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,
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! ;-)
