2019年9月15日
崇拜的五個問題
Dr. Sam Wells 牧師
1. 如何成為一個能聆聽上帝說話的人？
主耶穌臨在的時刻，就是上帝的心向人完全敞開的時刻，人類的生命也曾經完全地向上帝敞開過。如今過了二千年後，我們如何能再經歷主耶穌臨在的時刻呢？耶穌在死前的那一晚，祂說：「你們當如此行。」然後就拿起餅及酒來，向我們示範及教導我們如何記念祂。而我們聖餐崇拜中經歷的一切，都是讓主耶穌的生命去塑造我們的生命。
聖餐崇拜可以分成五個部份去思考──這五個部份分別回應了五個問題。首先，第一個問題是：「如何成為一個能聽到上帝透過聖經說話的人？」
當我們聚集時，我們會想想誰人出現，誰人缺席，以及眾多讓他們缺席的原因。在會眾安靜準備祟拜的時候，我們期待著上帝即將會說和做一些事。當主禮開聲宣召，這個行動登時把我們從個人的聚集轉變化為一個教會。
進堂詩開啟了我們崇拜的歷程，唱頌的歌聲宣認著：我們是上主心中的歌，我們也渴望上帝成為我們心中的歌。進堂詩的進堂隊列代表著：「我們是上帝的朝聖者，我們永不能被困於任何城市。」每首進堂詩都在提醒著我們，大衛王在第一次帶著約櫃進入耶路撒冷時，如何歡欣喜樂地跳舞。
進堂詩後我們便立刻進入了認罪禮儀。這就像我們平日與老朋友久經隔閡後，終於再次團聚一樣，我們真誠面對，努力解決，並決意放下一切傷害我們與上帝及友人關係的事情，然後我們才能放鬆，享受彼此的陪伴，重尋彼此的愛。在創世記第三章中，上帝問亞當和夏娃：「你在哪裡？」在創世記第四章中，上帝問該隱：「你哥哥在哪裡？」這些都是喚起他們懺悔的問題。當我們被寬恕時，我們唱詩歌去表達我們的感恩和讚美。然後以祝文總結我們眾人的禱告，並預備我們的心去聆聽上帝的說話。
2. 上帝今天對我們說什麼？
所以在崇拜開始後的短短十分鐘，我們便由個人成為了教會的一部分，成為了上帝的朝聖者，與上帝重新復和。在這一刻，也唯有在這一刻，我們終於準備好接受聖經的話語。於是便來到第二個問題：「上帝今天想對我們說什麼？」
傳統中我們會讀三段經課，第一段選自舊約，第二段來自新約的書信，最後一段是由四福音中節錄的。這個選讀方法可以讓我們由舊約的以色列和新約書信中的早期教會故事出發，去理解四福音中耶穌的行為。
我們可以把崇拜的這個部分幻想成一枝箭︰新舊約經課是箭頭，福音經課是箭軸，而講道就是把箭射向箭靶中心的那一點，那一點就是上帝聖言對當下準確的回應。講道就是闡釋上帝的五步曲︰創造，立約，基督，教會及終末。我們則被定位在第四幕「教會」當中－－在上帝透過基督去展示完全的恩典及憐憫，和一切完滿結束的終末之間。講道內容無論是圍繞我們生活中的敏感話題，抑或是以來自經文的問題、命令、或描述作開始，都是讓我們了解上帝在我們生命的美意，並帶出我們每個人的故事。我們的故事都是上帝永恆故事當中，一個微小但重要的部分，並在這個紛亂世代當中，把我們信仰打磨雕琢，猶如珍珠一樣。
3. 我們怎樣才能成為一個會分享靈糧的人？
現在來到第三個問題：「我們怎樣才能成為一個會分享靈糧的人？」在理想的情況下，聆聽上帝的話會使我們的生活瞬間重塑，從而令到我們願意與上帝和其他人分享靈糧。但在來到聖桌之前，我們有三件事需要去做。因為崇拜中這個時刻標誌著我們不只是一羣聚集著的會眾，而是一起成為獨一，聖潔，大公，和延續使徒統緒的教會，並與世上每個角落以及歷世歷代聖徒契合在一個團契中。這是世界各地所有教會一直以來所信的，不僅僅是空想和夢，而是教會一直以來的信仰。
我們接下來要做的就是透過代禱，將信心轉化為希望。講道應該給予我們的，是完全意識到我們的軟弱和愚昧，但卻充滿期盼上帝能幫助像我們這樣的人。於是我們帶著赤祼的需要和無盡的慾望來到上主面前，祈禱將世界和我們自己最深切的需要，置於我們如何理解上主在世上的作為之中。
然後我們透過平安禮互祝平安與眾人復和。信經代表著信；代禱傳遞著希望；而平安禮就是表達愛。馬太福音第五章提醒我們，如果我們不能與鄰居和好，我們就不該到祭壇上獻上祭物；所以復和的平安禮要在獻祭之前進行。申命記第二十六章指示以色列人將首批水果放在籃子裡，把它們交給祭司，然後聽祭司講述救恩的故事。同樣地，我們把代表了日用所需的食物和永恆生命的靈糧：錢、工作的成果、餅和酒獻上，這件事。我們在崇拜中所做的每一件事，包括同念信經，祈禱，奉獻和唱詩，我們都一起說著：「這是我們所認知回應福音的最好方法：懇求祢悅納它，並將它轉化成賜永生的靈糧。」
