I have long reflected on the Eucharist and its central role it is supposed to play in the spiritual life of The Everlasting Temple that is the family of the children of God. I find it peculiar that this most precious sacrament of communion appears to be somewhat neglected among the readership. I don’t understand why we don’t have regular or, at least semi-regular, Remembrance Suppers. I propose holding virtual Remembrance Suppers and maintaining them until we are in a position to sit down together as Jesus did with his brothers the night he inaugurated the ritual. I will explain my thinking on this.
Firstly, let us look at the roots of the Christian communal worship experience - the invitation to the Supper. Jesus always taught, ‘ALL that will may come,’ he did not say, ‘All that will may come…EXCEPT…[insert marginalised group of individual preference here].’ In willingly inviting even the Betrayer to the Supper Jesus disallowed all forms prejudice at his Table. It always seemed to me that if Jesus was willing to sit down and sup with the man who was that very night going to bring about his destruction – he established that everyone is welcome at his Table; and it’s not our Table, it’s His. His Table. His rules. Therefore all are welcome: divorcee’s, homosexuals, transgender, travellers, rich and poor, foreigner and patriot, friends and enemies, ‘ALL who will may come.’
The Passover Supper was traditionally quite a feed; a good party, with good food, good wine and good chat, a celebration of liberty. However, this cannot be just a party, its purpose is spiritual – to nurture the soul and promote spiritual growth – the focus is Jesus, his life and teachings.
The life and teachings of Jesus, the whole spectacle, is designed to reveal the nature and character of the Father on Paradise to His children here on earth; even the life that we can aspire to live – it not only reveals God to man but man to God, reveals to an onlooking universe the life of the true child of God. The life of Jesus, his whole life, from first breath to last, was a bestowal of the Bread of Heaven.
When he “broke the bread and gave it to his apostles, saying take this and eat it” the bread was a symbol of the life that he had lived being given to us as a gift that could nourish us spiritually. Jesus taught us that ‘man cannot live by bread alone.’ The bread he gave was the bread of the inspirational life he lived among us – a life of faith, love, and service. He asked that “whensoever you do this” [no time specified – that was left up to us] “remember the life I lived among you”’ and how it was lived[1], to freely partake in the spiritual nourishment to be found in such a life of faith, love, and service; to share with one another the Bread we have found in him and through him; to share the inspiration, hope, enlightenment, courage, and strength we have found in reflecting upon the life of love and service he lived among us and for us.
Even the ‘breaking’ of the bread is symbolic of focusing on parts of his life – not trying to eat the whole loaf in one go!
He has invited us to talk, chat, share, enlighten, illuminate, to gratefully receive from others the enlightenment and illumination that they have acquired as they have journeyed with Jesus in their lives; to come to the Table as a child, to be open, cheerful, hopeful, eager, trusting, positive, grateful, humble, service oriented, earnest, ready to share everything and freely partake of the spiritual nourishment to be found in the Master’s life and at the Master’s Table.
When we, in faith, reach into the Basket of the life and teachings of Jesus we never come away empty handed. Further, we are not spiritually diminished when we share from our own spiritual storehouse the Bread that nourishes us. Moreover, we are enriched, for it is more blessed to give than to receive.
The ‘Wine’ is the symbol of service. Wine, as we know, is made from grapes and, in this case, the spiritual wine we offer one another comes from the ‘fruits of the spirit’. Personally strengthened through the Bread, we are spiritually empowered to go forth and ‘bear the fruits of the spirit’, to be kind, gentle, humble, forgiving, to forebear under provocation, to be tolerant of human weakness and have faith in the possibilities inherent in human divine co-operation, to turn away wrath with a soft word, to go the extra mile, to give the shirt off our backs – if need be, to strive to make this world a better place even as we strive to improve ourselves, to prove to the world that love is stronger than hate, righteousness greater than wickedness; to so live our lives that all whom we encounter are enriched; to abide in and allow our lives be illuminated by his ideal of living, ‘to love one another even as I have loved you’.
