Service of Worship Sunday, February 7, 2021

Sermon for Sunday, February 7, 2021

 

February 7, 2021                                 Communion Sunday       Rev. Peter Hofstra

            I remember the days when I would say, “I saw something in a book I was reading…” whereas nowadays, it seems more likely I would say, “I saw something online…”  It is not that I spend so much more time online than in a book, but that there is a constant stream of ongoing and evolving information spraying like a firehose.  Most of it just passes on by, but this one stuck.

            Basically, the wisdom went, “A day can seem to stretch on forever while the years seem to fly by.”  That connects to the gospels.  We date Jesus’ active ministry to about 3 years.  Those three years fly past in the first two thirds of each gospel while the time filled with the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection, those few days, spread out to take up the rest of the gospels.

            And that stretch begins with the Lord’s Supper.  Our passage this morning was written about the Lord’s Supper before the gospels were fully realized.  Paul’s letters are the first documents written in the New Testament.  In fact, I believe they were an impetus for the gathering of the gospels.  Paul was writing so much to the churches he founded in Jesus’ name that the story of Jesus needed to be set down for those churches, and our churches, to truly understand how great is Jesus’ love for us.

            By God’s grace, this will be the first uninterrupted celebration of communion of the year.  As we come to celebrate, to commemorate, this beginning of Jesus’ journey to the cross and to new life, let us consider, what story is being told here?

            Paul says that what he has received from the Lord, he is now passing along to the church in Corinth.  They are not asking for a ‘how-to’ manual of communion, but rather, they need a corrective.  It seems like the ‘celebration’ of communion is more like a Fourth of July party than remembering what Jesus did.  Leading into these verses, Paul lays out the issue.  Do not come to church to eat excessively and get drunk in the name of Jesus.  Do that at home.

            Given our rather minimalist approach to the Lord’s Supper, small bread, small cup, I have trouble imagining a wild party.  But it might help to remember that was how the people of the Roman Empire did things.  We have a calendar based on the Jewish system, seven days, six days to labor and one as Sabbath, day of rest.  We have taken our sabbath as the Lord’s Day, Sunday, in memory of his rising from the grave.  The Roman calendar did not work that way.  Instead, people worked continually, no regular breaks, but a huge number of irregular breaks.  There were festivals and celebrations to the multiplicity of deities throughout the year which provided the breaks. 

            The key is in the festivals and celebrations.  Some god or goddess did a great thing, so we celebrate.  Bacchus, the god of wine, was the logical extreme of this worship structure.  Essentially, “Zeus did great things!  Party on!”  “Artemis and her wisdom!  Fantastic!  Party on!”  Into this, “Jesus saves!” and the reaction seems to have been “Party on!”  And what is not to celebrate?  Yes, Jesus gave his life for us, but he arose, and now we all live forever!    

            But Paul is called upon to intervene, because the stories he has received are that this celebration of what Jesus has done for us are just an excuse for excess.  Not to far off the mark from celebrations in this age.  Instead of a party, there is a liturgy, Paul gives a structure for the celebration of communion, in two steps, that of the body and that the blood, the bread and the wine.  Both are very visceral. 

            Jesus takes a loaf of bread and breaks it, a visual foreshadowing of what is going to happen to him on the cross.  ‘This is my body that is for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.’  It is the spoken word and demonstrated word.  “My body” is broken, for us.  We are called upon to remember that scene.  I wonder how those words seared into the consciousness of Jesus’ followers when they saw his broken body on the cross.  We remember because his body was broken instead of ours.  He was sacrificed so that we would not die in punishment for our sins. 

            It is a somber, reverential moment.  Returning to our celebration of the Fourth of July, it celebrates the independence of a nation, not our war dead from the Revolutionary War.  Communion is more like the commemoration of 9/11, when we tell one another, ‘never forget’.  Never forget what Jesus did for us. 

            So we, in the course of our worship service, will take the elements one after the other.  That does not seem to be the way of things in Paul’s time.  He tells us-and the gospels affirm-that the bread was shared during the meal but the cup was shared after the meal.  Which is typical of the first century Christian gathering, to share a meal.  They did not have a formal sanctuary, like we do.  They were in process of getting booted from the synagogue.  They met in each other’s homes.  Worship and fellowship were inextricably linked together.  Paul seems to be following that pattern.  The bread is to be shared during the meal, the wine after, in the pattern of Jesus.

            We also have to acknowledge that alcohol is being served at the event.  Wine is being passed around, not grape juice.  It was wine because, at that time, this was only way to safely get at the fruit of the wine for consumption.  Fermenting killed the bacteria where today we can pasteurize.  Wine was often drunk instead of water if the water sources were questionable. 

            If the body broken is a visceral reminder of Jesus on the cross, of his taking our punishment, the cup develops that theme.  “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.  Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”  It is not simply that Jesus’ blood is shed on the cross as his body would be broken.  This is the symbol of a new covenant.

