The Blessed Sacrament
Sermon
Dancing The Sacraments
Sermons And Worship Services For Baptism And Communion
Call To Worship:
Jesus blessed the children. Come, let us worship our God of blessing.
Hymn: "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence"
(words: Liturgy of St. James, fourth century; music: French carol melody)
Children's Time:
There was once a poor man who had little to eat. One night a great storm shook the trees with gusts of wind and rain, and there was a knocking on the door of his hut. He opened the door and when he saw the man, he cried, "Come in. Come close to the fire." Although there was nothing in the hut to eat, he asked, "What can I bring you?" "Whatever you have will be enough." The poor man found a piece of hard bread and put it on the table beside a cup of water. "Let the food be blessed," he said, breaking the bread and feeding the man. At that moment there was another knocking on the door. "What now?" the poor man asked. The stranger replied, "Where one is fed a hundred can dine. Invite them to enter." Two cold, wet men entered, and the stranger said to the poor man, "Bring two more cups of water and perhaps a bit of fish." The poor man brought the tail of a fish, which was all he had, and two cups of water, asking blessing on the food, just as there was another knock on the door. The first said again, "Where one is fed a hundred can dine." Two more entered. When the poor man brought them cups of water, he saw much bread and many fishes on the table. "Perhaps you have an egg, or the shell of an egg?" the first man asked. The poor man ran out into the rain and gathered the broken eggshells of a swallow, saying, "Let the food be blessed." When two more arrived, a pile of eggs appeared on the table. When the knocking ceased, thirteen sat around the table, eating and drinking. In the morning they were gone. From that day the poor man prospered, feeding whoever came, living a good life to the end.
Talk Together:
What did the story say to you? Why were there thirteen men at the table? Who do you think was the "stranger"? (Close with a prayer of thanksgiving.)
Prayer Of Confession:
Dear Lord, forgive us for assuming that only the physical is real. Forgive our shallow, literal thinking, believing that words and things have only one meaning. Forgive us for refusing to open ourselves to your Spirit who breathes fresh meaning into rotted words and help us learn to celebrate the spiritual realities of love and hope and wonder. Amen.
Words Of Assurance:
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we obtain access to God's grace. You are forgiven. Amen.
Psalter Reading: Psalm 25:1--10
Old Testament: Genesis 43
Epistle: Hebrews 11:1--16
New Testament: Luke 14:7--24
Sermon:
Faith is the assurance of things not seen, that something more. Not more of what we already have. Not more words, or money, or possessions, or even friends, but another way of being. What poets try to express, that something more that will endure: the pearl of great price, the Holy Grail, the Cup, the Bread.
The author of Hebrews wrote that faith is the assurance, the conviction, of things not seen.
The grandfather watched his infant grandson pick up and throw a tennis ball. The child watched as it hit the wall or furniture and then crawled after it, repeating the action over and over. He watched for fifteen minutes until the ball rolled under a dry sink and disappeared from view. The infant looked around for something else to do, and his grandfather pondered, "What is wrong with the boy?" At last he asked the mother, who replied a bit condescendingly, "He has not yet acquired object permanence." "What does that mean?" asked the confused grandfather. "It means that if he can't see it, it doesn't exist."
Faith is to believe what you do not see, the conviction of things unseen. Sometimes God seems absent and we stumble in the dark, tripping over the "furniture" of life, hungry for hope, wondering where we are going.
Doubt is defeating, destructive of joy and the fullness of life, draining energy from the body, mind, and spirit. It blinds the eyes to seeing the possible in the impossible, the infinite in the finite. Yet doubt is a paradox. On the one hand, to deny the presence of God is to affirm that there is no Spirit except our spirit, that we are alone in the universe, that we have created the cosmos, which is absurd! On the other hand, to doubt may mean to change, to grow, to seek, to be transformed. Some call it "divine discontent," a struggle for a personal faith created out of our own experience.
Sometimes God has something better in store for us than that for which we pray for God will stop at nothing to bring us to the awareness of God's presence and love.