4. 「成為上帝的同伴」意味著什麼？
現在我們來到第四個問題，這是最重要並且是聖餐及信仰的核心問題：「成為上帝的同伴意味著什麼？」這個問題其實在感恩祈禱和領聖餐中已得到答案，「同伴」字面上的意思就是與你分享餅酒的人。
當主禮說出耶穌的話語「拿起…祝謝…擘開…分給」我們回想起耶穌在最後晚餐中所作的，也回想起上帝對以色列所作的。上帝選擇了一羣特別的人，祝福他們，(擘開)分散並流放他們，然後又把他們放在外邦人前，作上帝的光，並透過他們將外邦人帶到上帝面前。然後上帝取了人類的樣式誕下耶穌，通過耶穌的道成肉身和作工祝福我們。衪在十字架上死亡、復活，並把聖靈帶來給我們，同樣地上帝也使用我們的生命成為祝福。倘若我們在崇拜時，感覺到生命正被破碎，這句子正正提醒我們，我們的破碎是為了與他人分享。我們的生命會讓屬上帝的人得著餵養。
當餅及酒，金錢和禱告被帶到祭壇時，每個人都將自己不同的特質，才能，盼望及夢想帶到上帝面前。然後牧師重新再次提醒我們上帝神聖的作為：祂取了人的樣式並使之成為神聖(客西瑪利園的故事）。在這轉化中，我們每個人都得到同樣的東西。這東西就是一個新團契，在團契中，我們每個人都將我們的不同帶給了上帝，但我們每個人都從上帝那裡得到了同樣的聖體及生命。
在這個轉化之中，我們看到了救恩是如何成就的。上帝賜下一個神聖的故事和行為，讓我們能恆常講述這神聖的故事和實踐這神聖的行為。上帝能通過普通人和他們簡單的獻祭，轉化他們成上帝神聖的子民。而這正是定期聖餐崇拜的意義：上帝通過一些普通人，以及這個故事和行為，將他們變成基督的身體，成為上帝永遠的同伴
5. 我們要如何使全世界成為聖餐共融聖事？
我們看見過，我們接觸過，我們聽到過，我們也嘗到過主恩的滋味。聖餐崇拜是一種整全的體驗，在新團契中真實地生活，成為上帝永遠的同伴。現在就只剩下一件事。我們需要什麼去重塑整個世界？我們要如何使全世界成為聖餐共融聖事？
我們的崇拜最後會有報告，祝福和差遣。在這個時刻，主禮就像把網球由教會拋進世界之中，他鼓勵會眾以他們自己的方式尋找，分辨和珍視祂把我們帶到的地方的意義，並在下一次的崇拜中帶回當中的智慧和奇蹟，以及他們如何在那裡遇見上帝。
因為下一次崇拜的開始就是從今次崇拜結束的那一刻開始。在下次崇拜之前發生的一切，其實都是以下的集合體：歡恩的慶典，坦承的罪孽，獻上的金錢，分享的靈糧，以及自身的需要。我們帶著這些東西，在下次聚集時一同迎接上帝。這就是使全世界成為聖餐共融聖事的意義所在。
15th September 2019
5 Questions of Worship
Revd. Dr. Sam Wells
1. How can we become a people who can hear God speak?
Jesus was the moment in time when God’s heart was open to us and our human life was for once completely open to God. How is that moment accessible to us 2000 years later? On the night before he died Jesus said, ‘This is how.’ He took bread and wine and showed us how to remember and be re-formed in all that he was and did. Everything we do at the Eucharist is about allowing our life to be shaped around Jesus life.
