WEBVTT 00:00:05.929 --> 00:00:08.689 Kia ora, and welcome to the St. Francis Church 00:00:08.689 --> 00:00:11.490 Sermon Podcast. We're so glad that you've joined 00:00:11.490 --> 00:00:14.789 us. Our prayer is that as you listen, you would 00:00:14.789 --> 00:00:17.690 encounter God's presence, be refreshed in your 00:00:17.690 --> 00:00:20.429 faith, and equipped for everyday life with Jesus. 00:00:21.109 --> 00:00:24.129 As a church, we are learning to faithfully follow 00:00:24.129 --> 00:00:27.760 Jesus by practicing His way at His pace. For 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:30.760 more info about who we are and what God is doing 00:00:30.760 --> 00:00:36.500 among us, head to stfrancis .co .nz. Grace and 00:00:36.500 --> 00:00:57.929 peace. Trinity Sunday and now Corpus Christi. 00:00:58.570 --> 00:01:01.770 Corpus Christi is usually celebrated on a Thursday. 00:01:02.070 --> 00:01:06.670 And why that's celebrated on Thursday is because 00:01:06.670 --> 00:01:10.450 that's when the Last Supper occurred. But the 00:01:10.450 --> 00:01:13.890 church has that room to move from Thursday through 00:01:13.890 --> 00:01:18.290 to the Sunday. So today it's about Corpus Christi, 00:01:18.290 --> 00:01:24.409 Christ's body, which is given for us. We do this 00:01:24.409 --> 00:01:27.530 every week. I do it twice and have sometimes 00:01:27.530 --> 00:01:30.810 done it four times on a Sunday at different places. 00:01:33.689 --> 00:01:36.629 We do this as we gather here. It's one of the 00:01:36.629 --> 00:01:39.489 central parts of the life and rhythms of this 00:01:39.489 --> 00:01:43.069 place. We come forward. Someone places bread 00:01:43.069 --> 00:01:48.790 in your hands. We take a cup or a couplet. I 00:01:48.790 --> 00:01:51.409 think we've done it enough times that it can 00:01:51.409 --> 00:01:54.260 start to feel sometimes like a a little routine. 00:01:55.019 --> 00:01:57.219 This is just part of the service where we pause 00:01:57.219 --> 00:02:01.000 and do this. Familiar maybe, or even ordinary. 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:05.859 But the weight and the cost of this meal is not 00:02:05.859 --> 00:02:10.580 always there. The sacrifice that has gone before 00:02:10.580 --> 00:02:14.919 this meal that we share. But Corpus Christi, 00:02:15.020 --> 00:02:18.280 this Sunday in the church's calendar, is the 00:02:18.280 --> 00:02:23.460 church's way of stopping us and saying, Wait. 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:30.360 Don't let this become ordinary. Because nothing 00:02:30.360 --> 00:02:34.620 about this is ordinary. So I want to ask you 00:02:34.620 --> 00:02:37.780 a real question. Not a rhetorical. It's not a 00:02:37.780 --> 00:02:41.580 warm -up. This is a question I want each of us 00:02:41.580 --> 00:02:44.460 to sit with today. And it is, what is actually 00:02:44.460 --> 00:02:51.039 happening at this table? Two passages guide us 00:02:51.039 --> 00:02:54.770 today. The first one is Paul writing to Corinth, 00:02:54.849 --> 00:02:58.210 and Jesus then speaking to a crowd in John 6. 00:02:58.669 --> 00:03:01.990 Together, these two readings, they show us three 00:03:01.990 --> 00:03:05.289 things that are happening at this table every 00:03:05.289 --> 00:03:12.009 single time that we gather here. You see, we 00:03:12.009 --> 00:03:15.569 are actually receiving a story today each time 00:03:15.569 --> 00:03:18.650 we gather. Listen to how Paul begins. He doesn't 00:03:18.650 --> 00:03:22.159 just give instructions. He says this. For I received 00:03:22.159 --> 00:03:25.599 from the Lord what I also passed on to you. The 00:03:25.599 --> 00:03:28.900 Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took 00:03:28.900 --> 00:03:33.180 bread. When he had given thanks, he broke it 00:03:33.180 --> 00:03:37.319 and said, this is my body, which is for you. 00:03:37.819 --> 00:03:44.120 Do this in remembrance of me. I wonder if you 00:03:44.120 --> 00:03:48.990 caught that in this. Words that Paul said, I 00:03:48.990 --> 00:03:53.289 receive what I also passed on to you. This is 00:03:53.289 --> 00:03:57.469 handed down. It's not Paul's invention. It goes 00:03:57.469 --> 00:03:59.590 all the way back to the night before Jesus was 00:03:59.590 --> 00:04:06.030 crucified. Now let's take a Christmas day. Whenever 00:04:06.030 --> 00:04:09.930 we gather in our homes or parents' homes or other 00:04:09.930 --> 00:04:13.550 families, wherever we are, around a meal, we 00:04:13.550 --> 00:04:18.089 start to remember stories, don't we? Often myths 00:04:18.089 --> 00:04:22.589 that become family legends. We remember people 00:04:22.589 --> 00:04:25.449 that are not with us anymore whether they're 00:04:25.449 --> 00:04:28.009 overseas or whether they've died. We start to 00:04:28.009 --> 00:04:31.089 remember them around food and telling stories. 