moment with “something productive” is really my own deeper struggle to let God be God. 

When was the last time you stopped and did nothing? Not, sat and read a book, checked your phone, etc. We tend to fill our time with something, anything. Even when we set aside time to pray, we tend to fill that time with talking to God. I’m not really talking about “nothing.” What I’m actually talking about is very active. It is an active nothing that is filled with intentionality. This active nothing is called listening. Henri Nouwen, whom you’ve heard me quote a number of times now, says, “Prayer is first of all listening to God. It’s openness. God is always speaking; he’s always doing something.” This understanding of prayer was new to me a little over a decade ago and has been a journey ever sense.  

Listening to God is scary and uncomfortable. One of two things are going to happen: something or nothing. If something happens, you have to wrestle with what God has spoken to you and if it was in fact God who was speaking rather than your own wants and desires. If nothing happens, you begin to wrestle with why you cannot hear God or why he isn’t speaking to you. I have found that the second is the devil’s foothold and his work. Listening to God is a “muscle” which needs developing. We don’t often want to enter this space of listening because we have to let go of control. It is more comfortable for us to do the talking ourselves and stay busy. 

This Sunday, I want to explore this idea of listening and prayer in Scripture. I will use the imagery of Elijah’s journey to Mt. Horeb in 1 Kings 19 as the narrative for how we miss God in prayer. Take some time to sit with this story. How well does Elijah listen to God? Is he changed by God’s presence? Think about yourself in this story. In what ways do you look for God in the big events represented by wind, fire, and earthquake? Why do we expect God to be in the big things? Why do you think we struggle to notice God in the gentle whispers? Slowdown in the next 48 hours and look for God. I’d love to hear from you and where you saw God showing up. How different would life be if you regularly slowed down to notice where God is working and speaking? 

Jesus models a life shaped by prayer. I’m going to provide a list of references to Jesus’ prayer life early in Luke’s Gospel. What did Jesus hear? What is Jesus doing or getting ready to do when he prays? What do you need to learn from these passages?

• 3:21-22

• 4:42-44

• 5:15-16

• 6:12-13

• 9:18-20

• 9:28-29

The Meal that Unifies - Christ's Presence for the World

When we gather around the Lord’s Table, we all come to the table by the same grace from Christ and are brought into the same reality by Christ. Galatians 3:26-29 was the main focus of our time together last week. Whenever we come into Christ through baptism, it is Christ that is revealed in us, unites us, and makes us whole. Therefore, there are no distinguishing divisions between us in the eyes of God when we come around the table. All he sees is Christ in us. He does not see us as male or female, slave or free, rich or poor, American or non-American, Republican or Democrat, etc. Any divisions between people are washed away as they gather around the table together. 

When the New Testament writers talk about the church, they talk about it as a New Temple (1 Cor. 3:16-17, Eph. 2:19-22, 1 Peter 2:4-10). This isn’t just metaphor but pointing to the reality of the existence and mission of the church. The temple was designed as a microcosm of the Creation. It is filled with imagery pointing back to the Garden of Eden. The texts in the First Testament use the Genesis 1 imagery of God speaking creation into existence and order by God giving instructions for the Tabernacle and Temple in seven speeches. 

As I’ve been studying about the Lord’s Supper, the imagery started standing out that in the New Temple, the church, the Lord’s Table comes to represent the Holy of Holies. This is the space where we come closest to the presence of God, to take God within us, and then to carry God into the world that does not know his presence. We have the Spirit within each of us, but the Spirit is made known more fully when the church comes together in unity. The church, in unity, becomes the microcosm of what God intended the creation to be in the first place. To say it differently, the church is the beginning of God’s reconciliation of the world (Rom. 8, 1 Cor. 15, 2 Cor. 5). All of creation is longing for redemption (Rom. 8) because it knows that it was meant for something better and greater. This is what the resurrection is. In Jesus, we see the first glimpse of what is to come not only for humanity but for all of creation. So, when we gather around the Lord’s Table, we enter into the Holy of Holies to encounter the God of New Creation to shape us into the people we need to be to partner with God to cultivate his New Creation, the New Heavens and New Earth (Eph. 2:10, 2 Peter 3:10-13). 

The imagery I’ve been trying to keep in my mind over the last few years is borrowed from David Fitch’s book “Faithful Presence.” He looks at the church and God’s mission for the church in three circles: The Close Circle, the Dotted Circle, and the Half Circle. The Close Circle is where we gather around the Lord’s Table where he is host. This is the place of the church where we come for transformation to then go into the world. We take God’s Presence with us where we become the host of God’s Presence at our tables. It is around our tables that we invite our neighbors and coworkers into the presence of God through us being host. We then are God’s presence as guest at the tables of the world. These are the restaurants, coffee shops, breweries, neighbors, etc. We are reminded that we are guests in these places, and we enter those spaces as those carrying God’s presence. 