You can think of a Eucharist in five parts – each one a response to a question. The question at the start of the service is, ‘How can we become a people who can hear God speak in the Scriptures?’
As we gather, we reflect on who is here and who is missing, and the many reasons why people might be missing. In the stillness of the congregation in preparation for worship we express a sense of expectation that God is about to say and do something. The leader offers a greeting and this act turns us from an assembly of individuals into a church.
The opening hymn then begins the story of the service. Our singing proclaims our joy that we are the song in God’s heart, and our longing to make God the song in our hearts. The procession during that hymn is a physical way of saying. ‘We are God’s pilgrim people, never settled in any one abiding city.’ Every processional hymn that begins our worship is a reminder of King David’s joyful dance as he brought the ark of the covenant into Jerusalem for the first time.
Immediately we make together an act of confession. Like old friends having a tense reunion after a long estrangement, we want to name and address and put behind us all that damages our relationship with God and one another, so we can relax and enjoy one another’s company and rediscover the depth of our love. In Genesis chapter 3 God says to Adam and Eve, ‘Where are you?’ In Genesis chapter 4, God says to Cain, ‘Where is your brother?’ These are the questions that evoke confession. When we’ve been forgiven we stand to sing a hymn or song of joy and praise. And then a prayer collects together all our prayers and makes us ready to hear God speak.
2. What is God saying today?
So ten minutes into the service we have become the church, God’s pilgrim people, and we have been reconciled with God and one another. Now and only now are we ready to hear the scriptures. Here then is the second question: ‘What is God saying today?’
Our tradition is to have three readings, one from the Old Testament, one from the later part of the New Testament, and one from one of the four gospels. This is a way of saying the story of Jesus, found in the gospels, can only be understood in the context of the story of Israel, found in the Old Testament, and the story of the early church, found in the later part of the New Testament.
Imagine this part of the service as an arrowhead. The Old and New Testament readings form an arrowhead, the gospel is the shaft; and the sermon should be the point, aimed where the arrow of God’s word is acutely poignant today. The sermon takes God’s five-act drama of creation, covenant, Christ, church and consummation, and locates us precisely in the fourth act, called church – between the full disclosure of God’s grace and mercy in Christ and the full abundance of consummation at the story’s end. Whether the sermon begins with a pressing issue of the day or starts out with a question, command or narrative from the scripture, either way it seeks to enfold our lives within the loving purposes of God, to show how our story is just one tiny but precious part in the endless stream of God’s story, and to polish the treasured pearl of faith within the confusing circumstances of our lives.
3. How can we become a people who can share food?
Here is the third question: ‘How can we become a people who can share food?’ Ideally the hearing of God’s word leads to an instant reshaping of our lives so we are ready to share food with God and one another. But before we get to the table we do three things. This is the moment where we signal that our worship isn’t just about these people gathered here but is our participation in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church, the communion of saints stretching to all centuries past and future and to all four corners of the earth. This is what has always been believed, everywhere, by the whole church. These aren’t just our pet ideas and dreams: this is the faith
of the church.
The next thing we do is turn faith into hope by offering intercessions. We come before God naked in our need and limitless in our expectation. That’s how the sermon should have left us: completely aware of the reality of our weakness and folly, yet on fire with the wonder of what God can do, even with us. The prayers place the deepest needs of the world and ourselves within our understanding of the way God works in the world.
And then we are reconciled to one another by sharing the peace. The creed is faith; the intercessions are hope; this is love. Matthew 5 tells us that if we can’t be reconciled with our neighbor we shouldn’t try bringing our gift to the altar. So the peace comes before we bring forward God’s gifts and lay them on the altar. Deuteronomy chapter 26 instructs the children of Israel to bring the first fruits in a basket and give them to the priest and then tell the story of salvation. In just the same way we bring our money, the harvest of our work, the bread and wine, which at this stage represent the ordinary food of life and the extraordinary drink of eternal life. In every way in creed, prayers, offering and song, we are saying, ‘This is our best understanding of how to respond to your gospel: take it and transform it into food that gives us eternal life.’
4. What does it mean to be God’s companions?
And now we come to the fourth, and crucial, question at the heart of the Eucharist and the heart of our faith: ‘What does it mean to be God’s companions?’ This is the question answered by the long prayer of thanksgiving and the distribution of the bread and wine. A companion literally means one with whom you share bread.