00:04:35.970 --> 00:04:38.670 As we come to communion we're remembering someone 00:04:38.670 --> 00:04:43.470 far greater. Something that's far deeper. You 00:04:43.470 --> 00:04:48.290 see Paul uses for remembrance, this word, anamnesis 00:04:48.290 --> 00:04:51.569 in the Greek, which doesn't mean what we usually 00:04:51.569 --> 00:04:55.970 mean by remember. We use remember to mean calling 00:04:55.970 --> 00:04:57.910 something to mind, isn't it? Just like around 00:04:57.910 --> 00:05:02.050 the Christmas table. But anamnesis means something 00:05:02.050 --> 00:05:07.230 more active. It is to make present, to bring 00:05:07.230 --> 00:05:11.769 the past into the now with genuine power. So 00:05:11.769 --> 00:05:14.920 when we break bread, We are not performing a 00:05:14.920 --> 00:05:21.540 memorial for a dead teacher. We, as we gather, 00:05:21.620 --> 00:05:25.740 are enacting a living story. Stepping into the 00:05:25.740 --> 00:05:29.160 narrative of what God has done in Jesus and saying 00:05:29.160 --> 00:05:34.180 that this is still true. This still counts for 00:05:34.180 --> 00:05:39.740 my life today. Now a quick map of where the church 00:05:39.740 --> 00:05:42.040 has landed on this because how you answer shapes 00:05:42.040 --> 00:05:45.509 how you you come to the table. I want you to 00:05:45.509 --> 00:05:48.170 bear with me, because this is a bit that could 00:05:48.170 --> 00:05:52.410 sound like a church history exam, but I promise 00:05:52.410 --> 00:05:57.209 that it matters. Because the Catholic tradition 00:05:57.209 --> 00:06:00.810 says that bread and wine are wholly transformed. 00:06:01.829 --> 00:06:08.769 It is the body, and it is the blood. Luther broke 00:06:08.769 --> 00:06:10.949 from Rome on almost everything, but not this. 00:06:10.990 --> 00:06:14.509 Christ is truly present in and with and under 00:06:14.509 --> 00:06:19.430 the bread. Calvin agreed, Christ is truly present, 00:06:19.509 --> 00:06:22.949 but spiritually through the Holy Spirit. And 00:06:22.949 --> 00:06:25.209 many evangelical traditions say their elements 00:06:25.209 --> 00:06:28.589 are powerful signs. Nothing more. The benefit 00:06:28.589 --> 00:06:34.970 comes through faith and remembrance. What unites 00:06:34.970 --> 00:06:40.189 all of them? Something real is happening here. 00:06:41.149 --> 00:06:44.470 That's what's uniting all of those differences 00:06:44.470 --> 00:06:48.949 of communion. Across 2 ,000 years of disagreement 00:06:48.949 --> 00:06:52.329 about the actual mechanics of it, there's wide 00:06:52.329 --> 00:06:54.910 agreement that this table that we come to is 00:06:54.910 --> 00:06:58.189 not neutral. It's not empty, not merely symbolic. 00:06:58.410 --> 00:07:02.850 This is a story that you receive every time that 00:07:02.850 --> 00:07:09.139 you come. And every time that you come can be 00:07:09.139 --> 00:07:12.139 different from the one before because the Lord 00:07:12.139 --> 00:07:14.720 meets you where you are at that moment and you 00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:18.639 meet him where you are. It's a way of saying 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:23.600 the story of Jesus isn't over. We're still inside 00:07:23.600 --> 00:07:27.220 it. Look on the front of these communion tables. 00:07:28.279 --> 00:07:33.060 Presbyterian from Hamilton East, the table there. 