Scripture: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; Luke 22:14-20; Matthew 8:8; Romans 14
Communion is not ordinary magic but Christ’s open table, a humbling gift and invitation to participate in God’s remaking of the world where all who seek Christ are welcome and worthy.
Illustrations: appalachian-trail-thru-hike, few-ups-and-downs-brother, roxanne-quimby-baxter-katahdin, catholic-school-host-bathroom, hocus-pocus-latin-mass, taylor-swift-on-stage, cowboys-jerry-jones-third-quarter, idol-meat-boasting
October 5, 2025
Communion
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 Luke 22:14-20
For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. - 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him. He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves, for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. - Luke 22:14-20
After I graduated from the University of Texas, Hook ‘em, I took a bus from Austin, Texas, to the middle to what then was called Baxter State Park. It is now Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument thanks to Roxanne Quimby, the founder of Burt’s Bees, who donated 87,500 acres of Maine wilderness plus $20 million to set aside that land.
The journey itself, from Austin to Maine, seemed like a movie. It lasted 2 1/2 days. I went from Austin to Dallas to Hot Springs and Memphis and then up to Ohio and across the Pennsylvania Turnpike into New York City and the Port Authority Station, before going north through New England to Central Maine, where I climb Mount Katahdin and then start walking south. This is after my undergrad. I didn’t prepare for the trip. It was a little spur of the moment. I wasn’t in great shape.
I started with about a 70 pound pack; way too heavy. The first part of the southbound Thru Hike of the Appalachian Trail is through an area called 100 mile wilderness. At the end of it, I sent about 40 pounds by mail home to my parents, including my hiking boots. I hiked most of the Trail in Chaco sandals. Eventually I got my pack down to 13 pounds of baseweight and then I’d have about 5 pounds of water 5 pounds of food. I would resupply every few days and I would be cruising. I’d be going about 25 mile between 20 and 30 miles a day. I wasn’t in shape when I started, but I was in spectacular shape by the midpoint. I burned 5 to 6,000 calories a day and I couldn’t eat enough to catch up.
The last 100 miles my brother who was working in a hospital system of Houston at the time. He took off work and he took a bus up to Tennessee to meet me near the North Carolina/Tennessee line.
Before we started, he asked me what the trail was gonna be like. I said, “Oh, it’s just a few ups and downs.” Now, at the time, my brother was a fairly fit man, but I had been walking at least 20 miles a day for over four months. He had not. He had been lawyering most of the time for the prior four months.
A few ups and downs for me was very different from a few ups and downs for my brother. The trail wasn’t different for us. Our experience of the trail was different.
Series Intro
My friends we are continuing our series on the Stained glass windows here at Covenant UMC. We are skipping a little bit and going here to communion.
Depending on what tradition you grew up in, you may have different theologies of communion, especially if you grew up catholic or orthodox. There is an incredible emphasis on the Eucharist. So much so that adoration of the host, the wafer used for the Eucharist, is a super serious thing. My wife, Alina, works at a Catholic school and they have Mass every week. One of the things that she has to continually communicate to her seventh graders is that once the Priest gets ready for communion and they reveal the host, you can’t go to the bathroom. You can’t leave once the host is revealed.
There are so many details around communion. I am not even talking about the theology, but the practice. What people do. Some traditions build liturgical space so that they might all participate in communion at the same time. That is, the little cups and the little wafers are spread around and shared throughout. Once the preacher or the pastor gives the signal, everybody eats and drinks at the same time: synchronous communion.
There are different words used to talk about basically the same thing: Eucharist, Communion, and the Lord’s Supper. Catholics are most likely to talk about Eucharist, which comes from a Greek word and means ‘thanksgiving.’ The specific Methodist liturgy of the table is called The Great Thanksgiving. The practice is also referred to as communion because we do the same thing in common and we do it together. One could also say the Lord’s supper, especially in a tradition where the memory of Jesus is the central action.
Here, we have communion by intinction for the most part, which is when you are given a piece of bread to dip in the cup.
The words we say matter. They’re not magical. It’s not hocus pocus. Ironically, the phrase hocus pocus comes from the Latin mass. The moment in the mass when the priest says hoc est corpus meum. This is my body. Hoc est corpus meum. For people who don’t know Latin, Hoc est corpus meum sounds like hocus pocus. As well, it seemed like this magical thing going on in the world.