When the presiding minister says Jesus’ words ‘Take… bless… break… give,’ we are recalling what Jesus did at the Last Supper. But we’re also recalling what God did to Israel. God took one special people, blessed them, then broke them in the Exile before giving them as a light to the nations to bring the Gentiles to God. And then God took human form in Jesus, blessed us through the incarnation and ministry of Jesus, was broken on the cross before giving us life in the resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit. And in just the same way God takes our lives and blesses us, and if we are sitting here today feeling our lives have been broken this moment of the service is telling us that we are broken in order that our life may be shared that God’s people may be fed.
When the bread and wine and money and prayers are brought to the altar we each bring our different qualities, resources, hopes and dreams to God. And then the priest recalls the sacred story of how God took human nature and made it divine. And in that transformation we each receive back the same. What this is depicting is a new society in which we each bring our differentness to God but we each receive back from God the same bread of life.
And in this dynamic of transformation we see how salvation works. God takes a simple people and their simple offerings and gives them a sacred story and sacred actions and in the regular telling of that story and performance of those actions they are transformed into God’s holy people. And that’s exactly what the regular celebration of the Eucharist is about: God taking an ordinary people and through this story and these actions turning them into the body of Christ, God’s companions forever.
5. What do we need to make the whole world a Eucharist?
We have seen, we have touched, we have heard, we have tasted the Lord our God. The Eucharist is a whole-body experience of truthful living in a new society as God’s companions together forever. Only one thing more remains. What do we need to remake the whole world like this? What do we need to make the whole world a Eucharist?
Here we have announcements, blessing, and dismissal. At this moment the leader is like a person who throws a tennis ball out of the church into the world beyond, inviting the eager members of the congregation in their different ways to locate and discern and cherish the place where it lands, and at the next service to bring back the wisdom and wonder of where it landed and of how they met God there.
For the next act of worship begins the moment this one ends. Everything that precedes the next service is a gathering of joys to celebrate, sins to confess, money to offer, food to share, and needs to bring to the next time we come together to meet God. That’s what it means to make the whole world a Eucharist.
崇拜的五個問題
Dr. Sam Wells 牧師