            That word, covenant, is the anchor on which the entire act of communion is grounded for us.  This is language that Paul understood, that the early church would have understood.  Because they followed the covenant God gave through Moses on Mt. Sinai.  This included blood sacrifices of animals to atone, to pay, for their sins.  Blood for blood.  That hearkens back to an even earlier legal principle than animal sacrifice, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life and blood for blood.”  Jesus is the life for every one of our lives.   

            That word, covenant, is the organizing term for our theological understanding of God’s plan.  Ours is ‘covenant theology’, all about the loving relationship that Jesus has renewed with us in his blood.  He passes from death to life so that we will get a pass on eternal death to receive eternal life.  The commonality of phrase is that we do each ‘in remembrance of him’.  This is the organizing principle of our faith in Jesus that Paul is talking to us about, Jesus’ death and resurrection. 

            As he concludes, “as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim his death until he comes.”  So this we do until the Second Coming.  We call the Lord’s Supper a sacrament because Jesus commanded us to do it.  And it was not something he simply commanded his disciples to do in the gospel accounts, because here we have Paul going over the rules of this celebration commended to the church in Corinth.  We’ve gone over it because this celebration has been commended to the churches in Perth Amboy. 

            If the pandemic has done anything for the service of communion, it has sped the process.  Everyone is ‘issued’ with the elements when you come in the door.  When we have a roomful of people, especially with kids, and we take the time to pass out the elements, one at a time, row by row, the feeling that a moment can stretch out in time can be a powerful one.  And yet, now, the importance of our covenant with Christ, in this world of COVID, is more important than ever.

            No matter how slow or quickly it seems to happen, this sharing of the Lord’s Supper is more important than ever.  Because it tells the story of how Jesus gave us salvation.  His body was broken so ours will not be.  His blood was shed that a new covenant would be established.  That covenant has not changed from the one given through Moses, “I will be your God and you will be my people.”  What has changed in the covenant is the assurance of our salvation, that it is by faith and not by works that we become believers.

            This is the free gift of salvation that has been given to us.  We don’t have to prove ourselves to God, God’s love is of everyone.  It means that receiving Jesus, and believing in Him, is how we are granted the power to become Children of God.  It means recognizing the reality of the ‘end game’ of sin.  Sin can provide all the trappings of ‘success’ in this life, but all it provides in the life to come is a dead end.  And, from my experience, all the ‘trappings’ of success do not amount to much when it comes to finding meaning in life.

            Jesus commanded his disciples to carry on this remembrance, to carry on this reminder, to carry on what the church recognizes as a means of grace in this sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.  It means that even if the years of life seem to speed by us far too quickly, it means that if the days of life-especially those of pain (for joy seems so fleeting)-seem to drag on forever, communion gives meaning in the death and resurrection of Jesus.  It means that when we come to this table and we remember, we are remembering all the Jesus has done for us, that in the breaking of his body and the shedding of his blood, a new covenant, one of mercy, one that has the free gift of salvation, one where the years will never pass too quickly, for they will never end, where the moments of life will last, for they will be moments of loving perfection; this is what we will remember until Jesus returns to us again.

Amen.

Order of Worship for Sunday, February 7, 2021

 

First Presbyterian Church

February 7, 2021

10:00 AM

Order of Worship: 5^th Sunday After Epiphany

  

CALL TO WORSHIP (based on Psalm 147)

How good it is to sing praises to our God; for God is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.

God heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds.

Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;

God’s understanding is beyond measure.

Let us worship the Living God

Hymn of Praise: “Savior, Like A Shepherd Lead Us”

1. Savior, like a shepherd lead us, much we need thy tender care; in thy pleasant pastures feed us, for our use thy folds prepare. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus! Thou hast bought us, thine we are. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus! Thou hast bought us, thine we are.

2. We are thine, thou dost befriend us, be the guardian of our way; keep thy flock, from sin defend us, seek us when we go astray. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus! Hear, O hear us when we pray. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus! Hear, O hear us when we pray.

3. Thou hast promised to receive us, poor and sinful though we be; thou hast mercy to relieve us, grace to cleanse and power to free. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus! We will early turn to thee. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus! We will early turn to thee.

     PRAYER OF CONFESSION (In Unison)

O God, our creator, sustainer and redeemer, we confess our feelings of exile and alienation amid a global pandemic, and we wonder where you are. We fear your absence when in fact you are most present to us. Restore in us a sense of your comfort and care. Renew our strength so that we might mount up with wings like eagles. Amen.

 *SILENT PRAYERS OF CONFESSION

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

The God who hung the stars and the moon has come close to each and all with mercy and love. Hear the good news of the gospel: We are forgiven and empowered by God’s Spirit to run and not be weary, to walk and not faint. Thanks be to God.

*THE GLORIA PATRI

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.