It seems like a magical thing, but there’s never a Christian claim to anything magical going on. Whatever the case, communion is not ordinary. Even in ordinary time, it’s not ordinary. The communion table is not ordinary. I say the words, This is my body broken for you, repeating the words of Jesus after that evening gathering on Maundy Thursday. This is my body given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.
This is my body. Those words can mean something light just like the words a few ups and downs meant something light to my brother.
Those words can mean something incredibly deep like just a few ups and downs meant to me.
A person could spend a lifetime contemplating communion or they could just walk up and receive it.
The words we use matter, but they do not plumb the depths of God’s action here nor our invitation to participate in the action of God. This is one of the more humbling aspects of communion you were invited to be a part of this team.
Imagine being a huge Taylor Swift fan and not only do you go to the show but she invites you on stage to sing. What an experience? Or imagine being a huge Cowboys fan, and you go to a game in Arlington and at half time, Jerry meets you at your seat and says that the Cowboys need you for the third quarter. You are on the team.
Communion is a sacrifice, a gift, but also an invitation to participate in God’s remaking of the world. It is humbling. Just like for most of us, of Taylor Swift asked us to come on stage, we might not feel like we are good enough.
In many Catholic traditions, there is a prayer right before receiving modeled after the Centurion’s prayer in Matthew 8:
Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.
Worthiness and unworthiness for communion has been a major point of dispute throughout the centuries. In my Paul Spiritual formation class, we’ve been going through 1 Corinthians over the past few months. In chapter 11, Paul writes about how you should not come to the table in an unworthy manner.
Some Christians have read this as referring to closed communion. That only those people who have confessed all their sins and are in a complete and right relationship with God are worthy to come to the table. This is one of the reasons why, in the medieval world, communion wasn’t offered to the laity except two or three times a year.
This is why if you’re a Protestant, you’re not supposed to go up to communion in a Catholic church or at a Missouri Senate Lutheran Church you’re not supposed to go up to the table.
When we go back the Scripture, one thing that we’ve been working to discern together is that in the letter the First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul is responding to a prior letter written to him from Corinth and he’s addressing throughout the letter, a number of issues that have come up in Corinth.
There were issues of sexual morality, issues of inclusion for Gentiles. One of the major issues has to do with meats sacrifice to idols or false gods. What do we do with these meats. This doesn’t seem like a super relevant issue today, but it is worth a lot of time for Paul.
One of the conclusions he arrives to is that you should avoid meat sacrificed to idols if it would make your brother in Christ fall. So if someone used to be pagan and has recently become a Christian, don’t be showing off this idol-meat because it may cause a bad reaction to them. In a similar way, don’t go talking about how awesome your job is to your buddy who just lost their job or how awesome your marriage is to the person whose marriage just fell apart like it’s good to have a good marriage. It’s not good to use it to demean the people around you. It’s good to realize that the idols don’t exist. and so the meat is not tainted ontologically of its core, but it’s not good to shove it in the face of someone else. Paul talks about this again in Romans 14.
Throughout this, the main concern of Paul is, don’t break the body, don’t break up the church, don’t cause a schism, don’t separate yourself from each other. Come to the table with a mind to Christ. Don’t come to the table if you’re starving.
In this way, I see a much more inclusive and open table, which matches the theology of Methodism. We practice an open table at Covenant. We offer the table to all who come, all who seek Jesus.
Every time we have communion, I say, “This is not this church’s table. It is Christ’s table and all who seek Christ are welcome here.”
There’s a deep meaning here. Christ has died for you, and not just long ago. Christ daily offers himself for you. Whenever the table is offered, you are invited and included in God’s salvific work. The coming kingdom of God includes you coming to the table. It’s a lot more than a few more ups and downs. No matter how many times you have come here, it doesn’t make it easier.
You were loved so much that Christ offered himself for you, but did not end the story there. You are loved so much that you are invited to share in that love here and to be sent in the world, filled, and redeemed. You are worthy.
Our inclusion at the table is also our inclusion in this body of Christ. For those of you in person this morning, in your bulletin there is a pledge card. For those worshiping online, there is a pledge card on the giving page. MAs I said last week, generosity is an act of faith. God calls us to be a part of what God is doing here by faith. God has called you. Our pledge of our time and our resources is one way that respond. May you and your family pray over this in the coming weeks about how you will respond.
When you come into this holy place and see this window. May you remember the amazing gift that Jesus gave us on the cross. He invites us to the table where we are included and loved and fed for the life to come and for life today.
In the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit. Amen.