1. 如何成為一個能聆聽上帝說話的人？
主耶穌臨在的時刻，就是上帝的心向人完全敞開的時刻，人類的生命也曾經完全地向上帝敞開過。如今過了二千年後，我們如何能再經歷主耶穌臨在的時刻呢？耶穌在死前的那一晚，祂說：「你們當如此行。」然後就拿起餅及酒來，向我們示範及教導我們如何記念祂。而我們聖餐崇拜中經歷的一切，都是讓主耶穌的生命去塑造我們的生命。
聖餐崇拜可以分成五個部份去思考──這五個部份分別回應了五個問題。首先，第一個問題是：「如何成為一個能聽到上帝透過聖經說話的人？」
當我們聚集時，我們會想想誰人出現，誰人缺席，以及眾多讓他們缺席的原因。在會眾安靜準備祟拜的時候，我們期待著上帝即將會說和做一些事。當主禮開聲宣召，這個行動登時把我們從個人的聚集轉變化為一個教會。
進堂詩開啟了我們崇拜的歷程，唱頌的歌聲宣認著：我們是上主心中的歌，我們也渴望上帝成為我們心中的歌。進堂詩的進堂隊列代表著：「我們是上帝的朝聖者，我們永不能被困於任何城市。」每首進堂詩都在提醒著我們，大衛王在第一次帶著約櫃進入耶路撒冷時，如何歡欣喜樂地跳舞。
進堂詩後我們便立刻進入了認罪禮儀。這就像我們平日與老朋友久經隔閡後，終於再次團聚一樣，我們真誠面對，努力解決，並決意放下一切傷害我們與上帝及友人關係的事情，然後我們才能放鬆，享受彼此的陪伴，重尋彼此的愛。在創世記第三章中，上帝問亞當和夏娃：「你在哪裡？」在創世記第四章中，上帝問該隱：「你哥哥在哪裡？」這些都是喚起他們懺悔的問題。當我們被寬恕時，我們唱詩歌去表達我們的感恩和讚美。然後以祝文總結我們眾人的禱告，並預備我們的心去聆聽上帝的說話。
2. 上帝今天對我們說什麼？
所以在崇拜開始後的短短十分鐘，我們便由個人成為了教會的一部分，成為了上帝的朝聖者，與上帝重新復和。在這一刻，也唯有在這一刻，我們終於準備好接受聖經的話語。於是便來到第二個問題：「上帝今天想對我們說什麼？」
傳統中我們會讀三段經課，第一段選自舊約，第二段來自新約的書信，最後一段是由四福音中節錄的。這個選讀方法可以讓我們由舊約的以色列和新約書信中的早期教會故事出發，去理解四福音中耶穌的行為。
我們可以把崇拜的這個部分幻想成一枝箭︰新舊約經課是箭頭，福音經課是箭軸，而講道就是把箭射向箭靶中心的那一點，那一點就是上帝聖言對當下準確的回應。講道就是闡釋上帝的五步曲︰創造，立約，基督，教會及終末。我們則被定位在第四幕「教會」當中－－在上帝透過基督去展示完全的恩典及憐憫，和一切完滿結束的終末之間。講道內容無論是圍繞我們生活中的敏感話題，抑或是以來自經文的問題、命令、或描述作開始，都是讓我們了解上帝在我們生命的美意，並帶出我們每個人的故事。我們的故事都是上帝永恆故事當中，一個微小但重要的部分，並在這個紛亂世代當中，把我們信仰打磨雕琢，猶如珍珠一樣。
3. 我們怎樣才能成為一個會分享靈糧的人？
現在來到第三個問題：「我們怎樣才能成為一個會分享靈糧的人？」在理想的情況下，聆聽上帝的話會使我們的生活瞬間重塑，從而令到我們願意與上帝和其他人分享靈糧。但在來到聖桌之前，我們有三件事需要去做。因為崇拜中這個時刻標誌著我們不只是一羣聚集著的會眾，而是一起成為獨一，聖潔，大公，和延續使徒統緒的教會，並與世上每個角落以及歷世歷代聖徒契合在一個團契中。這是世界各地所有教會一直以來所信的，不僅僅是空想和夢，而是教會一直以來的信仰。
我們接下來要做的就是透過代禱，將信心轉化為希望。講道應該給予我們的，是完全意識到我們的軟弱和愚昧，但卻充滿期盼上帝能幫助像我們這樣的人。於是我們帶著赤祼的需要和無盡的慾望來到上主面前，祈禱將世界和我們自己最深切的需要，置於我們如何理解上主在世上的作為之中。
然後我們透過平安禮互祝平安與眾人復和。信經代表著信；代禱傳遞著希望；而平安禮就是表達愛。馬太福音第五章提醒我們，如果我們不能與鄰居和好，我們就不該到祭壇上獻上祭物；所以復和的平安禮要在獻祭之前進行。申命記第二十六章指示以色列人將首批水果放在籃子裡，把它們交給祭司，然後聽祭司講述救恩的故事。同樣地，我們把代表了日用所需的食物和永恆生命的靈糧：錢、工作的成果、餅和酒獻上，這件事。我們在崇拜中所做的每一件事，包括同念信經，祈禱，奉獻和唱詩，我們都一起說著：「這是我們所認知回應福音的最好方法：懇求祢悅納它，並將它轉化成賜永生的靈糧。」
4. 「成為上帝的同伴」意味著什麼？
現在我們來到第四個問題，這是最重要並且是聖餐及信仰的核心問題：「成為上帝的同伴意味著什麼？」這個問題其實在感恩祈禱和領聖餐中已得到答案，「同伴」字面上的意思就是與你分享餅酒的人。
當主禮說出耶穌的話語「拿起…祝謝…擘開…分給」我們回想起耶穌在最後晚餐中所作的，也回想起上帝對以色列所作的。上帝選擇了一羣特別的人，祝福他們，(擘開)分散並流放他們，然後又把他們放在外邦人前，作上帝的光，並透過他們將外邦人帶到上帝面前。然後上帝取了人類的樣式誕下耶穌，通過耶穌的道成肉身和作工祝福我們。衪在十字架上死亡、復活，並把聖靈帶來給我們，同樣地上帝也使用我們的生命成為祝福。倘若我們在崇拜時，感覺到生命正被破碎，這句子正正提醒我們，我們的破碎是為了與他人分享。我們的生命會讓屬上帝的人得著餵養。
當餅及酒，金錢和禱告被帶到祭壇時，每個人都將自己不同的特質，才能，盼望及夢想帶到上帝面前。然後牧師重新再次提醒我們上帝神聖的作為：祂取了人的樣式並使之成為神聖(客西瑪利園的故事）。在這轉化中，我們每個人都得到同樣的東西。這東西就是一個新團契，在團契中，我們每個人都將我們的不同帶給了上帝，但我們每個人都從上帝那裡得到了同樣的聖體及生命。
在這個轉化之中，我們看到了救恩是如何成就的。上帝賜下一個神聖的故事和行為，讓我們能恆常講述這神聖的故事和實踐這神聖的行為。上帝能通過普通人和他們簡單的獻祭，轉化他們成上帝神聖的子民。而這正是定期聖餐崇拜的意義：上帝通過一些普通人，以及這個故事和行為，將他們變成基督的身體，成為上帝永遠的同伴
5. 我們要如何使全世界成為聖餐共融聖事？
我們看見過，我們接觸過，我們聽到過，我們也嘗到過主恩的滋味。聖餐崇拜是一種整全的體驗，在新團契中真實地生活，成為上帝永遠的同伴。現在就只剩下一件事。我們需要什麼去重塑整個世界？我們要如何使全世界成為聖餐共融聖事？
我們的崇拜最後會有報告，祝福和差遣。在這個時刻，主禮就像把網球由教會拋進世界之中，他鼓勵會眾以他們自己的方式尋找，分辨和珍視祂把我們帶到的地方的意義，並在下一次的崇拜中帶回當中的智慧和奇蹟，以及他們如何在那裡遇見上帝。
因為下一次崇拜的開始就是從今次崇拜結束的那一刻開始。在下次崇拜之前發生的一切，其實都是以下的集合體：歡恩的慶典，坦承的罪孽，獻上的金錢，分享的靈糧，以及自身的需要。我們帶著這些東西，在下次聚集時一同迎接上帝。這就是使全世界成為聖餐共融聖事的意義所在。
15th September 2019
