Dearly loved by
God in Christ Jesus,
The Holy Spirit reminds us in our lessons of
his divine call into the holy ministry. We refer to that ministry as “public”,
or, “representative.” God called Amos to represent him to Israel. Paul wrote to
Timothy outlining the qualifications for servants a congregation would call. “Calling the Twelve to him,” Jesus “sent them out two by two and gave them
authority over evil spirits.”
Hanging on the wall of the church
office/pastor’s study is the divine call Bethlehem extended to me in 1997 on
the form most congregations use. In that form, the calling congregation charges
the man who has received it “to preach the gospel of our Lord among us in
its truth and purity.” We talked about that last Sunday. The next sentence
adds the charge “to administer the sacraments in accordance with the
inspired Word of God and the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.”
Today’s sermon on our worship space and its
usage looks at one of those sacraments; the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, or,
the Sacrament of the Altar. We are Participants
through the Sacrament of the Altar in Christ’s Sacrifice on the Cross. We
participate through the cup and the bread. We participate together as one body.
Front and center in our sanctuary is the
altar. It may be free standing or against the back wall of the chancel. The
altar is a vivid reminder of the perfect sacrifice Jesus, our great High
Priest, offered on the altar of his cross to pay for the sins of the entire
world. Jesus is that one perfect Lamb of God. We are spectators at Jesus’ cross
as we behold the altar in worship.
Through the Sacrament of the Altar, we are
much more than spectators. We are participants in Christ’s sacrifice on the
cross. We call it the Sacrament of the Altar not because we place the wine and
bread on the altar but because through cup and bread we participate “in the blood of Christ” and “in the body of Christ.” Through this
sacrament, God brings us into fellowship
with the sacrifice Jesus made.
St. Paul refers to the cup as the “cup of thanksgiving.” When Jesus
instituted the sacrament on Maundy Thursday evening, our Savior took the cup
and “gave thanks.” In Greek, that is
Eucharist. When we receive the cup and the bread, God gives us the sacrifice
Jesus made on the cross. In the miracle of the real presence, we share in his
true body and blood. As we share in his true body and blood, we share in the
forgiveness of sins, life and salvation that the sacrament endows.
We talked last week about the Word of God
being the centerpiece of our public worship. In the Lord’s Supper, we have the
Word of God, the gospel, connected to the cup and bread. Paul frames his
questions in the Greek form that expects a yes answer, “Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation
in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread we eat a participation in the body of
Christ?” In our Christian faith and Lutheran confession, we answer both
questions as the apostle expects, with a resounding amen to that.
The giving and receiving of the cup and bread
are not merely so we can be spectators of what Jesus did and think about it.
Nor are they a sacrificing repeatedly of Christ’s body and blood to earn
forgiveness. We are participants through the Sacrament of the Altar in Christ’s
sacrifice on the cross. The writer to the Hebrews says of Christ’s sacrifice, “For this reason Christ is the Mediator of a
new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal
inheritance-now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins
committed under the first covenant.” The gospel ransoms us by Christ’s
blood from the sins we commit by breaking the Ten Commandments. When we
commune, we are participants in Christ’s salvation work on our behalf.
We commune always as members of the spiritual
body of Christ, the holy Christian church. We unite with fellow Christians by
our common faith and confession in the Triune God and that Jesus Christ is Lord
and Savior. We unite with our fellow Christians in the visible church not by
this saving faith in our hearts but by the confession of our lips codified in
the confessions of a church body. Where there is agreement including about the
Lord’s Supper there is unity and joint participation in the Lord’s Supper.
Where there is disagreement even if we agree on the Lord’s Supper, there is not
unity for such joint participation.
Each of us is a slice we might say of the “one loaf.” Participating in the
Sacrament of the Altar is always something we do together even when I take
private communion. We still share a common confession with others. That is also
why I cannot say I can commune in a heterodox church because I know what
communion is even if they do not. I am not a slice in their loaf. They are not
slices in our loaf. We have different beliefs and confessions.
As we consider our worship space, we consider
not only the physical presence of an altar. Congregations call pastors to use
this liturgical piece of furniture in the proper administration of God’s Word
and sacrament according to his command. Members of the congregation desire to
use it in such a way through their called servant.
This may mean saying to a fellow Christian
from time to time that since our Lutheran synods do not agree we cannot invite
you to participate with us in the reception of the sacrament. It may mean not
inviting a fellow Christian who does not know the truth about cup and bread and
therefore does not recognize the presence of Christ’s body and blood to commune
with us. We do not want them to sin against the body and blood of Christ. Our
visitors may not always understand or appreciate this love for them. My
experience is that more often than not people respect our communion practice
and it does not create a lasting issue.
Participating together in the Sacrament of the
Altar is one way we acknowledge our unity. When we take the Lord’s Supper, we
are acting as the one loaf of a visible church in unity of confession.
Participating through the Sacrament of the Altar in Christ’s sacrifice on the
cross is a great blessing we have from our Savior. It comes through cup and
bread. We do it together as one body. Amen. <SDG>