Epworth United Methodist Church

Epworth United Methodist Church
Rev. David Weekley, Pastor
April 6, 2008
Acts 2:14a-36-41
Luke 24: 13-35

Communion Reflection

With the U.S. increasing restrictions on travel to and from other countries, making it more difficult to plan a spontaneous trip, Deborah and I decided to apply for our passports. For me it was a renewal, and I hoped all I hope to do was update written information such as address and phone number.

It turned out this was almost all I had to do; I also needed to update my photo.

It seems that after fifteen years a person is required to have a current photo included in the renewal process.

Even though I think I look the same, I guess nobody else does!

But this was brought home to me in a very concrete way not so long ago.

I had gone to a School of Missions workshop. It was a two-day meeting, and on the evening of the first day I was sitting in a large community room in the campus dorm in which I was staying. Deborah was there also, and, as you might expect, had found some interesting to talk to in the same room- she was engaged in a lively conversation with a woman I had passed in the halls several times, and who had been sitting with us in the room for awhile before the two of them began a conversation- she appeared to be a tall woman with short, silver hair and a friendly smile.

Imagine my surprise when, a few minutes later, the two of them stood up and walked over to me, smiling, and I discovered not only had I met this woman before, she had been a parishioner I worked closely with when I lived in Corvallis!

She had not recognized me, either!

We both laughed, remarking how quickly time changes and how our appearances shift over time even though we don’t always notice.

It had not been very long since the disciples and Jesus had been together; Luke says it was just three days, but Cleopas and the other disciple were unable to recognize the risen Christ until the symbolic act of giving thanks, blessing, and breaking bread.

The gospel account says the disciples were somehow prevented from recognizing Jesus until that moment, but there are indications the two travelers suspected they were in the midst of a divine encounter, e.g. They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’ [Luke 24:32]

In fact, these two disciples were so excited and agitated from all that had happened they could not rest. After walking for hours to get to their home in Emmaus from Jerusalem, we are told they got up that very same hour, and walked all the way back to Jerusalem so they could find the others and tell them they had also experienced the presence of the risen Christ.

 Jerusalem once again becomes the focus as the gathered disciples await the promised gift of the Holy Spirit.

In many ways, Cleopas and the other disciple walking with him on the road to Emmaus represent the experience of many who dedicate their lives to following Jesus the Christ; it is often difficult to recognize when the Sacred breaks into life.

Like CLeopas we may sense intuitively that something extraordinary is happening, our “hearts may burn within us”, but, also like those two on the Emmaus road, we often say nothing to one another, perhaps shrugging it off as some dietary induced emotion, or a throw-back to a more primitive way of looking at the world.

As a result, too often we disregard and ignore those moments when Christ joins us on the road we travel.

How do we miss these opportunities?

1.     Looking for an ‘outdated’ image: Maybe the image of Christ or idea of how God works in our lives has grown old, no longer fits current reality- like my old passport photo that no longer accurately represents what I look like today

2.     No longer anticipating or even open to the possibility of encountering the Sacred, the Christ, the Spirit in life. I was reminded of this while watching a news documentary Friday. Commenting on the tragedy of 9/11, the news anchor remarked that our government’s response and suggestion to Americans to show we were alright and united was to go out and shop.

But shopping and superficiality are not the means by which Christ enters our lives.

Jesus called his disciples into an entirely different kind of community than what we commonly call either culture or the Church.

It was not a superficial community.

Luke says people began to pool their resources so they could care for one another; they also spent their time together in worship and in prayer, study and fellowship and in the breaking of the bread- that symbolic act through which Jesus gathered his disciples together on their last night together on this earth.

Luke also tells us that everyone around, even those who did not consider themselves followers of Christ, regarded these Christians with “goodwill.”

Everyone saw this young church as a bright spot on the planet.

I invite you to invite the Spirit of Christ to walk with you to this table as we share in the symbolic act of breaking bread together today.

As you prepare to do this, I also invite you to reflect with me on a covenant of new community one group of Christians created together. They call it their “covenant of purpose” and it forms an acronym that spells “Service.”

This is their definition of what it means to be a biblical community:

Spiritual formation: We will help each other grow.

Evangelism: We desire for our neighbors to experience God’s love and care.

Recreation: We will have fun together.

Volunteerism: We will volunteer to help our church and community.

International Outreach: We will care about people and reach out in practical ways to help.

Care: We will care for one another.

Extending Compassion: We will help others in need however we can.

I really like this definition; it seems much more genuine and resilient than a community united by an activity such as shopping!

Randy Frazee, who wrote about this church’s experience in his book, “Making Room For Life” shared these words about this covenant of purpose: “Over the last six years we’ve seen lives transformed. People have come to faith in Christ, and many have been baptized right in our neighborhood…After six years the list of what we’ve done together seems endless…This is truly the incarnational presence of Christ in a community.” [pg.148-150]

As we share Communion, the Breaking of Bread this morning, may we experience, both individually and as a community, what it means to walk with the Risen Christ, and may we, like Cleopas and the others, having the eyes of our hearts opened, become Christ to one another in all that we say and do.

And even if we cannot always recognize one another, or even ourselves over the years, may we always be able to recognize and receive Christ into our lives,`in whatever way the Spirit moves. Amen.

I close with this story of a Spartan king.  

There was a certain Spartan king who boasted to a visiting king about the walls of Sparta. The visiting king looked around and could see no walls. He said to the Spartan king, “Where are these walls about which you boast so much?” His host pointed to his bodyguard of magnificent troops; “These are the walls of Sparta. Every man is a brick.” The point is clear. So long as a brick lay by itself it is useless. It becomes useful only when it is incorporated into a building. So it is with us. To realize our full potential, we must not remain always alone, but become part of the fabric of Christian community.