As host at your table: Is your house a refuge of peace for people to escape to from the chaos of the world? What are you doing to bring God’s presence into your house so that it might be transformed as a place of peace? 

As guest at their table(s): In what ways do you see Jesus entering into peoples’ homes? How are their lives changed by his presence as a guest? When you enter someone’s life, do you bring peace, or do you add to their chaos? What area of your life do you need to work on right now to bring transformation into the image of Christ for the world? 

The Meal that Unifies - Christ's Transforming Presence

Last week, we talked about the presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper. This is a longstanding debate in Christian history, mostly surrounding the reformers in the 16th century bringing correction to a world that had become very superstitious. When it comes to a lot of debates in Christian beliefs, I love what one of my favorite scholars, NT Wright, is fond of saying, “We must stop giving 19th-century answers to 16th-century questions and start asking 21st-century questions listening for 1st-century answers.” I want to keep exploring the Christianity the was founded by the early disciples of Christ to see who we are called to be today. This is a Christianity that existed in the margins of the Roman world and had no power. There is a lot for us to learn about who we need to be today moving forward into the uncharted terrain of a post-Christian society. One of the major beliefs in the early church was that Christ was present with them in the Lord’s Supper. They called it the “Mystery” and held this belief as central to who they were as a community of believers. 

This discussion is honestly a little uncomfortable for me to wrestle with. If I am honest, I would rather the Lord’s Supper just act as a memorial meal to remind me of what Christ did to save me of my sins (the teaching of Zwingli in the 16th century). If Christ is really present with us, then what does his presence mean for us as a people who join him around the table? What does his presence mean for your transformation into the image of God for the world: Christ’s likeness? How does Christ’s presence change the way you see other people who are at the table with you? Do you see them the same way the world sees them, or do you allow them to be transformed into the way God sees them through Christ?

Two years ago, I read a book by David Fitch called “Faithful Presence.” It really shaped how I think about the church and God’s mission in the world. He looks at the church in three circles: The Close Circle, the Dotted Circle, and the Half Circle. The Close Circle is where the church gathers in the Presence of Christ around the Table of the Lord’s Supper. This is where we are transformed by the Presence of Christ and take Christ within us through the eating of the meal. We then carry the Presence of Christ with us as we leave the assembly of the Church. 

We carry the Presence of Christ into our homes where we invite people to gather around our table. At our table, we become the Presence of Christ as host for others to come to know Christ. This is where we invite people to come closer to Christ’s presence. Our homes should be places of peaceful rest for others to retreat to from the chaos of the world. We can only create these places of peace through being transformed ourselves in the presence of Christ. This should be the focus of why we gather. We all have the Holy Spirit within us, but the Spirit is more fully realized when the Church comes together (1 Cor. 3:16-17; Eph. 2:21-22). 

The Half Circle is where we carry the Presence of Christ to the tables in the world around us. We become the Presence of Christ for them as guests around their tables. We’ll explore what this means in later weeks. First, I want us to look at how drawing close to Christ’s Presence weekly shapes our identity as a Church. 

Here are some questions I wrestle with when I consider the power of the Presence of Christ for the transformation of a community:

• If the Lord’s Supper was central to Christian community, how would this have changed how Christians viewed one another during the Civil Rights movement and prior? 

• When a Church is on the verge of a split, how could the Lord’s Supper re-center them in their discussions and debates (Philippians 2:5-11 comes to mind)? 

• When I am personally struggling with Sister or Brother in Christ, how does seeing them at the Table shape how I think of them? 

• How does the Presence of Christ transforming each person into Christ’s image (Galatians 3:26-29) change how we understand our place in the church community? 

The Meal that Unifies - Christ's Presence at the Table

We often take for granted why we do the things we do and even why we think the way we think. It is important to slow down from time to time to take our glasses off to examine the lenses in which we look at the world. Over the last two-thousand years words have changed meaning as they have passed from one language and culture to the next. Different worldviews have been developed, passed away, and redeveloped again. The church at times has moved in some majorly wrong directions, reformers have stepped in to bring correction, and we’ve continually needed reformation as the world has changed and has carried the Bible along with it. We often take all of this for granted and assume that the way we approach and read the Bible is the same way that the early church did. 

Our church is part of what is called “The Restoration Movement” which spurred out of the Presbyterian Church back in the 1800’s. If you want to know more about that movement, I’d love to talk to you about it, but I won’t do it here. One of the original intentions of our movement was to be a “Continual Restoration.” In short, we are a movement of people who want to continually come back to the Bible to guide us in what we believe, what we practice, and who we are supposed to be as those who are called by God to bring reconciliation to this broken world. As a movement of continual restoration, it would be a mistake to assume we have “arrived” and gotten everything right in how we read the Bible. In doing so, we have dismissed the Holy Spirit from among us and have told God that we’ve got him all figured out. As I said before, it is important to take the glasses off, clean the lenses, and look back at where we’ve come from so we can see where we need to be.

