A Short Communion
|Breaking and pouring version 5: for
a busy service|
Jesus and his disciples came to Jerusalem to celebrate the
festival of Passover, where they remembered how, through God's guidance, Moses
brought them out of captivity in Egypt, the sacrificial lambs were brought to
the temple, because, in the time of the Exodus, the blood of lambs was used as
a marker on the doors so that the angel of death would pass over those
houses.
As part of the celebration Jesus and his disciples joined
together in a traditional meal in an upper room that they had hired for the
occasion; a meal of thanksgiving for freedom
But their freedom was not complete;
it was temporary and rooted in earthly promises.
A new promise was to be made there in that room by Jesus.
Moses was only a man, speaking the words of God. But Jesus was God in human
form;
And here in this place, just as Jesus did there in that upper
room on the night before he died, we take the bread and we break it and share
it amongst his disciples...
(The bread is broken)
...and he asked them as he asks us today to take this bread
and eat it, and to imagine that this is his body which is being broken for you.
And in the days of Leviticus when the
priests made animal sacrifices, the priests would say that no one should drink
the blood, because it contained the spirit of the animal which, was poured out
for the sins of the people. When Jesus offered himself as sacrifice on the
cross, he declared an end to the sacrifice because his spirit was poured out
for the forgiveness of all sins for all time. For this was not the spirit of one
of God's creatures, but the spirit of God himself being poured out (The wine is poured from the one cup into another) and
there in that upper room he poured out the wine as his spirit would be poured
out to all people.
Knowing what was about to happen, at the end of the meal he
took the cup gave thanks and gave it to his disciples, asking them to drink
from it, as he asks us to drink from it today - and to imagine that this is his
blood which was about to be poured out for you, to seal the new promise which
God is making with all people.
This is
God's spirit poured out for all.
May we be transformed in the breaking and in the pouring as we
do this in remembrance of Jesus who awaits the opportunity to share this meal
with us in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Come gather at the table for all who love the Lord and all
who seek the lord and all who would allow themselves to be changed by God's
love are welcome at this table.
Presider: Let us pray - 'There is a Jewish
custom, at the end of such a meal to agree to meet again in Jerusalem next year
at the Passover, Jesus said I am the vine you are the branches, he also said 'I
won't share in the fruits of this vine until I see you again in the Kingdom.'
Lord may your vine bear fruit in us, may your kingdom dwell in us and may we
always meet with you when we share this meal together. Bless us as we go out
from this place that we, broken and remade in your image, may carry the out
pouring of your spirit to the streets and the fields.
Amen
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