"Fast Food for a Long Journey"

Exodus 12:1-14

September 4, 2011 + Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

Reverend Dr. David C. Brown
Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ
400 Glenwood Drive, Chattanooga, TN 37404

Some years ago I was the Senior Minister of a large non-denominational church on Long Island. When I became their pastor I learned that the church had a policy that only confirmed children might receive communion, children at least twelve years old. When I asked the church council why this was so, someone responded that they believed only those old enough to understand the meaning of communion should participate. Everyone in the room seemed to agree.

I told them I appreciated how seriously they were taking the sacrament. Then I said, “Just to be sure that everyone who receives communion at our next service does understand what communion means, I am asking you as well as the rest of our members to send me a letter explaining what you believe is the meaning of communion. I’ll carefully read all the letters. Then I’ll decide those among our members who have a sufficient appreciation of communion to receive it.” There was a startled pause and some nervous laughter. Then someone suggested it probably would be a good idea to allow all who wished, young or old, to commune!

But what if the council had taken my proposal seriously? What if church members had been required to explain the meaning of communion before they could receive it? What percentage of the congregation would have passed the test? I doubt it would have been very high. Dare I say it? I doubt very many people in this or any other Christian Church have a very good idea of what communion is all about. We receive communion because, well, we’ve always received it and we want to do it again. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

Walter Brueggemann, our great United Church of Christ biblical scholar, says that some moments in worship – the Passover meal for Jews, the Communion meal for Christians – are simply done without explanation or understanding. As Brueggemann says, “Serious worship requires violating our sophisticated rationality in order to participate alongside our more credulous ancestors.” (Volume I, The New Interpreter’s Bible, Exodus Commentary, page 778) He puts it this way, (Observing the Passover) “Both eating in a hurry and being marked for safety are acts in which children can engage. It is no wonder that (at the family Seder meal) a child asks, “’What do you mean by this observance?’”

Someone else whom we know said it even more clearly, “Unless you become like a little child, you will never see the kingdom of God.” (DCB paraphrase of Luke 18:17) Truly to participate in communion means letting go of some of our adult rationality.

I’m admitting my age now! Do any of you remember an old radio program called “You Are There?” I think the program may also have appeared on early television. In the program, an historical event would be re-created by the actors and sound technicians. Actors playing reporters would interview these historical re-enactors as the event unfolded. One of the programs I recall was the re-enactment of the Battle of Gettysburg at the moment of Pickett’s Charge. The programs were done so well that you could imagine yourself being there. The past was no longer past, it was present, and we were there.

So it can be for us this morning. By recalling the story of Jesus and his disciples in the Upper Room on that long-ago Maundy Thursday, by blessing and breaking the bread just as he did, by blessing the cup just as he did and by coming forward to share them not only with those in the sanctuary but also with the disciples, we are there. We receive this fragment of bread and splash of wine. Then we are quickly on our way back to this world. But it is enough. We have received what we need: fast food for the long journey that is our life both now and into eternity.

Don’t try to understand it. Simply receive it and God will take care of the rest.