Memories
We all have memories; some of our memories are good, some of them are bad. I remember some significant things in my life; my first confession and holy communion, my confirmation, two of my mother's weddings (!) meeting Ian for the first time, my first MCC service, going to collect our new puppy from Dorset. All of these are memories of things that have changed my life significantly. When I remember them I picture what I was doing and I remember the various emotions I felt. Sometimes it is music which stirs a memory. Last night they had a "greatest ever love songs" programme on BBC1 - presumably as they couldn't think what else to put on! Some of those songs were from the 80s and all of a sudden I remembered vividly the things I was doing when those songs became popular. Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart reminded me of my student days and first excursions onto the gay scene. But these are memories of things past, they bring back nice thoughts, reflections and feelings, but they are only memories.
The Passover Meal
Last week Dan valiantly told us about the Passover meal that Jewish people have celebrated each year since their escape from Egypt. It is, perhaps, one of the oldest religious rituals still practised and, on one level, it is about remembering the marvellous things that God has done in delivering the Jewish people from slavery. But the Passover meal, it seems to me, is more than a meal which looks back and remembers. Each year we celebrate this meal together in Holy Week, and at the start of the meal the youngest person present asks why this night is different from all other nights - and points out what the differences are. The answers are instructive:
We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt and the Lord our God brought us forth from there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. If the Holy One, blessed be God, had not brought forth our ancestors from Egypt, then we and our children, and our children's children would be enslaved to Pharaoh in Egypt.
The Egyptians did evil to us and tormented us. They set taskmasters over us in order to oppress us with our burdens. And they set upon us with hard labour and the Egyptians enslaved the children of Israel with cruelty. And we cried to the Eternal One, the God of our ancestors, and the Eternal One heard our voice, and saw our affliction, our travail and our oppression.
The thing that strikes me every year as we share this meal together, is the way that the Passover Liturgy talks about "us". "WE were slaves in Egypt", "The Lord our God brought US forth" "The Egyptians did evil to US"
Making Real
This is no mere remembering - it is more than that, it is identifying with those events long ago and seeing that in some way we now were in part there then. It is taking those events of long ago and making them present in the here and now.
This can be seen in this next part of the Passover liturgy, and like all liturgy it demands a response. The response is on the screen and it is: It would have been enough. Please say that now.
When I lift my arm it is time to say that response together:
One: Had God brought us out of Egypt and not executed judgement against the Egyptians.
Many: It would have been enough!
One: Had God executed judgement against the Egyptians and not destroyed their idols.
Many: It would have been enough!
One: Had God destroyed their idols and not slain their first-born
Many: It would have been enough!
One: Had God slain their first born and not given us their possessions
Many: It would have been enough!
One: Had God given us their possessions and not divided the sea for us
Many: It would have been enough!
One: Had God divided the sea for us and not brought us through it dry shod,
Many: It would have been enough!
One: Had God brought us through the sea dry shod, and not drowned our oppressors in it
Many: It would have been enough!
One: Had God drowned our oppressors and not sustained us in the wilderness for forty years
Many: It would have been enough!
One: Had God sustained us in the wilderness for forty years and not fed us with manna,
Many: It would have been enough!
One: Had God fed us with manna and not given us with the Sabbath
Many It would have been enough!
One: Had God given us the Sabbath, and not brought us to Mount Sinai
Many: It would have been enough!
One: Had God brought us to Mount Sinai and not given us the Law
Many: It would have been enough!
One: Had God given us the Law and not brought us to the Land of Israel,
Many: It would have been enough!
One: Hand God brought us to the Land of Israel and not built the Temple for us.
Many: It would have been enough!
One: How much more so, multiplied many times, are the favours that God has bestowed upon us. God brought us from Egypt, and executed judgement against them, and destroyed their idols, and slew their first born, and gave us their possessions, and divided the sea for us, and brought us through it dry-shod, and drowned our oppressors in it, and sustained us in the wilderness forty years and fed us manna and gave us the Sabbath, and brought us to Mount Sinai, and gave us the Law and brought us to the Land of Israel, and built the Temple for us, where we could atone for our sins.
This responsorial liturgy does more than remember, it brings those events of salvation history to us now, it is as if we are there with the Jewish people as they escape Egypt and travel towards the Promised Land.
The Passover meal celebrated by our Jewish sisters and brothers is both a memorial, but it is more than a memorial, it makes those great events of salvation present now.
The Eucharist, Our Passover
There is a clear link here with the Eucharist which Christians share the world over. The links are many; the first Eucharist which Jesus shared with the disciples took place, in the context of a Passover meal. As those of you who have attended our Passover meal, bread is shared amongst the people gathered and much wine is drunk. Jesus took the familiar ritual of the Passover Meal and made it into something quite different. For a while in the Early Church the Eucharist was a meal and believers gathered together to share a meal and the sharing of bread and wine was a part of that - we know that this sometimes got out of hand as Paul's letter to the Corinthians shows and very soon the meal was left behind and just the sharing of bread and wine was the only element from the original form that was left over.
But the links with Passover are more than the place from which our Eucharist evolved. The same thing that happens at Passover happens at the Eucharist; we remember but we do so much more than remember.
The Greek word used in the New Testament which we translate as "memory" is "anamnesis". This means more than "memory", a better translation is "to make real".
Jesus is asking us to do more than simply remember his death on the cross where his body was broken and his blood poured out for us. He is telling us to make the Cross real in our lives through the Eucharist.
Every time we celebrate communion together we remember his death for us, we thank him for all that he has done for us and, we are taken to the foot of the cross. The sacrifice of Calvary is made present now here in Manchester. The death of Jesus on the cross is projected through space and time to us now. We stand at the foot of the cross whenever we take bread and share wine together.
And So
And so when we share communion together we do many things; we remember Jesus' death on the cross because of our sins, we accept the forgiveness that is ours because of his death, we receive Jesus into our lives and bodies and the sacrifice of Calvary is transferred through time and space and made present now in our midst. This is what we do in response to Jesus' command "do this in memory of me" or, in less traditional language "do this and make me real in your lives".
We are united to the turning point of history; we watch our Lord be crucified for us and we rejoice in the forgiveness that is ours in spite of so much pain. We pledge ourselves anew to be His disciples so that we may make him real to those around us.
Amen.
This sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester. Click here for further information.