As we continue our study on the Lord’s Supper, we move this week to a hotly debated topic: Jesus’ presence in the Lord’s Supper. Is Jesus present? Literally? Figuratively? Not at all? Is this “just a symbol”? Is this a mystery we take in faith? What does it mean to receive the body and blood of Jesus as our spiritual meal of nourishment? What does it mean for Jesus to be present as the Host at the Table? 

When it comes to this debate, we are part of a branch in the tree of Christianity the stems from a guy named Huldrych Zwingli who was a church reformer living in Zurich, Switzerland at the turn of the 16th century. He could not accept “transubstantiation” (where the break and wine literally become the physical body and blood of Jesus), nor could he find a suitable way to explain that Jesus was present in the elements at the table, so he therefore taught that the practice of the Lord’s Supper was only a memorial to remember (in thoughtful reflection) what Jesus did for us so many years ago in the events of the cross to save us. He was reacting to the church in the Middle Ages who took the belief that Jesus was present at the Lord’s Table to an unhealthy form of superstition. 

I won’t bore us with every detail of how the church got to that level of superstition in the Middle Ages. What I want to do is look at what the early church believed about Christ’s presence at the Table and the Biblical framework for that belief.

Between now and Sunday, I want to challenge you to wrestle with this hard subject. What would it mean for us to take seriously that Christ is present with us when we gather around the Table? What does it mean for us to feed our spirit with the nourishment Christ provides us? I don’t expect us all to agree with this discussion, but it is an important one to come back to and reexamine. 

The early church believed that Christ was present in the Lord’s Supper. They did not feel the need to explain it or rationalize it. They simply took it in faith and called it a “mystery.” In my studies on the Lord’s Supper I keep coming back to what the function of the Lord’s Supper is in the church. The image I keep coming back to is the image of the church being the Temple (1 Cor 3:16-17). Where was God’s presence located in the Temple? The Holy of Holies. In the Temple, only the High Priest could come close to God’s presence on behalf of the people. Christ brought us near to God so that when we approach the Table, we come close to the presence of God. So close in fact that we are allowed to take his presence inside of us. We then carry the presence of God into the world moving outward from the Table. If the church is the New Temple, then the table of the Lord’s Supper represents the New Holy of Holies where we draw close to God’s presence to be transformed into the image of Christ. 

I’m not 100% sold that Paul would agree with my imagery. But, if this imagery was accurate what role would the Lord’s Supper play in the shaping of the church if we all believed that the reason we came together on Sunday was to draw closer to God’s presence as a community so that we might carry God’s presence into the world?

“The Lord is in his holy Temple; let all the earth keep silent before him.” – Habakkuk 2:20

The Meal that Unifies - The Need for Mercy

Habits. Rituals. Practices. We call things by different names, but all of these are actions we regularly engage in which shape who we are. Throughout church history, though less so in our fellowship, these habits and rituals have been called “liturgies.” Liturgies could be defined as “rituals of ultimate concern.” The practices we engage in during our worship service should form our hearts towards the “ultimate concern.” The narrative of the Gospel should shape the ultimate concern for our lives. Liturgies invite us to participate in the narrative so as to be shaped by the narrative. 

Liturgies are the rituals which form identity by instilling particular visions of the good life. They do so in a way that trump other rituals. Both the secular and religious narratives are embodied in some kind of “liturgy.” The liturgies of the church should shape our hearts for God. By contrast, there are rival liturgies in the secular world trying to shape your heart and draw you away from God. 

In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul addresses the issue of idol worship. We would all agree that worshipping idols is detrimental for our spiritual growth. The temples presented rival liturgies that were obviously in contrast to the Gospel of Christ. We look back at this situation in Corinth and easily see the problem. But we struggle to allow this text to become a mirror into our lives to reveal to us the rival liturgies we engage in on a regular basis. Take a moment to take inventory of the rituals you engage in on a regular basis. Think about the habits you engage in whether those are intentional or unintentional. How do these habits form you? Where do these habits direct your heart?

When I started taking my habits seriously, I started to recognize how little things I was doing in my life were shaping who I am. It seems pretty mundane, but I had the habit of looking at my phone first thing in the morning. I would open my email to see if there was anything important that needed my attention right away. I would then look at Facebook to see what is going on in the world of my friends. Finally, I would look at a few different news sights to see what headlines there were so I could be informed about what is going on in the world. 

