Grace for Guidance

THE NATURE OF GRACE

October 6, 1996

World Communion Sunday

As we get ready for communion this morning the scriptures we have read call to my mind two or three pictures- pictures that may seem not to have any connection with Exodus or the Psalms. I think first of a wedding scene:

Grounds for Marriage - An Exclusive Covenant for All Humankind Exodus 20

What is more dramatic than a wedding! Each one is different— and maybe some day I will write a book— or at least a chapter— on exciting things that took place when two people met at an altar to make solemn vows and begin life together.

What is more optimistic than a wedding? I have never known one couple in all that I have ever married who came to the altar expecting their marriage to fail.

What is more exclusive than a wedding? It may be a small wedding, or a big one with hundreds of guests. But by "exclusive" I am not talking about who is welcome and who is not. Along with flowers, and attendants, and music, and cake and guests, at the heart of the wedding is a betrothal promise, a promise that "forsaking all others, (I will) keep only to him/her so long as we both shall live." That is exclusive! And that exclusiveness is reinforced again in the vows themselves when bride and groom say, "Till death do us part, I pledge you my faith(fullness.)" The heart of a wedding is the covenant. A covenant kept is at the heart of every successful marriage.

Sinai hardly looks like a wedding scene. But a wedding is what it is. A covenant of hope and optimism and, yes, exclusivity was made at Sinai. The people who had been slaves in Egypt were now to become God's own people. Jeremiah wrote about Sinai hundreds of years later, God's words: "For when I brought your forefathers out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, but I gave them this command: Obey me and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command that it may go well with you." God proposed: This is how my called out people shall live, and I will be their God forever. That is why in the New Testament the Church is called, the Bride of Christ. It began back at Sinai, and Passover, and it began with covenant. It was exclusive in the sense that there would be no other gods. But God loves all the peoples of the earth, and has made it clear that He will be the God of all who will turn exclusively to Him.

Covenant is the strength, the ribs, the backbone of marriage. The Ten Commandments are the basic building blocks of God's covenant with those who want to be His people. GOD HAS MADE COVENANT WITH US! We may keep covenant with Him!

But I see another picture in my mind as we read these scriptures. It is a scene of dancing!:

Celebrating the Covenant - Learning to Love as well as being loved Psalm 19

In his novels the Jewish writer-historian Chaim Potok takes us to the synagogues in Brooklyn, New York, where the Hasidim, very strict orthodox Jews, clap and sing and dance in celebration of the giving of the Law— dance actually with the scrolls in their arms. How long has it been since we were that excited about the fact that God has given us his word on how we shall live?

For many, many years Jewish people of faith have not viewed the "law" as something restrictive, but as God's special gift to his people. God cares how we live! Let's celebrate!

The liturgical churches, especially in some of their high masses, do something which to me is similar to this dancing with the scrolls. The Gospels— that portion of the Bible that especially tell of the life and passion of Jesus Christ, are carried high in the air out into the congregation while people stand. Incense is lit, holy water is sprinkled. In a dramatic way the people are reminded that God has desired to make covenant with His people.

And that same joy is reflected just a tiny bit when we stand for the reading of the Gospels in Protestant churches— we are celebrating the covenant!

God's Covenant is to be celebrated! The Psalmist catches the joy of covenant in the Psalm (19) for today:

The word of the Lord is true, clean, good, righteous, pure, all the things that make for joy and wholesome ability to love and be loved.

In my mind I see a third picture from these scriptures: A guard brings a piece of bread and a bowl of soup, and the prisoner pushes back a letter he is writing and eats alone in his cell. But as Paul eats alone his God reaches into that lonely cell and embraces him, and he is not alone! And the love and the joy of the letter he wrote that day reach across the centuries to where we are now:

Beyond the Letter of the Covenant - The Goal of the Law of God — Philippians 3

Covenant is necessary, and wonderful. But a good covenant goes way beyond the letter of the law. A good marriage is more than NOT cheating, and NOT being abusive. A good marriage is an exploration of what it means to care, to share joys and sorrows, perhaps to raise children, to live together and flesh out the covenant. If the exclusive covenant is the ribs and backbone of a good relationship, who wants to be married to a skeleton?

In that letter Paul was writing in his cell he said that before he was saved he kept the letter of the outward law perfectly. But it did nothing for him until he realized the love of God in Christ. Now, Paul says, he wants to go beyond the letter of the law— beyond "doing this" and "not doing that" as a means of salvation— and live to please God.

This is no cheap grace! Listen to Paul's declaration:

"I want to know Jesus!" ...so do I!

