Introduction

Every week we gather, as Christians do all over the world and have done since the earliest days of the Church, to share the Eucharist together. It is the central act of worship for Christians and nearly all types of Christian church have this service. They may know it by many different names: the Mass, the Lord's Supper, the Breaking of Bread, Holy Communion, the Eucharist, the Divine Mysteries, but at its heart we do the same things. 100 years ago the picture of worship was rather different - as most Christians didn't receive Holy Communion each week and many churches didn't celebrate it every week. So why do we do what we do? Why do we meet at the Table of the Lord every week?

All Welcome

One of the most striking features of the Eucharist is that all are welcome. We gather here every week and we welcome anyone who wants to come. It's quite an accomplishment. We don't put fences up around the altar, we don't restrict who may come. We do this as we believe that the Church and God's love is available and open to all. This is most graphically symbolised by our approach to Holy Communion.

Every week women and men come forward to receive. Every week trans folk come forward with bisexuals, heterosexuals, lesbians and gay men - and we are so used to this that we don't realise quite how radical it is. Children and adults come, those who are healthy and those who are ill. Those who have been wounded, raped, tortured and despised for who they are come with those who have had privileged backgrounds. We come together from difference social classes, some of us have known the most abject poverty, others have known wealth, some have known both. We come from different religious backgrounds, some were raised as Christians, others raised in different religions. Some have converted to Christianity, others are still exploring. We may believe different things about what happens at Holy Communion - is it a memorial, or is it a means by which the bread and wine become Jesus' body and blood? But we come.

In the 1980s when MCC was young and brave we applied to join the National Council of Churches in the United States. This is the main ecumenical body in the US and all the major denominations take part. Being a good Christian organisation they reacted to our application by forming a Committee to discuss things for a few years. At one point in the discussions the MCC representatives said that they would only really get to know what we were like by coming along and experiencing our worship. So Troy organised a service at our church in San Francisco. MCC was very inexperienced in ecumenical things and didn't know that the Council of Churches didn't receive Holy Communion together as they didn't agree on what it was. Well we did a Communion service and when it came time to receive people came forward. All the members of the Committee came to receive - for the first time members of the National Council of Churches received Communion together at the table of the Lord served by outsiders.

All are welcome.

Receiving Jesus

All are welcome to receive Jesus at this table. Our reading shows the earliest account we have of the Lord's Supper. We may debate or puzzle over how we receive Jesus in the meal - through the bread and wine, or through some spiritual connection, but in this meal we encounter Jesus. We forget this at our peril. When we receive Holy Communion we need to find some time afterwards to quietly listen to Him at work within us. When we receive we need to pause and rest in his presence, allowing him to bring us comfort, strength and inspiration. Jesus meets us here and desires to shape and change us. If we simply receive as a matter of routine and spend no time in prayer listening to Jesus we miss a wonderful opportunity to grow in our faith and understanding of Jesus.

Examine Ourselves

St Paul instructs the first Christians to examine themselves before receiving Holy Communion. This is a special thing we do and it is not just routine. That is why we examine ourselves - through the form of confession and bring to God the things we have done wrong. In churches which don't regularly practice sacramental confession this is a good discipline for us to develop. We need to remind ourselves that we fall short of what is required - confession is for our benefit not God's! It is good to remind ourselves that we constantly need God's forgiveness and only through telling God the things we have done wrong, accepting and taking responsibility for them do we start to change, develop and grow in the faith. We change the form of confession we use so that it can be fresh as well as familiar. If we used the same words throughout the year we would soon find that we didn't mean them, if we changed them every week we would be so muddled by the change that we would not take the words in. Changing every few months allows us to find the words meaningful yet familiar.

Sent for Mission

So we realise that this meal is for everyone, that all are welcome. We realise we have come here to meet Jesus and that we should repent of our sins before we receive. But what about after? What's the point? It's not just a nice spiritual experience, it's not just a thing to make us feel better, it's a vital part of our life as Christians for we are sent out for mission. The word the Roman Catholics use for this service "mass" comes from a Latin word meaning "sent for mission". We receive Jesus because we are bound to take him into our world.

All of us are missionaries; our lives should be mirrors of Jesus. People should see something in our lives - our strength, peace, love, our willingness to care and serve - that speaks of Jesus. Our words should be ones of love and faith. People will see the difference and ask about it - we are sent to tell them. Christ has made such a different to our lives and we are called to share this difference with others. Here at the Lord's table we are strengthened for service. We are blessed here so we may be a blessing to others.

We can serve and be a blessing in so many different ways

Here at this table we are given the strength to do these things.

Summary

Jesus calls us here to meet him. He calls all of us and many who are yet to come. He have to make space to meet him and let him touch, heal and strengthen us. We examine ourselves regularly so that we don't loose sight of who we are and what we are capable of. We are sent from this place, strengthened for service so that our task of offering Christian salvation, building Christian community and engaging in Christian social action continues.

Amen.

(Rev Andy Braunston)