INVITATION: “Dear Lord, I need You, please come into my life today.  Amen”

LESSON: 1 Corinthians 11: 17-26

17 Now in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. ¹⁸For, to begin with, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you; and to some extent I believe it. ¹⁹Indeed, there have to be factions among you, for only so will it become clear who among you are genuine. ²⁰When you come together, it is not really to eat the Lord’s supper. ²¹For when the time comes to eat, each of you goes ahead with your own supper, and one goes hungry and another becomes drunk. ²²What! Do you not have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you show contempt for the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I commend you? In this matter I do not commend you!

23 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, ²⁴and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ ²⁵In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ ²⁶For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

SERMON:           “The Sacrament of Communion: The Gift of Christ”                   Rev. Peter Hofstra

Affirmation of faith (from A Brief Statement of Faith)

In life and in death we belong to God. Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, we trust in the one triune God, the Holy One of Israel, whom alone we worship and serve. With believers in every time and place, we rejoice that nothing in life or in death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.

PASSING OF THE PEACE

THE OFFERING OF OUR TITHES & GIFTS

*DOXOLOGY

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.  Amen.

*OFFERTORY PRAYER

O God, we give you thanks for the gifts of creation, and for the gift of life itself. We dedicate our resources to you, trusting and hoping that they will build up your work in our world. Amen.

 

INVITATION

All are welcome at God's table - at Christ's table - at this table. People from near and far. Neighbors and strangers. Young and old. Rich and poor. In whatever way you know the Christ, know you are invited to eat and drink with him... and with us. Alleluia!

 

God be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them up to God.

Let us give thanks to God, our God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

 

We do say thank you, loving God. We thank you for creating the heavens and the earth. We thank you for being the source of all life and all creation - for sharing with us the tiniest seed and the grandest stars... for creating us - with our tears and our laughter, with our joy and our sorrow, with our curiosity and our thinking... with our life. We thank you for Jesus, the Christ - for all that he learned from you and in you, for all that he taught, for all that he shared with the disciples, and all that he shares with us. Thank you, loving God!

Therefore, we praise you, wonderful God, joining our voices to sing out the glory of your name!

 

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of Power, God of Might. 

Heaven and Earth are full of your Glory!

Hosanna in the highest!

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest!  Hosanna in the highest!

 

THANKSGIVING

We rejoice that, through Eve and Adam and all of their children, You entered into relationship with us. We rejoice that, through Sarah and Abraham and all of their children, You entered into covenant with us.   But we also remember that the covenant and relationship with You has been broken, many times by our ancestors - and by us.

Each time the covenant was broken, You invited us back! Through prophets and pastors and wise ones, You invited us back! And still we broke faith with You. But, at the right time, You sent Jesus to live with us.

Given life by the Holy Spirit, given life by the decision and action of your favored one, Mary, He came to share our life - to bring us back to each other and to our covenant with you! At the Jordan River Your Spirit came upon him, calling Him to tell the world the good news of your love. He healed people who were sick and fed people who were hungry. He cried with those who mourned and danced with those who celebrated. He looked for people who were lost and alone... and helped them to understand that they were welcome at your table! He lived out the fullness of your grace. We saw his holy love.

 

INSTITUTION

On the night before he was put to death, Jesus gathered with his friends for a special meal. He took bread and gave thanks to you, O Lord. He broke the bread and offered it to those gathered around him, saying, "Take this and eat; this is my body which is given for you, do this in remembrance of me."

Taking a cup, he once again gave thanks to you, and shared the cup with those gathered, saying: "This is the cup of the new covenant in my blood. Drink from this, all of you. This is poured out for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sins."

After the meal, Jesus was arrested. His disciples and friends ran away. He was beaten for what people thought he had said. He stood trial... and was put to death on a cross. He gave all of himself to your people, O God. His life and his death. Then you raised him from that death, holy God - that he might be one with you, now and forevermore!

As we remember his death, proclaim his resurrection, and look for His coming again, we offer to you, O God, this bread and this cup. Send your Holy Spirit upon us and upon these gifts, so that everyone who eats and drinks at this table might be one in Christ's body... your holy people.

Through Christ, with Christ and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory is yours, God most holy, now and forever more!

 

LORD’S PRAYER

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil; for Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

 Jesus Christ, the bread of life. Jesus Christ, the true vine. The gifts of God, for the people of God. Thanks be to God! Come, for the table is prepared and our cup is overflowing.

 

SHARING THE BREAD AND THE CUP

 

*CLOSING HYMN #513        “Let Us Break Bread Together”

1. Let us break bread together on our knees; Let us break bread together on our knees. When I fall on my knees, With my face to the rising sun, O Lord, have mercy on me.

 

2. Let us drink wine together on our knees; Let us drink wine together on our knees. When I fall on my knees, With my face to the rising sun, O Lord, have mercy on me.

 

3. Let us praise God together on our knees; Let us praise God together on our knees. When I fall on my knees, With my face to the rising sun, O Lord, have mercy on me.

 

*BENEDICTION

 

*THREE FOLD AMEN

 

 

 

Elements of Order of Worship drawn from The Presbyterian Outlook, written by Robert Gench.