"and the power of His resurrection!" ... yes, that is great!

"and the fellowship of His sufferings!" ...wait a minute! What is he saying?

"being made conformable to His death!" ...is Paul talking about taking up a cross??

"If by any means I may obtain the resurrection from the dead!" —and here I get the feeling that Paul is not only talking about coming to life after he dies, but more important, coming to life before he dies! "I want to LIVE before I die— as well as live forever with my God!"

We Must God Beyond the Letter of the Covenant - Our challenge for time and eternity is that we can know Jesus Christ, who is life itself.

Are we ready to eat at the Lord's Table this morning?

A billion people today are sitting down around the Lord's Table with us today. This is World Communion Sunday, and as the sun rolls around the earth from east to west, people are taking communion in cathedrals, and in churches made of tin and thatched roofs with dirt floors. People will be at the Lord's Table in the hills of Appalachia, and on the plains of outback Australia. On every continent, and on the islands of the seas we are God's people, bound to Him by covenant, seeking to celebrate the covenant God has made with us— that if we will be his people, he will be our God!

Eating with family means a lot to me! When my boys were at home one thing I couldn't stand was to sit down at the supper (you call it dinner) table with people missing. How many times I've gotten up and called the boys in from playing football, or even have driven a few blocks to hurry them home so the family could be together.

I remember, too, how it felt after the first son left home (in New Jersey) and went far away to Eastern Nazarene College. Our family was never really regularly the same around the table again. But when we did get together how good it was. (I still often go into Boston and have lunch with that son!)

The Table of the Lord is one place where the family gets together, and we are one with those we love, one with those who belong to our God.

All are welcome here. I invite you to quiet your heart, and prepare to share at the Lord's table with your brothers and sisters, your family near and far away.

Shall we pray:

THE HOLY COMMUNION

Communion is one of the sacraments of the church which as a means of grace gives us opportunity to draw near to God, and which affirms the fact that we are one with all people around the world who say by the Spirit, "Jesus is Lord!" This sacrament was foreshadowed by the Passover in Egypt nearly 4,000 years ago. The Lord Jesus Himself commanded it the eve of his sacrifice on Calvary. Since then it both looks back to the Cross and forward to the Great Banquet when the saved of all ages will celebrate eternal Life together in the glorious Light of God's immediate Presence. Will you prepare, with the help of God the Holy Spirit, to come to Christ's Table?:

The Law Read and Confession Made

The Lord Jesus Christ has said to us: "Thou shalt love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This if the first and great commandment. The second is like unto it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

Shall we pray:

Search us, O God, and know our most private thoughts. Try us, and show unto us the deepest motives, the real state of our hearts. Forgive us where we have been selfish, or insensitive, or sinful in any way. We cannot keep the Great Commandment, and truly love You, O God, with all our heart, soul, and mind unless You in mercy grant to us the grace of Your indwelling Spirit. We cannot love each other as we should unless Your love is shed abroad in our hearts.

Brothers and sisters, let us search our hearts. In silence let us ask God to draw us near to Himself so that we can come to his table with confidence. We do not presume to come to this table, O God, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your great mercy and grace. Grant us to eat the Bread of heaven, and drink the blood shed for the remission of sins, that we may live in Christ, and Christ may live in us forever. Amen

Let us confess our faith:

The Apostles' Creed ..... (STL # 8) OR [Nicene Creed #14]

The Informal Invitation ("This is not my table . . . ")

Holy and gracious Father; in your infinite love you made us for yourself; and, when we had fallen into sin, and were worthy of death and hell, you, in your mercy sent Jesus Christ, your only and eternal Son to share our human nature, to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us to You, the God and Father of all.

He stretched out his arms upon the cross, and offered himself in obedience to your will, a perfect sacrifice for the whole world.

The Words of Institution:

On the night in which he was betrayed our Lord Jesus Christ took bread; and when he had give thanks to You he broke it and gave it to his disciples and said, "Take eat: THIS IS MY BODY, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.

After supper he took the cup and when he had give thanks he gave it to them, and said, "Drink this, all of you; THIS IS MY BLOOD OF THE NEW COVENANT, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink this, do it in remembrance of me: Amen

We praise you for the mystery of our salvation! We truly believe

Christ has died!
Christ is risen!
Christ will come again!

Bless these emblems, O God, and make them to us the Body and Blood of your Son, spiritual food, and spiritual drink of new and unending life in Jesus Christ. And now, together, we pray, as Jesus taught us:

Our Father which art in heaven . . . (partake together // instructions if otherwise)

Now, humbly we receive the Gifts of God for the People of God