Jesus invites us into a life of devoted service born of sincere love. We follow one for whom the Father’s Will is the centre and circumference of his whole existence and he invites us to make the Father’s Will the centre and circumference of our life. To thus live in genuine kindness, humble before the Lord, gentle in all our ways, to serve our fellows with sincere and unselfish love, is to exalt (raise up) and glorify the life of the Son. That is inspired living. That is inspirational living.
Did you know that before Christians were called Christians they were known as the Pneumakoi? That means ‘the inspired’, pretty cool. Inspired living is an attractive way of life and I think we need this now more than ever.
As I see it, towards the end of the meal, we could use it as an opportunity to offer service of some kind to some individual or group, that before we leave the table we would pledge to actually do something for the benefit of another or for the benefit of the group. This simple model works effectively no matter how large the group. It offers intimacy and immediacy, it marries insight to service, allows the rubber of spiritual inspiration meet the road of selfless social service, and it does all this over dinner with friends. Thus when the meal finally ends can we honestly say, ‘Go your way in peace, to love and serve the Lord.’
In a real world setting, the model could be adjusted so that we could render it capable of serving whole communities, the nation, and even the world; that could offer a viable spiritual alternative that is in keeping with the teachings of the New Testament – at least as I interpret them. It struck me that the model of ‘The Wedding Feast’ would be the ideal pattern upon which to build an expanded or expanding fellowship. However, this being a meal of spiritual communion, the excesses normally associated with weddings would not be appropriate, but music, dancing and singing are, indeed ‘there is a time for every thing.’ The format is familiar the world over; as soon as the meal is over there’s a short break and the room is rearranged for dancing, the band arrives and the celebration continues. It is appropriate to give thanks and praise, to celebrate the gift of life, to offer up our laughter and the sweat of our dancing. Further, as a wedding sized group it would be appropriate to use one’s God given talents in music, song, poetry, or what have you, to bring joy to the group and praise for the Father, to enrich the occasion in a way that seems most fitting for the occasion.
The details of location, food, and music could easily be worked out by a steering committee. Each table should have a Facilitator to help move the conversation along. As it resembles a wedding, one could imagine a Best Man saying a few words for the Groom [Jesus, of course] and perhaps a Bridesmaid speaking for the Bride [the Church/congregation], this is just a suggestion. In essence their contributions could be a keynote address that offers pointers for conversations. Unless the speakers are able public speakers one imagines that these speeches would be kept short, humorous, enlightening, and informative. Like all weddings, someone has to pay for them, therefore a donation for the ‘Bride & Groom’ would be appropriate. Any surplus funds can be disbursed towards disposing the various service plans and projects agreed upon at dinner.
The convenient thing about this model is that almost anyone anywhere can apply it. You do not need any special theological or religious training. Such events can be run independently of one another and, generally, would not require any oversight except in the responsible management of donations. Such events can begin anywhere, one can easily imagine interested parties offering to host dinner in their own home – going from one members home to the other in an effort to share the load, bearing in mind that such things need not be held on a weekly basis but as suits. As groups get larger, the various hosts can come together to see about co-ordinating larger events.
These groups would be about celebrating the life of Jesus and the truths of the gospel, not conversion. As Jesus said, ‘All that will may come.’ This modality would be ideal for inter-denominational communion and could go a long way toward achieving ecumenical goals. Further, the model could be adjusted for individuals of different faiths to sit together and share the inspiration they have found within their own traditions. This would be in keeping with the model of church I have outline in my previous article. This type of supper, the multi/interdenominational, I would call ‘The Light Supper’ as we would be sharing the inspiration [the spiritual light] we have found in differing traditions.
I feel this concept has great potential for revitalising communal worship in the wider community, if not the whole world. I am open to any feedback anyone would care to share. If you have managed to read this far, well done and thanks! ;-)
[1] There are other interpretations of the text, but I feel that this interpretation is the most fitting to the spirit.