These may not seem like terrible habits, but I made a small change and have noticed a world of difference. I try not to look at my phone and do any of those habits till later in the morning. I try to begin my morning with silence, scripture, and prayer where I do very little speaking and I just try to listen to God. I have found that when I’m healthier in this practice, I am less chaotic, less narcissistic in how I compare myself to what’s going on with others, I am less worried about the chaos of the world, and I don’t feel like it is up to me to fix everything. I didn’t realize it, but my morning habits were devoid of God and set the tone for my day. They were shaping me in negative ways. What are some small habits you can change in your life to create space for the Holy Spirit to take root in shaping your heart for God? 

It is easy to create bad habits. Simply, do nothing intentional. It is harder to create intentional practices. It takes time, effort, and it is often uncomfortable at first. I guess that’s why these intentional practices are also called disciplines.

When we have a “vision of the good life” that comes into contrast with the narrative of the cross and resurrection we tend to fight anyone who might challenge our understanding of the good life. How does the Lord’s Supper act as a lens to examine the narratives we have adopted into our lives? Who are the rival deities creating rival liturgies in the world? Consumerism? Materialism? Individualism? Comfort? Happiness? What else might you add to this list? As Christians, we need to continually keep these rival deities in check to make sure we are not being shaped by the world. What habits do you have in your life that might be coming from the temples of these rival deities? 

In 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, Paul reminds the church of Israel’s story. Here are a few observations:

• He is speaking to Gentile Christians and says, “our ancestors” implying that the story of Israel is our story too. We need to learn from the Old Testament stories so we know ourselves better. 

• Paul points to baptism and the Lord’s Supper in the story of Israel. The parallel here is this, just because you are baptized and take communion every week does not mean that you are right with God if you continue unchanged and worship other gods. 

• The Christians in Corinth seemed to be continually engaging in the temple practices of their society claiming that they are safe from impact because they have received baptism and communion. 

In 10:14-22, Paul speaks against this. Carelessly engaging in the temple practices of their society has a lasting impact on life. This is like the rival narratives we were talking about before. Paul gives a hard warning not to allow these rival ritual practices to shape who they are. He then lifts up the Lord’s Supper as the counter narrative needed to shape our love and desire for God. 

As we continue in this study of the Lord’s Supper this week, we will focus on the reality that we are all sinners in need of mercy. We all are in need of reconciliation. We come to the Table recognizing that we are not worthy to be there, but it is Jesus Christ who has made us clean and invited us to the Table. Therefore, the Lord’s Supper needs to be a time of examination where the rival liturgies and rituals are exposed in us so that we might hand them over to God to be redeemed, transformed, or crucified. 

The Meal that Unifies - Do This...

Paul and the other followers of Jesus traveled around the known world, establishing communities of believers who were to live out this new Kingdom reality believing that Jesus was the rightful King of all creation. They were to model their lives individually and as a community. They established a regular reminder for what is central to the Christian life. “For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you…” is Paul’s way of reminding the church of who they are supposed to be.

When you read Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, you quickly see that there are divisions within the church. What is dividing them? Just about everything. Who taught them about Jesus. What food they believe you’re allowed to eat. When women speak in church, should they wear a head covering or not? Economics. Ethnicity. Social status. Etc. There’s something divisive for everyone in the church in Corinth. 

You don’t have to spend too much time with people to realize that there are plenty of things to be divided on. Paul reminds the church that there is a meal that is a symbol and seal of their oneness: The Lord’s Supper. The struggle in Corinth is that even this meal has become divisive for the church. The gathering around the Table should be an occasion for us to be reminded of what unites us as one people. But in Corinth, this meal has become an occasion for some to shame others (11:21-22), causing them to eat and drink judgment against themselves (v29). Paul is very condemning of their abuse of the meal that should be the Lord’s Supper saying that, “when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse” (v17). 

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the two earliest practices put in place in the church for the Spiritual journey. Baptism is where we participate in Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6:1-14). Paul then mentions this baptism in 1 Corinthians 10:1-5 and how the Israelites went through baptism but failed to be transformed by it. Paul uses this imagery to set up his reflections on the Lord’s Supper. Baptism is the grace we receive when we join in the action of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection as our own. We are then called to live out that reality continually, being transformed into the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18). The disciples of Jesus established communities where this transformation was continually cultivated and acted out by those who have died to themselves in order to live like Christ. They were given a meal to regularly remind them of this reality. They were given the Lord’s Supper. 

What is it about the Lord’s Supper that should unify diverse people? This is the question I want to explore over the next few weeks. Read 1 Corinthians 11:17-24. This week we will focus on what it means to “do this in remembrance of me.” The meal is not intended to be a memory exercise for personal reflection. It is intended to be a place of examination and transformation to remind us that we are to live out the death, burial, and resurrection in our lives with one another. How do you view one another if you all receive the same grace that brings us to the table as equals? How does this change the way you see your status in the church? How does this change the way you see the status of others in the church? If we are all made equal through the same grace of Christ, how does our regular practice of gathering around the Lord’s Table transform us into a people who look different than the world?