Holy and gracious God, open the eyes of our hearts to experience Jesus
making the old new once again.
Amen.
One of the great joys of priesthood for me is watching children come up to the altar rail for Communion. There is this magical age between say 3 and 8ish where kids *delight* in getting that special little wafer dropped into their sweet tiny hands. You can see the twinkle in their eyes; it is as if their soul is sparkling with anticipation of the good stuff.
Maybe because the little wafer only appears on Sundays, maybe that is what makes it special. Maybe it’s because they are hungry and this is itty bitty snack to tide them over. But, I like to think that twinkle in their eye has more to do than mere frequency or snack time. A sparkle in the eye at any age is usually an indication that the soul knows something beneficent is happening, and in the case of Communion it is a sure, holy, sweet, strengthening beneficence.
So, when COVID19 hit a couple weeks ago and in order to keep each other safe and stop spreading the virus, being a good neighbor to each other meant not coming to church, not seeing each other in this sanctuary, not receiving Communion. At first this was ok with me. I/ we could do without Communion; it was lent after all. We were in the season of fasting. The wilderness days of yearning, doing without and being tempted. Going without Communion almost felt “in line” with the liturgical season like Lent this year was the World Series of All Lents. We are even fasting from Communion.
It has given us the opportunity to notice what it feels like to NOT receive communion, highlighted and emphasized in a time when most of us would likely turn to THE SPIRITUAL FOOD, the blessed assurance of God’s love and favor towards us, THE VISUAL SIGNS of an inner and spiritual grace. We have been fasting from the very thing that in the past has brought us strength, over and over again week in and week out providing an intentional moment to come home to a loving God.
But now we are squarely in the midst of the holiest of weeks. I’m going to own my truth, I very much believe we are loving ourselves and each other dearly by sheltering in place; this is what we must do. AND, I need to also say aloud and honor that I am so missing, my heart is hurting for the action of humbly getting on our knees together around this altar rail and receiving God’s grace in a time when so many of us desperately need an outward sign of an inner spiritual grace.
I’m someone who needs the Eucharist. I need it like I need exercise and water. I’ve been repeatedly humbled through my life. I have been brought to my knees enough times to know that I cannot live on earthly bread alone. And, when I am humbled to my knees, I’d like my wafer please. So, what does it mean to move through this holiest of weeks and not gather around this altar rail?
For weeks I’ve been recalling this holy night we celebrate tonight: Maundy Thursday; a night of a new mandate & a new covenant by our beloved Jesus. This is the night Jesus gathered the disciples around and according to the Gospel of John washed their feet and then clearly shared with them a new mandate, a new commandment.
Jesus was taking something old and tried and true AND making it new. He was taking the Greatest Commandment and altering it in a way that he had not previously. Previously he kept to the routine learned as a child- Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and the second is like unto it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And, on this sacred night, he takes it a step further after washing their feet, he says, “I give you a new commandment.
*Pay Attention here, friends! A new commandment! He could have been making new commandments right and left his entire ministry, but he hasn’t! This is crucial! Foundational for how we understand our discipleship! Cornerstone stuff! Ok, so now that I have you attention…
“I give you a new commandment that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.
This new commandment makes a change to the second commandment (which Jesus equally yokes with the first); specifically he changes “love your neighbor as yourself” to “love your neighbor as I have loved you.” We are clueless how to love ourselves, friends. I’m not talking about narcissism. I’m talking about really taking in the love of God, being transformed by that powerful love, and living lives out of THAT place! Jesus was taking something old and tried and true AND making it new, making it new to transform our lives in his love.
In the 1st Corinthians reading we hear Paul tell the story of this holy night. Recalling that Jesus was celebrating Passover with his disciples: blessing, breaking and sharing the bread and wine as was tradition. And, then he does something new with tradition. Jesus says, “This cup is the NEW covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” Jesus took what was old and tried and true and made something new. Now the bread and wine are a visible sign, a reminder, a way to recall Jesus’ body and blood which sealed the deal, this new covenant.
So, here we are, friends, all in our separate homes. We cannot be together in body, and yes, it hurts my heart. AND there is a palpable sense that we are very much together in heart and spirit. Maybe even more so than when we have been physically together in the past because our intention is so heightened right now.
It makes me wonder what God, Jesus and The Holy Spirit are up to in all this? Let me be clear, I do not believe God caused or “sent” COVID19, AND I have a growing faithfulness that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are very much HERE. The trinity is alive and well WITH US. How might Jesus be taking something old and tried and true and making something new by way of His Advocate, The Holy Spirit, right now in 2020 during a pandemic?
Phyllis Tickle in her book The Age of the Spirit writes:
How does the Spirit work in any era? … religious and spiritual upheaval may, in fact, characterize the Spirit’s most essential work. In other words, biblical scholars hold that in every time and place, the Spirit-- that is, God-- is about movement/disruption and change/transformation.*
Though COVID19 is disrupting the way we have done things for such a long time, maybe, just maybe the Spirit is using this disruption for our transformation in God’s love! After all we believe in a God that transformed death on a cross and rose again. We believe in a God who calls us into intimate and loving connection so that he can transform our lives! I believe our God is hungry to transform the way we love our neighbors and ourselves. All through the Bible (Hebrew Scriptures and New Testament) again and again, we witness a God moving through all kinds of disruption to bring us HOME to God so that He may transform our lives.
So here is some good, no GREAT news that comes when God transforms the old and makes something new: according to Phyllis Tickle we can count on three consistent results found all throughout history:
A new, more vital way emerges.
There isn’t just one but two new creations emerge: a brand-new expression of faith and practice AND there is a grand refurbishing of the old.
And, this is the boldest and most hopeful result… the faith spreads!**
The faith spreads on the wings of the Holy Spirit, moves through our transformed hearts and spreads out into the world breathing hope for all people. I want to be a part of THAT!
In a few minutes Father Pat will bless, break and share the bread. The visible signs of Jesus’ body and blood are still here. The old, tried and true form is here for our eyes to feast on, calling our hearts to open once again to receive God’s strengthening and sustaining love anew.
As the celebrant standing in the place of Jesus, Pat will consume the body and blood tonight, and Father Christopher and I will not receive Communion. We stand in solidarity with you, a remembrance that we are all in this together. Tonight whether receiving Communion or not, just like all the Sundays when the faithful who cannot come to church and are shut in at home, all of us can open our hearts to receive God’s love anew and remember we are all part of the body of Christ, wherever you are in the world this night, you are a part of God’s love and nothing, no situation can take that from you.
It’s too early to tell what is being made new in a lasting way, too early to have any answers. Our piece of the covenant right now with Jesus is to stay awake, hold gently with curiosity and reverence the uncertainty inherent when the holy is crafting something from the old into something new. Like the disciples so many years ago, we come to the table of bread and wine in a new way tonight…
So, open your hearts,
all of you who are afraid to open your heart,
open as much as comfortable for you this night and trust God will do the rest.
Open your hearts,
you who have much faith and you who have little,
you who have been here often, you who haven’t been here in a long time and you who have never been here.
you who have tried to follow,
you who have stumbled,
you who walked away
or felt the church walked away from you.
Open your hearts, because it is Christ who invites you.
May this Eucharist restore a sparkle in your soul
and may that sparkle shine from your eyes in a new way.
All are welcome here.
No questions.
All are loved
and
all are welcome here.
Amen.
*The Age of the Spirit: How The Ghost of an Ancient Controversy is Shaping the Church. Phyllis Tickle with Jon M. Sweeney. Baker Books, 2014. page 117.
** The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why. Baker Books, 2008. page. 17.