5 Questions of Worship
Revd. Dr. Sam Wells
1. How can we become a people who can hear God speak?
Jesus was the moment in time when God’s heart was open to us and our human life was for once completely open to God. How is that moment accessible to us 2000 years later? On the night before he died Jesus said, ‘This is how.’ He took bread and wine and showed us how to remember and be re-formed in all that he was and did. Everything we do at the Eucharist is about allowing our life to be shaped around Jesus life.
You can think of a Eucharist in five parts – each one a response to a question. The question at the start of the service is, ‘How can we become a people who can hear God speak in the Scriptures?’
As we gather, we reflect on who is here and who is missing, and the many reasons why people might be missing. In the stillness of the congregation in preparation for worship we express a sense of expectation that God is about to say and do something. The leader offers a greeting and this act turns us from an assembly of individuals into a church.
The opening hymn then begins the story of the service. Our singing proclaims our joy that we are the song in God’s heart, and our longing to make God the song in our hearts. The procession during that hymn is a physical way of saying. ‘We are God’s pilgrim people, never settled in any one abiding city.’ Every processional hymn that begins our worship is a reminder of King David’s joyful dance as he brought the ark of the covenant into Jerusalem for the first time.
Immediately we make together an act of confession. Like old friends having a tense reunion after a long estrangement, we want to name and address and put behind us all that damages our relationship with God and one another, so we can relax and enjoy one another’s company and rediscover the depth of our love. In Genesis chapter 3 God says to Adam and Eve, ‘Where are you?’ In Genesis chapter 4, God says to Cain, ‘Where is your brother?’ These are the questions that evoke confession. When we’ve been forgiven we stand to sing a hymn or song of joy and praise. And then a prayer collects together all our prayers and makes us ready to hear God speak.
2. What is God saying today?
So ten minutes into the service we have become the church, God’s pilgrim people, and we have been reconciled with God and one another. Now and only now are we ready to hear the scriptures. Here then is the second question: ‘What is God saying today?’
Our tradition is to have three readings, one from the Old Testament, one from the later part of the New Testament, and one from one of the four gospels. This is a way of saying the story of Jesus, found in the gospels, can only be understood in the context of the story of Israel, found in the Old Testament, and the story of the early church, found in the later part of the New Testament.
