Come to the Table

This is the sermon I gave at First Congregational Church of Maltby on Sunday, August 7, 2016.

Come to the Table

Rev. Dr. Tom Sorenson, Pastor

August 7, 2016

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O God, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

We’re going to do something different here this morning. I know, churches don’t like doing things different. That’s why in my line of work we call the phrase “We’ve never done it that way before” the seven last words of a dying church. But you can’t say that this morning because I’ve been told that you have done it this way before. I’m talking about doing Communion by what’s called intinction. For those of you who don’t know, here’s how it works. We aren’t going to pass plates and trays around in the pews like we usually do. Rather, two of our folks, Lisa and Jeff, will be standing up here at the head of the center aisle. One will have a plate with pieces of bread on it. The other will have a cup filled with grape juice. I will invite you to come forward down the center aisle, take a piece of bread from the plate, dip it in the cup, consume it, then return to your place by one of the outside aisles. It’s really simple, yet because we haven’t done Communion by intinction in my time with you perhaps it would be good for me to talk a bit this morning about the sacrament of Communion and why I like doing it by intinction.

Communion is the oldest ritual of the Christian tradition. We just heard Paul’s account of Jesus instituting it from 1 Corinthians. That means the our tradition was doing Communion, or Eucharist, which is its more formal name, at least since the 50s of the first century CE and certainly longer than that. This sacrament goes all the way back to Jesus himself. Paul said it does. Three of the four Gospels say it does. (The fourth one, John, doesn’t mention it at all.) Different Christian traditions understand it differently, but as far as I know all of them celebrate it in one form or another. Coming to the Lord’s table is one of the few things all Christians do, and many see it as a sign of the underlying unity of the Christian church.

Different Christian traditions understand the sacrament of the Eucharist differently. Roman Catholics believe and teach that when the sacrament is properly performed by a proper priest that the bread and wine (the Catholics use wine) become the real body and blood of Christ. Some more Unitarian types of Christians see the sacrament only as a way to remember Jesus, for at the Last Supper he said “Do this in remembrance of me.” We in the Reformed tradition, and that includes the Congregationalists, tend to see the sacrament more as a symbol of the presence of Jesus Christ among the people. The bread and wine, or juice, remain bread and juice, but they point beyond themselves to the reality of God and Jesus Christ and bring that reality visibly into our midst. On occasion the power of the symbols of bread and juice have become very real to me as I have presided at the sacrament. When they do I feel the presence of Jesus in my very bones, and know that he is present with us and in us. That, frankly, is why I love presiding at the sacrament. I hope you love participating in it too.

OK, but why do it by intinction? Well, for me there are a couple of reasons to do it this way. The first, very practical one is that doing it that way makes setting up for the sacrament and cleaning up after it a whole lot easier than is getting that little bit of juice into all those little glasses. Moreover, you’ve been using disposable plastic cups, which frankly isn’t very environmentally responsible. Intinction solves those problems.

But there’s another, more powerful reason why I like doing the sacrament by intinction. As part of the Communion liturgy, after I’ve said the prayers and the words of institution, I always say “The gifts of God for the people of God. Come, for all things are ready.” But when we pass plates and trays in the pews no one except the servers actually comes. You all just sit there. You don’t come to the gifts of God, they come to you. Yes, you still receive them, and I suppose that that’s what’s really important; but the people receiving the sacrament basically just sit there.

When we do Communion by intinction, when I say Come, you (or at least most of you) actually get up and come. For some of you that is physically or emotionally difficult. That’s why I will be available to bring the elements to you in the pews for anyone who can’t or doesn’t want to come forward. There’s no reason to be self-conscious about that. I’ve done it many times before, and we want everyone who wants to partake to be able to partake. But I trust that most of you will stand up, move to the center aisle, and actually come forward to receive the elements of the sacrament. That’s what I love about doing Communion this way. Each of you individually and the congregation as a community of God’s people makes a choice, makes a commitment, to come to the table. The people move, they come to receive the blessing of the sacrament. I find that movement to be a powerful symbol of the commitment of the Christian community to its Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I hope that those of you who do come forward will feel the same thing as you stand and move to receive Communion.

So, we’re going to try it this way this morning. I hope you find it a meaningful experience. Whether you do or not, please let me know your thoughts and feelings in the matter after the service. We don’t have to keep doing it this way, or maybe we can do something like I’ve seen other churches do and alternate each month between trays and intinction. How we do Communion is less important than that we do it. Still, I hope you will give Communion by intinction a chance. I like it. I hope you do too. Amen.