00:07:33.300 --> 00:07:36.930 Oh, English. Communion table from... over in 00:07:36.930 --> 00:07:41.389 Frankdon, in Dinsdale there. This, do in remembrance 00:07:41.389 --> 00:07:46.769 of me. It's stating clearly before us what we're 00:07:46.769 --> 00:07:52.850 doing and who we're doing it in and with. We're 00:07:52.850 --> 00:07:55.470 still inside this story today. It's still very, 00:07:55.550 --> 00:07:59.250 very much alive. As N .T. Wright said, the Lord's 00:07:59.250 --> 00:08:02.389 Supper is the acted word, the gospel made visible, 00:08:02.569 --> 00:08:07.230 touchable and tasteable. God knows we need more 00:08:07.230 --> 00:08:09.490 than propositions. We need a story we can hold 00:08:09.490 --> 00:08:14.329 in our hands. We're using our senses, our minds, 00:08:14.389 --> 00:08:20.850 our taste and our touching. This is real. Now 00:08:20.850 --> 00:08:23.389 we move to John 6 and Jesus says something that 00:08:23.389 --> 00:08:26.610 shocked people then and honestly still shocks 00:08:26.610 --> 00:08:30.689 many people today. He says, I am the living bread 00:08:30.689 --> 00:08:32.629 that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this 00:08:32.629 --> 00:08:36.639 bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, 00:08:36.759 --> 00:08:39.940 which I will give for the life of the world. 00:08:40.860 --> 00:08:43.580 Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh 00:08:43.580 --> 00:08:46.259 of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have 00:08:46.259 --> 00:08:49.700 no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks 00:08:49.700 --> 00:08:53.159 my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him 00:08:53.159 --> 00:08:58.399 up at the last day. I don't know what the crowd's 00:08:58.399 --> 00:09:02.200 reactions are there. It's hard teaching. Who 00:09:02.200 --> 00:09:05.049 can accept it? And I think that's fair. It is 00:09:05.049 --> 00:09:09.049 hard to understand. But here's what I want us 00:09:09.049 --> 00:09:13.429 to hear about it. Jesus is not talking primarily 00:09:13.429 --> 00:09:16.549 about the mechanics of it. He's talking about 00:09:16.549 --> 00:09:20.370 participation, about union, about something becoming 00:09:20.370 --> 00:09:26.009 part of you. When you eat, you don't just encounter 00:09:26.009 --> 00:09:29.870 food, do you? You take it in. It becomes you, 00:09:29.970 --> 00:09:34.669 literally. It feeds you. fuel for your body. 00:09:35.669 --> 00:09:39.009 And Jesus is saying, that's what I'm offering. 00:09:39.149 --> 00:09:43.049 Not information about me. Not proximity to me. 00:09:43.789 --> 00:09:48.570 I'm offering me. He's offering himself. A real 00:09:48.570 --> 00:09:53.250 participation in his life. This meal that we 00:09:53.250 --> 00:09:55.990 have week in and week out and during the week 00:09:55.990 --> 00:09:57.990 when you may be in home groups or whatever else, 00:09:58.110 --> 00:10:04.389 this meal is an encounter. Augustine in the Confessions 00:10:04.389 --> 00:10:07.789 said this, I am the food of the fully grown. 00:10:07.950 --> 00:10:11.970 Grow and you will feed on me. And you will not 00:10:11.970 --> 00:10:15.210 change me into you like the food your flesh eats, 00:10:15.389 --> 00:10:21.049 but you will be changed into me. I think that's 00:10:21.049 --> 00:10:25.889 really extraordinary. Normal food, you consume 00:10:25.889 --> 00:10:30.649 it. It becomes part of you. With Jesus, actually 00:10:30.649 --> 00:10:34.490 something else happens here. Receiving him changes 00:10:34.490 --> 00:10:39.529 us into him. This is the ancient Christian idea 00:10:39.529 --> 00:10:44.990 of theosis, being transformed, shaped, made more 00:10:44.990 --> 00:10:50.850 like Christ from the inside out. The table that 00:10:50.850 --> 00:10:54.809 we come to isn't just about forgiveness, though 00:10:54.809 --> 00:10:59.049 it includes that. It's about formation, who we 00:10:59.049 --> 00:11:03.980 are becoming. We come not just to be pardoned, 00:11:03.980 --> 00:11:12.159 we come to be changed. For me, those that have 00:11:12.159 --> 00:11:13.860 been around in the life of this church for a 00:11:13.860 --> 00:11:16.279 while and seen me taking communion all these 00:11:16.279 --> 00:11:22.399 times, sometimes I'll pause. Because if I opened 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:25.980 my mouth, I'd start crying because of the words 00:11:25.980 --> 00:11:29.830 that I say, the words that Jesus has given. us 00:11:29.830 --> 00:11:34.330 to say and remember him becomes powerful. This 