An Italian couple about to be married made arrangements with the parish priest to have a small reception in the parish courtyard. But it rained, and so they asked the priest if it would be all right if they had the celebration in the church. He was not happy about this, but they convinced him by saying, "We will eat a little cake, sing a little song, drink a little wine, and then go home." The Father agreed. But being life--loving Italians they ate a lot of cake, sang a lot of songs, and drank a lot of wine. Everyone was having a great time, except the Father who paced up and down in the sacristy. "I see you are quite tense," said the assistant pastor. "Of course I'm tense. Listen to all that noise, and in the House of God!" "They have no place else to go." "I know that! But do they have to make all that racket?" "Remember, Father, that Jesus himself was once present at a wedding!" "You don't have to tell me Jesus Christ was present at a wedding banquet!" said the Father. "But they didn't have the Blessed Sacrament there!"1
Jesus, as the poor man in our children's story, blessed the bread, the "blessed sacrament," before he fed the people. To bless is to put a bit of yourself into something, to change something for someone because of your presence, being there for the other.
Holy communion is God's gracious presence in the everyday elements of bread and wine. However, in this sacrament people do not eat bread to feed their bodies but to nourish their souls, to have "union with" the one who is "God--with--us." When the word and the deed, the sacrament, become one, they make us one.
We come to the table, hungry for bread, as patients go to the hospital when they are sick. We are hungry for so many things and God knows that and there is no limit to God's love or God's feeding. Holy communion, eating together, is a sacred, blessed event, the transformation of death into conscious life.
Faith is not talk about God but experiencing and trusting the mystery of God's unconditional love and relationship to the world. Faith is in the eye of the soul. By faith we see.
The Eucharist is the end of the sermon, for the aim of the homily is to move people to the table in the light of scripture. The aim of the sermon's movement is thanksgiving, which is the meaning of "Eucharist," as the congregation joins in praise and thanks to God. The preacher, concerned over preaching the text of the day told his dilemma to an Episcopalian colleague, who replied, "As an Episcopalian I don't worry much about the sermon, for we believe that one encounters the Holy in the act of the sacrament."
The author of Hebrews affirms that faith is the assurance, the conviction, of things not seen, and names Noah, Abraham, and Sarah who all died in faith, "not having received what was promised, but having seen it ... and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland."
Some of us have a home, a warm supper, and a loved one waiting. Others are alone. No one waits for me in my home, but a book of words welcomes me, a piece of music comforts me, a photo of my granddaughter's smile reminds me of that Smile and peace within.
We long for Something More. The child looked at his body and thought, "This is not ME" and the old woman looked in the mirror and sighed, "This is not ME." There is Something More!
Watching the descent of the sun, the woman felt a lonely, aching, nostalgic longing. Then she would say, "There must be Something Else!" Not something more of what she already had, but something that never seemed to be satisfied, something totally other, perhaps another way of being. She decided that her longing was her homeward journey, that the finding was hidden in the seeking to go further in. We are born with a longing for God, for that "better country," for that Something More.
The gospel writer, Mark, through his Gospel brought a new world into being. By changing the way we see and think, we can change our existence, and praise God, the living Spirit, for the dancing energy of every molecule, for cascading fountains and bubbling children's laughter, Prokofiev concertos and autumn's riot of color. "To construct plausible and moving 'other worlds,' you must draw on the only real 'other world' we know, that of the spirit."2
Strangers and exiles on earth, we seek a better country, our homeland, the kingdom of God. Amen.
Sacrament Of Holy Communion
Prayers Of The People
Pastoral Prayer:
Hungry for Hope
Lord, hungry for hope
in a time when heaven and earth
are shaking within and about us,
Help us endure
with trust and patience
to the end.
When we seek a sign
of your presence among us,
Remind us
through your words
of your words
that will not pass away.
Birth again
within our hearts the promise
of the power that is present
in your promise
of your presence
even unto the end of the world. Amen.
The Lord's Prayer
Hymn: "Deck Thyself, My Soul, With Gladness"
(words: Johann Franck; music: Johann Cruger)
Offering
Doxology
Hymn Of Commitment: "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah"
Benediction:
Go now into the world strengthened by bread from God our Creator, through Jesus, the bread of life, and the Holy Spirit who empowers us to eat and be fed, so that we may in turn feed. Amen.
