Bore da i chi gyd, dw i’n gobeithio bod dych chi’n teimlo’n
iawn.
I have been thinking a lot about the things which I have
been missing during this lockdown and this morning I just wanted to share a short(ish)
reflection on where my thoughts have been this week.
If you fancy something a bit more “sermony” there will be
something on the blog later as well as the podcast or maybe a video if you are
extremely unfortunate.
I think from next week, my Sunday reflections will be
combined to form a mid-length, economy sized sermonette, but for now here are
my thoughts.
For those of you who don’t know, and I am guessing that it is
probably most of you, I am a Methodist Deacon which means that as well as being
a fully ordained minister I am a member of a religious order. The Methodist
Diaconal Order has, at its heart, a rule of life. This sort of thing is common
for many religious orders, it is a set of rules and guidance for the members of
the order to live by. In the case of Methodist Deacons, because we are also
ordained ministers, the rule is there to support us in the ministry which we
do. There are parts of it which are designed to strengthen and empower us to do
what we need to do. They say you cannot pour from an empty jug, well the rule
is there to help ensure that our jug is full, and as the quote from the movie AVATAR
goes “It is hard to fill a cup that is already full,” so the
rule reminds us to give as much as we receive.
There is part of the rule which I have been reflecting on a
lot this month as I think about the things which I am missing most.
The very first part of the rule itself says “attend worship
regularly, especially Holy Communion.”
It is Holy Communion which I am missing, and I had struggled
to work out exactly what it was which I was missing about this simple meal of
bread and wine shared with the worshipping community.
It was only when I saw the Bible reading set for today and
began to reflect on that that I came to an understanding of what it was that I
was missing.
In the reading we find two of the disciples, Cleopas and
another, heading to a place called Emmaus. It seems that they had not been
present with some of the other disciples when Jesus had appeared to them after
having been raised, so they had headed home. Possibly convinced that the Jesus
movement was over, or maybe seeking somewhere to hide from the authorities as
the rest had.
Anyway, they are walking to Emmaus (about 7 miles from Jerusalem)
and they were talking about everything which had happened in the past few days. As they walked, they were talking with each other about all
these things that had happened.
How could
this have happened? Surely someone could have stopped it? Did no one see Judas
leave? What happened to Peter? And what about the women? Was their story true?
What did it mean? Had the Romans or the Priests taken Jesus body away?
While they
talked together and picked apart all that they had heard and seen over the last
week and tried to make sense of how it had all changed so suddenly, they
realized that someone had drawn up alongside them as they walked and talked and
was listening to what they were saying. We know now it was Jesus, but they were
unable to see this themselves.
He said to
them, “What are you talking about? You both seem so sad; you can barely lift
your heads from looking at the ground. What on earth could have happened to
break you so?”
The one
named Cleopas, answered Him, “Are You the only foreigner in Jerusalem who does
not know what has happened there in these days?”
Jesus plays ignorant and lets Cleopas pour out his story, he simply
listens.
He said to
them, “What things?”
They said
to Him, “It’s all about the man named Jesus of Nazareth. He was a mighty
prophet who did amazing miracles and preached powerful messages in the sight of
God and everyone around. Our chief priests and authorities handed Him over to
be executed—crucified, in fact. We had been hoping that He was the One—you
know, the One who would liberate all Israel and bring God’s promises.
Anyway, on top of all this, just this morning—the third day after the
execution— some women in our group really shocked us. They went to
the tomb early this morning, but they didn’t see His body anywhere. Then they
came back and told us they did see something—a vision of heavenly
messengers—and these messengers said that Jesus was alive. Some people in our
group went to the tomb to check it out, and just as the women had said, it was
empty. But they didn’t see Jesus.”
He said to
them, “My friends, I think you may have missed the point. Do you not believe
what the prophets have said? Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer
these things and to enter His glory?” Then, starting with Moses and then the
Prophets, Jesus walked them through the Scriptures, through the whole story of
God’s involvement with the Hebrew people. He took them on a journey through the
words they knew so well, words they would have known from Childhood and pointed
them to every word concerning him as they passed.
Soon they came
near the village where they were traveling. This stranger who had been walking
and talking with them for the last half an hour now started to walk on ahead as
if he were going further than Emmaus, as if his journey were not yet complete.
But they
urged Him, saying, “Stay with us. It’s almost dark and the day is pretty much
over. Come, stay and eat with us. The road will still be here tomorrow.” So, He
went in to stay with them.
As He sat
at supper with them, this stranger took the bread, he took it, blessed it and
broke it, and gave it to them.
Then their
eyes were opened, and they recognized Him. And He vanished out of their sight.
In this account Jesus makes himself known by coming alongside
these two, being part of their story and community. He talks them through the
Bible, the stories which pointed towards him, and led them to the place they
needed to be to meet him. Then finally in an act of hospitality, care and
physical storytelling, Jesus recreates the meal which they shared in the upper
room before his death, the very meal which Holy Communion represents, and uses
this to remember himself to them. Jesus is revealed in the breaking of bread.
And that is it, this is what I miss about Holy Communion, it
brings together everything of who we are as a body of Christ and everything Jesus
is as our friend and saviour and brings it all together in a meal between
family.
In Holy Communion we come alongside each other, we share our
stories, our cares and our joys, our elation and our sorrow. We become united
in that sharing, strangers on the road become friends.
In Holy Communion we hear the Bible retold, we receive those
ancient stories which tell us not just who God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are
but also who we are as part of that community.
In Holy Communion we receive Jesus, made real among us in the
sharing of hospitality in the breaking and sharing of bread, and perhaps most
importantly, in the touch of another as the bread is placed in our hand and we
are offered the cup.
So, I think the challenge now is, how. How do we hold on to
this while we cannot meet together? How do we share this most important of
connections so that we remain in full communion with each other?
Wow, that was longer than I meant it to be.
Be blessed, have a quiet day, stay safe,
Jon
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