“If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
This passage from the Gospel of John is assigned each year for Reformation. Jesus’ focus on truth and freedom fit nicely with the themes we lift up on this day. In calling for reform within the church, Martin Luther pointed to the disconnect between the truth proclaimed by the gospel and the practices of the church in his day and age. The truth of the gospel that Luther found in his study of scripture was this: it is the gift of God’s grace that saves us - not money, not indulgences, not political influence, not power, not rituals (whether empty or sincere), and not good works.
In naming this truth, Luther sought to free people from exploitative, burdensome practices within the church. Salvation, Luther wanted people to know, is not a ladder to climb, or a debt for us to pay down, little by little. Instead, God comes to us. Through faith, which is the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are saved by grace - God’s abundant love, mercy, and forgiveness.
When we are freed from our bondage to sin; when we are freed from the impossible quest to work out our own salvation; when we are freed from the burden of trying to make ourselves right with God; we are free to celebrate the abundance and joy of God’s grace for us.
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| Photo by Kate Remmer on Unsplash |
One of the places we receive this forgiveness and grace from God is at the Communion table. It is a joy to be celebrating this weekend with 19 children who are receiving this special meal for the first time. Our time together over the past two weeks was spent diving into stories of special meals in the Bible, learning about the gifts of the communion meal, and making (and eating!) bread. In these experiences, we were reminded of all the ways God comes to God’s people. God comes to us with abundance and generosity, as in the stories of manna in the wilderness and loaves and fishes by the lake. God comes to us with hospitality and welcome, like when Jesus sat down to eat with Zacchaeus the tax collector. And, God comes to us with comfort and forgiveness, as shared by Jesus with his disciples at the Last Supper. In the communion meal we share each week in worship, God comes to us in these ways, too.
Most importantly, God coming to us in this meal doesn’t depend on us. It doesn’t depend on our ability to understand the mystery of how Jesus is present in this food and drink. It doesn’t depend on the sincerity or thoroughness of our confession. It doesn’t depend on our own feelings of worthiness. Instead, Jesus is present in this bread and this wine because he said he would be. Take, eat, this is my body. Take, drink, this is my blood. We can depend on this word, this promise.
So much of what we say and do as the church, and especially, I think, as Lutherans, is awfully heady. But this? This engages all our senses. This is something we can see, and touch, and smell, and taste. These words, “given for you” and “shed for you” enter our ears, and this food enters our bellies, as pure grace, and we know - and taste - that this really is Jesus, and really is for us.
As part of our class this past Wednesday, we baked the bread that will be shared at the communion table in just a bit. Baking together is such a memorable part of the class - hands-on, delicious, and a way to connect you all to our class experience by sharing that bread in worship. While I have used the recipe we baked many, many times before, I have not ever baked at quite the magnitude of this week - and, on a day we’re talking about truth, it revealed a few truths for me.
The recipe is for honey wheat bread, and though I’ve used it many times before, it’s been a while - pre-pandemic, certainly! I had forgotten just how sweet and delicious the bread is. Its sweetness is a good reminder of the sweetness and goodness of God’s word.
As the kids began mixing the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, it became clear that something wasn’t right - our dough was pretty gloopy! We eventually figured out that a half cup of flour had been left out. As we added a scoop to each bowl, I was thankful to be using such a forgiving recipe - a good reminder of God’s forgiveness and grace!
After the dough came together, the kids began to roll it out. Some were much bigger than we needed, or ended up oddly shaped. So, we cut off some dough and reshaped and re-formed the loaves. It was a good reminder of the ways that the Holy Spirit re-forms our hearts - and our church - into something that shares the love and grace of God in ways that people can receive.
Once the loaves went into the oven to bake, it was time to clean up. All that mixing and re-forming? It was pretty messy! Dough was stuck to fingers, and flour dusted shirts. But, it was nothing a good handwashing couldn’t fix - a good reminder of the waters of baptism that cleanse us from sin.
All in all, it was a memorable time, and we are excited to share the fruits of our labor with you in this special meal. In ordinary bread and wine, Jesus comes to us with the truth - that we are forgiven and loved by God. What a gift!
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