#5 - What is Communion? {Reflections}

What is up everybody?

My name is Ryan Braille.

I'm the pastor at Central here in Elk River, minnesota.

I'm in studio with Mike Lauer.

What's up, buddy?

Not much, I had my birthday yesterday.

Hey, happy birthday.

Thanks, bud.

Hey, for your birthday, we're going to record episode number five of our new podcast we're calling it Reflections where we just take a minute or two and talk about a few things that are kind of humming for us.

I want to talk about one of the Lutheran sacraments, which is like a $5 theological word, but it's the sacrament of communion and this meal, the Lord's meal, and then later we'll talk about the sacrament of baptism.

But as Lutherans, we have two sacraments, whereas the Catholics, who are always trying to one up us Lutherans, they've got seven.

That's a joke, by the way.

I love Catholics.

We only have two, and here's why.

What makes a sacrament a sacrament for us Lutherans is two things.

One is a command from Jesus telling us to do these things, and then also a promise tied to the command, and they both come from Jesus himself.

So for communion, we hear Jesus say hey, take a knee.

This is my body, it's given for you.

Take and drink this is my blood shed for you.

These are the words of institution found in the gospels and also in 1 Corinthians.

So Jesus commands us to share in this meal, and then also the promise is for the forgiveness of sins.

I love that because where there's forgiveness of sins, there's also life and salvation, and so Jesus commands us to eat and drink, and then there's this forgiveness of sins.

The other thing that makes a sacrament a sacrament is that there's this earthly element tied to it.

So there's just bread and water and wine, but these ordinary earthly things, when they're tied to the command and promise of Jesus, they become something unique and different.

And I love communion, because communion is really just, fundamentally, it's a meal, and this meal is where we experience in many wonderful ways the presence of Jesus.

Now, meals in general are ideally like these wonderful places of food and drink and conversation and family and friendship and joy, and we love a good meal and a good evening where you have friends and family around the table.

And so it's no wonder that the church has celebrated for many, many, many years this wonderful meal and that Jesus institutes this meal.

I mean a meal, and in this case this meal is a visible expression or manifestation of the presence of Jesus and the kingdom of God.

So sacraments, communion and baptism, these are not magical ways of us conjuring up the presence of Jesus as though he wasn't there, like the moment before Now.

He just sort of shows up.

Because we do these things, christ is already present and I would say, always present.

Colossians 1, hebrews 1 says that Jesus is the creator and sustainer of all things, and sacraments are a way for us to remember the presence of Christ, to kind of be awake and aware of it, not like in a nostalgic way, but a tangible and embodied experience which we wake up to the presence of Jesus that's already there.

And so they do their gift for us to sort of encounter the divine.

The Celts might call it like a thin place.

The Celtic Christians believe that there was, like this veil between the material world and what they would call the spirit realm, and every so often and in certain places, this veil that separated these two realms, that grew very, very thin.

And so in these moments it was as though the veil could be breached and, like the divine, might slip over into the material world, or the material world might slip over and experience the undeniable sort of presence of the sacred and in these thin places, the natural world sort of seemed to brush up against the sacred and the divine and there are places of wonder and beauty and and to mystery.

And so I wonder if, like, the sacraments are maybe something like this as well, like these very thin places where God's presence and life is already there and available and we kind of brush up against it in this mysterious and divine way.

So the Lord's supper, then, to me is not magic, we don't need to conjure up this presence, but but it's an invitation to this very thin place to come awake, to the mysterious, divine God of the, of the whole universe, and receive love and forgiveness and life.

And this is incredible.

It's an invitation to share in the life and forgiveness of Christ and kind of reject all these hints of darkness, as though we're sort of touching the transcendent in a very real way.

These things don't make the presence of Jesus more real at all, or the union with Jesus more real, but they help us experience in a tangible and profound way this union with Jesus, and I love this.

The meal is also a picture of the kingdom of God and what happens, what it looks like when heaven and earth come together.

So there's this community and friendship and life and togetherness and abundance.

And it's no wonder that Jesus and others use the image of a banquet feast to talk about the age to come, or the age of resurrection, or you might call it heaven, this giant banquet feast.

There's plenty of bread and wine and friends, which we all drink and talk and laugh and enjoy the love of God, and we're this free guac as well for everybody.

Amen, mike, amen.

And so here's the deal.

Back when I was in seminary you know there are all sometimes in these certain streams of Christianity, there are these certain rules about who can receive communion, who can't receive communion, and it comes up a lot for many folks.

But back when I was in seminary I just decided in my own heart and in my own head I'm like I will never turn anyone away from the table.

I just thought this beautiful feast, that sort of the presence of God, it's the forgiveness and life of God and it's this beautiful picture of the age to come and it's a wonderful meal.

I never wanted to be responsible to turn someone away from that.

Why would I ever want to do that?

It's the Lord's table anyway and in my opinion all are welcome.

And so I told God I'm a God.

If I'm wrong about this then please forgive me, or we can hash it out when we kind of meet face to face.

But unless someone's doing something totally egregious like if they come to the table drunk or something like that, where they're just not present, I'm gonna serve them.

And so sinners are welcome to come to the table.

Non-members of central are welcome to the table.

Kids are welcome to the table.

If they come forward with their hands out and they want to receive the body and blood of Christ, I'm not gonna tell them no.

And so in many ways, the stepping forward to receive this wafer and this wine, it's a step of faith of them coming to receive.

And so I always say when I serve the meal hey, all are welcome with the Lord's table this morning, because I would never want to deny anybody this invitation to come and receive the life and forgiveness of Jesus.

So next time you have communion, be awake and be alert and remember that you are being invited into this wonderful, beautiful meal with the Lord and with each other.

So if you're hungry, come and eat, and if you're thirsty, come and drink and receive the presence of Jesus and life and forgiveness and all that it means.

So, all right, love you guys.

We'll talk to you soon.

Peace.