Grace Lutheran Church Holy Thursday, March 24, 2005

Forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.

One of God’s greatest blessings to His church is the Holy Supper that we celebrate tonight. In a most solemn and intimate setting with His disciples on the eve of His death, Jesus spoke fewer than fifty words to establish this holy meal. Through this Sacrament God forgives, refreshes, and strengthens us as we eat the bread and drink the wine.

The central nature of God is uncovered in this breaking of bread. God understands our needs as sinful people. Our greatest need is to know we are personally forgiven and loved in spite of our failures.

We can faithfully attend church. We can be involved in different church programs and activities. We can busy ourselves with planning events, raising money, packaging our activities with a little bit of faith talk thrown in.

We can be fun, kind, responsible people, but still have a faith experience that is generic.

When the challenges of life hit us, there must be more to faith than programming and bible facts.

When real life confronts our faith, it is at that moment we realize that faith is not about knowledge of the Bible nor about activities and being at everything.

So what is faith? This is a question that is answered in the way we experience God.

God knows the challenges we face in an unbelieving world. He is especially aware of our struggles with our sinful flesh and the devil. Witnessing our hopeless struggle, God devised a plan for our rescue.

His plan was not about knowledge or raising money or forcing us to follow set rules. Witnessing our hopeless struggle Jesus came to earth and took our humanity upon himself.

Jesus struggled with our sin. He was tempted in every way. He felt the pain of loss. He was fully human. Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us taking upon himself our weakness in order to suffer and die for our sins in obedience to the will of the Father. Having finished this task, Jesus ascended to heaven. Jesus’ ascension was not a departure from us but a transformation of his presence. Jesus was exalted to sit at the right hand of God the Father, he did not give up or deny or shake off his human nature. Jesus was not anxious or anticipating the glory of heaven, but always seeking to be present for us.

Jesus still is true God and true flesh. He continues to know our daily struggles. He is daily with us. He has the power to help us in our time of need. His transformed presence is experienced by you and me through the Word of God, our baptism, and participation in the Lord’s Supper. We experience the presence of God as we live in the body of Christ, the church.

As we experience God in a real vibrant way we develop a saving faith which is trust that God is with us in a redeemed, restored relationship. When people are looking for a congregation to join, they are not only looking for programs, children’s ministry, engaging bible studies, dynamic music ministries, but ultimately people are seeking a place where they can experience God.

But when I talk about experience I am not talking about breaking faith down to a matter of emotion, a feeling, or a life-changing event. A real and meaningful experience with God is found through living in his word, remembering the gifts of your baptism, and participating in this Holy Meal.

Scientific instruments and human senses can neither analyze nor see the presence of Jesus’ body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. But in this bread and wine, Jesus’ body and blood touch us. It is a mystery, yet a reality for us that in this meal we find union with the holy, the divine, our God.

Our meal tonight is holy, not because I stand over it with my education and vain attempts at righteousness. This meal is empowering and nourishing us with forgiveness and life by giving us the one who provided it for us by the shedding of his blood.

Our meal is not given meaning and importance because of our feeling. I know for a while Grace on Maundy Thursday would set up a series of tables and distribute communion in a table setting. I am sure that this worked. But when I arrived and asked people about such a distribution method, I heard from more than one that the experience of receiving communion around a table helped to make it more meaningful. When I heard that, it may surprise you, I decided that such a means of distribution should no longer be occurring at Grace. Why? Because I did not want something other than God’s Word to be bringing the meaning to the meal.

We experience God not through our feeling, but through the Giver, Jesus Christ, who is our joy and the focus of this holy meal. We can add nothing to this meal, but only take from it. When we come to Christ’s Holy Meal, He gives himself to us sinners. The supper is the core of God being revealed for us. He died that he might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad (Jn. 11:52). He makes us one body. Not through our building, our culture, our ethnicity, but around his word and sacraments, we, the church, are one.

Consider the many grains of wheat they come together to make one loaf. As we share in the body of Christ we are made one, together, children of God, together experiencing the forgiving, redeeming love of our God. Consider the separate grapes that are brought together to make the wine. It is through sharing in the blood of Christ that we are brought out of our divisions, petty conflicts, death, and given forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. It is through this meal as we experience God that we are moved out of our self-centered individualism into a wider self-giving, self-sacrificing love.

It is in this meal that I am reminded of Jesus’ words to his disciples, “Behold, I will be with you always to the very end of the age.” Jesus comes to each of us in his very body and blood giving to us what is so hard to see elsewhere in this world, the blessing of God’s love and the giving of God’s life.

Soli Deo Gloria

Grace Lutheran Church

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