Imagine this part of the service as an arrowhead. The Old and New Testament readings form an arrowhead, the gospel is the shaft; and the sermon should be the point, aimed where the arrow of God’s word is acutely poignant today. The sermon takes God’s five-act drama of creation, covenant, Christ, church and consummation, and locates us precisely in the fourth act, called church – between the full disclosure of God’s grace and mercy in Christ and the full abundance of consummation at the story’s end. Whether the sermon begins with a pressing issue of the day or starts out with a question, command or narrative from the scripture, either way it seeks to enfold our lives within the loving purposes of God, to show how our story is just one tiny but precious part in the endless stream of God’s story, and to polish the treasured pearl of faith within the confusing circumstances of our lives.
3. How can we become a people who can share food?
Here is the third question: ‘How can we become a people who can share food?’ Ideally the hearing of God’s word leads to an instant reshaping of our lives so we are ready to share food with God and one another. But before we get to the table we do three things. This is the moment where we signal that our worship isn’t just about these people gathered here but is our participation in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church, the communion of saints stretching to all centuries past and future and to all four corners of the earth. This is what has always been believed, everywhere, by the whole church. These aren’t just our pet ideas and dreams: this is the faith
of the church.
The next thing we do is turn faith into hope by offering intercessions. We come before God naked in our need and limitless in our expectation. That’s how the sermon should have left us: completely aware of the reality of our weakness and folly, yet on fire with the wonder of what God can do, even with us. The prayers place the deepest needs of the world and ourselves within our understanding of the way God works in the world.
And then we are reconciled to one another by sharing the peace. The creed is faith; the intercessions are hope; this is love. Matthew 5 tells us that if we can’t be reconciled with our neighbor we shouldn’t try bringing our gift to the altar. So the peace comes before we bring forward God’s gifts and lay them on the altar. Deuteronomy chapter 26 instructs the children of Israel to bring the first fruits in a basket and give them to the priest and then tell the story of salvation. In just the same way we bring our money, the harvest of our work, the bread and wine, which at this stage represent the ordinary food of life and the extraordinary drink of eternal life. In every way in creed, prayers, offering and song, we are saying, ‘This is our best understanding of how to respond to your gospel: take it and transform it into food that gives us eternal life.’
4. What does it mean to be God’s companions?
And now we come to the fourth, and crucial, question at the heart of the Eucharist and the heart of our faith: ‘What does it mean to be God’s companions?’ This is the question answered by the long prayer of thanksgiving and the distribution of the bread and wine. A companion literally means one with whom you share bread.
When the presiding minister says Jesus’ words ‘Take… bless… break… give,’ we are recalling what Jesus did at the Last Supper. But we’re also recalling what God did to Israel. God took one special people, blessed them, then broke them in the Exile before giving them as a light to the nations to bring the Gentiles to God. And then God took human form in Jesus, blessed us through the incarnation and ministry of Jesus, was broken on the cross before giving us life in the resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit. And in just the same way God takes our lives and blesses us, and if we are sitting here today feeling our lives have been broken this moment of the service is telling us that we are broken in order that our life may be shared that God’s people may be fed.
When the bread and wine and money and prayers are brought to the altar we each bring our different qualities, resources, hopes and dreams to God. And then the priest recalls the sacred story of how God took human nature and made it divine. And in that transformation we each receive back the same. What this is depicting is a new society in which we each bring our differentness to God but we each receive back from God the same bread of life.
And in this dynamic of transformation we see how salvation works. God takes a simple people and their simple offerings and gives them a sacred story and sacred actions and in the regular telling of that story and performance of those actions they are transformed into God’s holy people. And that’s exactly what the regular celebration of the Eucharist is about: God taking an ordinary people and through this story and these actions turning them into the body of Christ, God’s companions forever.
5. What do we need to make the whole world a Eucharist?
We have seen, we have touched, we have heard, we have tasted the Lord our God. The Eucharist is a whole-body experience of truthful living in a new society as God’s companions together forever. Only one thing more remains. What do we need to remake the whole world like this? What do we need to make the whole world a Eucharist?
Here we have announcements, blessing, and dismissal. At this moment the leader is like a person who throws a tennis ball out of the church into the world beyond, inviting the eager members of the congregation in their different ways to locate and discern and cherish the place where it lands, and at the next service to bring back the wisdom and wonder of where it landed and of how they met God there.
For the next act of worship begins the moment this one ends. Everything that precedes the next service is a gathering of joys to celebrate, sins to confess, money to offer, food to share, and needs to bring to the next time we come together to meet God. That’s what it means to make the whole world a Eucharist.