00:11:34.330 --> 00:11:39.529 is a sacrifice that he died for me. He died for 00:11:39.529 --> 00:11:44.429 us. Gordon Fee in the first epistle to the Corinthians 00:11:44.429 --> 00:11:47.409 says this, the Lord's Supper is not a re -sacrifice 00:11:47.409 --> 00:11:51.169 of Christ, but a genuine participation in the 00:11:51.169 --> 00:11:53.809 once for all sacrifice that is eternally present 00:11:53.809 --> 00:11:58.830 before God. It is alive right now. It is before 00:11:58.830 --> 00:12:07.929 God eternally. As we come, we are receiving a 00:12:07.929 --> 00:12:13.129 community. And it's hiding in plain sight in 00:12:13.129 --> 00:12:16.389 Paul's words. He says, for whenever you eat this 00:12:16.389 --> 00:12:20.190 bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's 00:12:20.190 --> 00:12:28.769 death until he comes. Whenever you. plural. You 00:12:28.769 --> 00:12:31.730 eat together, you drink together, and you proclaim 00:12:31.730 --> 00:12:36.029 together. There is no private Lord's Supper, 00:12:36.129 --> 00:12:39.149 even if you are taking communion by yourself 00:12:39.149 --> 00:12:43.210 at home. It's not a private thing. From the very 00:12:43.210 --> 00:12:46.529 beginning, the table that we come to was the 00:12:46.529 --> 00:12:49.230 place where the community gathered, where people 00:12:49.230 --> 00:12:52.169 who had nothing else in common, they sat down 00:12:52.169 --> 00:12:56.450 and said, we belong to each other now, because 00:12:56.879 --> 00:13:01.139 We belong to him. The one who gave us this meal 00:13:01.139 --> 00:13:05.779 to remember. And that's exactly why Paul here 00:13:05.779 --> 00:13:10.740 is writing to Corinth in the first place. Because 00:13:10.740 --> 00:13:13.759 the church there was splitting communion along 00:13:13.759 --> 00:13:17.000 the social lines of the day. The wealthy eating 00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:22.179 well, the poor going hungry. Paul, if you know 00:13:22.179 --> 00:13:25.259 and follow his readings in there, he's furious 00:13:25.259 --> 00:13:28.409 about this. He says, when you come together, 00:13:28.529 --> 00:13:32.950 it is not the Lord's Supper that you eat. Because 00:13:32.950 --> 00:13:36.789 if it excludes and divides, it's not the table 00:13:36.789 --> 00:13:44.950 of Jesus. It's just a meal. I don't always sit 00:13:44.950 --> 00:13:48.149 with the traditions of the church, of what you 00:13:48.149 --> 00:13:52.879 need to do to come to the Lord's table. For me, 00:13:52.879 --> 00:13:55.799 this table is open. It welcomes anyone at any 00:13:55.799 --> 00:13:59.559 stage. It's not just for the baptised, it's for 00:13:59.559 --> 00:14:03.580 people that want to come and meet Christ. Some 00:14:03.580 --> 00:14:06.259 stage, we'd have the conversation about being 00:14:06.259 --> 00:14:08.299 baptised to know that you come into this family. 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:16.299 If we divide it, it just becomes a meal. Bread 00:14:16.299 --> 00:14:27.580 and wine. Nothing of Christ. It's still worth 00:14:27.580 --> 00:14:30.820 sitting with. And it shapes how we come. Because 00:14:30.820 --> 00:14:36.600 Paul says, let a person examine themselves. Not, 00:14:36.639 --> 00:14:41.679 well, are you good enough? You're never good 00:14:41.679 --> 00:14:44.600 enough. I'm never good enough. But are you coming 00:14:44.600 --> 00:14:47.360 honestly? Are you coming and saying, Lord, I've 00:14:47.360 --> 00:14:51.220 had a crap week. But I want to come and meet 00:14:51.220 --> 00:14:55.659 you in this meal. Are you aware that you need 00:14:55.659 --> 00:14:59.379 this? The only person who can't receive it are 00:14:59.379 --> 00:15:04.259 those who think they don't need it. The table 00:15:04.259 --> 00:15:06.559 is not just between you and God, it's between 00:15:06.559 --> 00:15:09.039 you and the person sitting beside you, in front 00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:14.980 of you and behind you. Because we are one body. 00:15:16.220 --> 00:15:22.840 We share one bread. We drink one cup. And we 00:15:22.840 --> 00:15:24.580 are sent back into Hillcrest as people who have 00:15:24.580 --> 00:15:31.830 been at this table together. So what's happening 00:15:31.830 --> 00:15:36.370 at this table? There's three things. Firstly, 00:15:36.409 --> 00:15:39.370 you are receiving a story, the oldest, truest 00:15:39.370 --> 00:15:42.210 story in the world, that God came in flesh, died 00:15:42.210 --> 00:15:46.049 and rose, and that this table is his ongoing 00:15:46.049 --> 00:15:49.389 invitation to step back inside that story every 00:15:49.389 --> 00:15:55.370 week, not as a memorial, as an act. And you are 00:15:55.370 --> 00:15:58.840 receiving a body. Not just bread, not just wine, 00:15:58.919 --> 00:16:03.000 you are receiving Christ himself. Not to consume 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:07.039 and move on, but to be changed by, to be formed 00:16:07.039 --> 00:16:11.600 into the one that you share the meal, the one 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:16.159 who gave you this meal. And you are receiving 00:16:16.159 --> 00:16:19.279 a community at the same time. You are being knit 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:21.320 to these people who are around you in this room. 00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:25.700 Across every difference, across every awkwardness, 00:16:26.539 --> 00:16:30.480 This table says, you belong here. You belong 00:16:30.480 --> 00:16:37.240 to each other. Brennan Manning says this about 00:16:37.240 --> 00:16:39.559 the Lord's Supper, that it is the most dangerous 00:16:39.559 --> 00:16:43.720 meal in the world because it claims you. It says, 00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:46.960 this life is not your own. You have been bought 00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:55.299 with a price. Come and eat. Come and drink. Come 00:16:55.299 --> 00:16:59.629 to the one. who gave us this meal. That's the 00:16:59.629 --> 00:17:03.850 invitation to us. Not just today, every time. 00:17:04.789 --> 00:17:08.849 Come hungry, come honest to the table. Come with 00:17:08.849 --> 00:17:12.950 your questions and your doubts. Come with what 00:17:12.950 --> 00:17:17.829 you're carrying. And receive what you could never 00:17:17.829 --> 00:17:27.420 earn. So we're going to move to the table. The 00:17:27.420 --> 00:17:32.359 invitation's being given. I want us at some point 00:17:32.359 --> 00:17:36.480 very soon to say the words together, which normally 00:17:36.480 --> 00:17:41.319 I just say, and that's words around on the night 00:17:41.319 --> 00:17:44.839 before he died. Let us enter into that story. 00:17:45.559 --> 00:17:49.059 We come to this table today every time that we 00:17:49.059 --> 00:17:51.440 come, not because that we have it all together. 00:17:51.619 --> 00:17:54.859 It's often because we don't that we come. We 00:17:54.859 --> 00:17:59.480 come because Jesus said, come. It was on the 00:17:59.480 --> 00:18:02.299 night that he was betrayed, not the night everything 00:18:02.299 --> 00:18:06.119 was going well. He had someone sitting right 00:18:06.119 --> 00:18:07.619 next to him sharing the meal that was going to 00:18:07.619 --> 00:18:12.819 betray him. Not the night that everything was 00:18:12.819 --> 00:18:17.059 falling apart. He took bread. He gave thanks, 00:18:17.099 --> 00:18:18.940 he broke it and then he gave it away to those 00:18:18.940 --> 00:18:22.200 that were sitting around him. And today we do 00:18:22.200 --> 00:18:25.519 exactly the same with everything that we're carrying. 00:18:26.710 --> 00:18:29.170 All the doubts, the questions, the celebrations, 00:18:29.390 --> 00:18:33.029 the worship, and we do so in the name of the 00:18:33.029 --> 00:18:37.690 Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And as 00:18:37.690 --> 00:18:41.730 you come and take it, remember that you are not 00:18:41.730 --> 00:18:45.349 drinking alone. You are drinking with every person 00:18:45.349 --> 00:18:48.170 in this room, every person that is celebrating 00:18:48.170 --> 00:18:51.390 communion in this land and around the globe. 00:18:52.009 --> 00:18:53.890 And with every Christian who has come to this 00:18:53.890 --> 00:18:56.069 table before you, all the way back to the night 00:18:56.069 --> 00:19:02.710 in Jerusalem at the Last Supper, we come to this 00:19:02.710 --> 00:19:06.630 table with the sacrifice that was given to us.