____________
1. Anthony de Mello, Awareness (New York: Doubleday, 1990).
2. C. S. Lewis, Miracles (New York: Macmillan, 1952), p. 110.
Jesus blessed the children. Come, let us worship our God of blessing.
Hymn: "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence"
(words: Liturgy of St. James, fourth century; music: French carol melody)
Children's Time:
There was once a poor man who had little to eat. One night a great storm shook the trees with gusts of wind and rain, and there was a knocking on the door of his hut. He opened the door and when he saw the man, he cried, "Come in. Come close to the fire." Although there was nothing in the hut to eat, he asked, "What can I bring you?" "Whatever you have will be enough." The poor man found a piece of hard bread and put it on the table beside a cup of water. "Let the food be blessed," he said, breaking the bread and feeding the man. At that moment there was another knocking on the door. "What now?" the poor man asked. The stranger replied, "Where one is fed a hundred can dine. Invite them to enter." Two cold, wet men entered, and the stranger said to the poor man, "Bring two more cups of water and perhaps a bit of fish." The poor man brought the tail of a fish, which was all he had, and two cups of water, asking blessing on the food, just as there was another knock on the door. The first said again, "Where one is fed a hundred can dine." Two more entered. When the poor man brought them cups of water, he saw much bread and many fishes on the table. "Perhaps you have an egg, or the shell of an egg?" the first man asked. The poor man ran out into the rain and gathered the broken eggshells of a swallow, saying, "Let the food be blessed." When two more arrived, a pile of eggs appeared on the table. When the knocking ceased, thirteen sat around the table, eating and drinking. In the morning they were gone. From that day the poor man prospered, feeding whoever came, living a good life to the end.
Talk Together:
What did the story say to you? Why were there thirteen men at the table? Who do you think was the "stranger"? (Close with a prayer of thanksgiving.)
Prayer Of Confession:
Dear Lord, forgive us for assuming that only the physical is real. Forgive our shallow, literal thinking, believing that words and things have only one meaning. Forgive us for refusing to open ourselves to your Spirit who breathes fresh meaning into rotted words and help us learn to celebrate the spiritual realities of love and hope and wonder. Amen.
Words Of Assurance:
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we obtain access to God's grace. You are forgiven. Amen.
Psalter Reading: Psalm 25:1--10
Old Testament: Genesis 43
Epistle: Hebrews 11:1--16
New Testament: Luke 14:7--24
Sermon:
Faith is the assurance of things not seen, that something more. Not more of what we already have. Not more words, or money, or possessions, or even friends, but another way of being. What poets try to express, that something more that will endure: the pearl of great price, the Holy Grail, the Cup, the Bread.
The author of Hebrews wrote that faith is the assurance, the conviction, of things not seen.
The grandfather watched his infant grandson pick up and throw a tennis ball. The child watched as it hit the wall or furniture and then crawled after it, repeating the action over and over. He watched for fifteen minutes until the ball rolled under a dry sink and disappeared from view. The infant looked around for something else to do, and his grandfather pondered, "What is wrong with the boy?" At last he asked the mother, who replied a bit condescendingly, "He has not yet acquired object permanence." "What does that mean?" asked the confused grandfather. "It means that if he can't see it, it doesn't exist."
Faith is to believe what you do not see, the conviction of things unseen. Sometimes God seems absent and we stumble in the dark, tripping over the "furniture" of life, hungry for hope, wondering where we are going.
Doubt is defeating, destructive of joy and the fullness of life, draining energy from the body, mind, and spirit. It blinds the eyes to seeing the possible in the impossible, the infinite in the finite. Yet doubt is a paradox. On the one hand, to deny the presence of God is to affirm that there is no Spirit except our spirit, that we are alone in the universe, that we have created the cosmos, which is absurd! On the other hand, to doubt may mean to change, to grow, to seek, to be transformed. Some call it "divine discontent," a struggle for a personal faith created out of our own experience.
Sometimes God has something better in store for us than that for which we pray for God will stop at nothing to bring us to the awareness of God's presence and love.
An Italian couple about to be married made arrangements with the parish priest to have a small reception in the parish courtyard. But it rained, and so they asked the priest if it would be all right if they had the celebration in the church. He was not happy about this, but they convinced him by saying, "We will eat a little cake, sing a little song, drink a little wine, and then go home." The Father agreed. But being life--loving Italians they ate a lot of cake, sang a lot of songs, and drank a lot of wine. Everyone was having a great time, except the Father who paced up and down in the sacristy. "I see you are quite tense," said the assistant pastor. "Of course I'm tense. Listen to all that noise, and in the House of God!" "They have no place else to go." "I know that! But do they have to make all that racket?" "Remember, Father, that Jesus himself was once present at a wedding!" "You don't have to tell me Jesus Christ was present at a wedding banquet!" said the Father. "But they didn't have the Blessed Sacrament there!"1
Jesus, as the poor man in our children's story, blessed the bread, the "blessed sacrament," before he fed the people. To bless is to put a bit of yourself into something, to change something for someone because of your presence, being there for the other.
Holy communion is God's gracious presence in the everyday elements of bread and wine. However, in this sacrament people do not eat bread to feed their bodies but to nourish their souls, to have "union with" the one who is "God--with--us." When the word and the deed, the sacrament, become one, they make us one.
We come to the table, hungry for bread, as patients go to the hospital when they are sick. We are hungry for so many things and God knows that and there is no limit to God's love or God's feeding. Holy communion, eating together, is a sacred, blessed event, the transformation of death into conscious life.
Faith is not talk about God but experiencing and trusting the mystery of God's unconditional love and relationship to the world. Faith is in the eye of the soul. By faith we see.
The Eucharist is the end of the sermon, for the aim of the homily is to move people to the table in the light of scripture. The aim of the sermon's movement is thanksgiving, which is the meaning of "Eucharist," as the congregation joins in praise and thanks to God. The preacher, concerned over preaching the text of the day told his dilemma to an Episcopalian colleague, who replied, "As an Episcopalian I don't worry much about the sermon, for we believe that one encounters the Holy in the act of the sacrament."
The author of Hebrews affirms that faith is the assurance, the conviction, of things not seen, and names Noah, Abraham, and Sarah who all died in faith, "not having received what was promised, but having seen it ... and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland."
Some of us have a home, a warm supper, and a loved one waiting. Others are alone. No one waits for me in my home, but a book of words welcomes me, a piece of music comforts me, a photo of my granddaughter's smile reminds me of that Smile and peace within.
We long for Something More. The child looked at his body and thought, "This is not ME" and the old woman looked in the mirror and sighed, "This is not ME." There is Something More!
Watching the descent of the sun, the woman felt a lonely, aching, nostalgic longing. Then she would say, "There must be Something Else!" Not something more of what she already had, but something that never seemed to be satisfied, something totally other, perhaps another way of being. She decided that her longing was her homeward journey, that the finding was hidden in the seeking to go further in. We are born with a longing for God, for that "better country," for that Something More.
The gospel writer, Mark, through his Gospel brought a new world into being. By changing the way we see and think, we can change our existence, and praise God, the living Spirit, for the dancing energy of every molecule, for cascading fountains and bubbling children's laughter, Prokofiev concertos and autumn's riot of color. "To construct plausible and moving 'other worlds,' you must draw on the only real 'other world' we know, that of the spirit."2
Strangers and exiles on earth, we seek a better country, our homeland, the kingdom of God. Amen.
Sacrament Of Holy Communion
Prayers Of The People
Pastoral Prayer:
Hungry for Hope
Lord, hungry for hope
in a time when heaven and earth
are shaking within and about us,
Help us endure
with trust and patience
to the end.
When we seek a sign
of your presence among us,
Remind us
through your words
of your words
that will not pass away.
Birth again
within our hearts the promise
of the power that is present
in your promise
of your presence
even unto the end of the world. Amen.
The Lord's Prayer
Hymn: "Deck Thyself, My Soul, With Gladness"
(words: Johann Franck; music: Johann Cruger)
Offering
Doxology
Hymn Of Commitment: "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah"
Benediction:
Go now into the world strengthened by bread from God our Creator, through Jesus, the bread of life, and the Holy Spirit who empowers us to eat and be fed, so that we may in turn feed. Amen.
____________
1. Anthony de Mello, Awareness (New York: Doubleday, 1990).
2. C. S. Lewis, Miracles (New York: Macmillan, 1952), p. 110.
