PREPARING
Mark 1: 1-8
While visiting the Presbyterian
Historical Society in August, I came upon a display case with some coins that
didn’t look like any I had seen before. Looking more closely, I learned that
they were tokens; communion tokens, given by ministers to parishioners sometime
before the next Holy Communion was celebrated, indicating that that person had
done a rugged self-examination of his or her sins, had done what was necessary
to be reconciled for those sins, and was as consecrated, sanctified, and as
clean as approaching the Holy Table required. Can you imagine … doing all of
that just to take communion? Today I hope you will do more than imagine it; I
invite you to experience what should be happening every time we participate in
this extraordinary sacrament of Holy Communion.
Words from our Directory for Worship
always preface our communion as recorded on page 4 of your bulletin. But there
are words not recorded in the
bulletin that are recorded in the
Directory. They state: “In preparing to receive Christ in this Sacrament, the
believer is to confess sin and brokenness, to seek reconciliation with God and
neighbor, and to trust in Jesus Christ for cleansing and renewal.” All of a
sudden, we are transported to the Jordan River, to a time when our dear Lord-
who created an example of prayer with “The Lord’s Prayer,” who created an
example of a New Covenant meal in the Upper Room- also created an example of
baptism for repentance of sins, getting his cousin John to wash him clean, not
because he sinned, but because others did, and he wanted them to also be
spiritually clean. He gave us the example of how to live, how to be baptized,
how to share a holy meal, how to pray, and how to die. John preached a baptism
of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, an action so important that Jesus
began his ministry by urging others to do it too, as a step toward holiness.
“Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee” Frances Ridley Havergal wrote over a hundred years ago. That’s what we are
to think as we come to the table of our Lord: “Lord, take my life and let it
consecrated- declared holy or sacred, set apart from common use- to thee.” This is an extraordinary thing we hope to
have happen today. Perhaps Holy Communion does not affect some as much as
others because they do not do the rugged work of preparing themselves for it.
I remember going an with elder
several times to take communion to dear Arlene Byther,
who went to be with her Lord in Heaven after living over 90 years here on
Earth. When she would call to request that
I bring communion, she would take the days before we arrived—sometimes one
week, sometimes two depending on when the next communion elements were
prepared—to prepare herself for that meal. To get herself in the proper frame
of mind, she thought about those who had hurt her and forgave them either with
a phone call, a written note, or if they had died, in a journal. Then she would
think about times when she had hurt others and write or call and ask to be forgiven. When my elder and I would arrive, she would
be ready:
in spite of her incapacity in the
nursing home, we would arrive to a sanitary room that was neat and tidy. Her bed would be made, the clothes that she
wore were freshly pressed (though I don’t know how), and she had spent the day
of our arrival alternating between Bible readings and Guideposts magazine. She would greet us as if we were the Lord
himself, so grateful that we had come. She exuded gratitude. At the time for
communion, she would take my hands as I prayed,
then sit up straight with a bowed head as she gently was offered a piece
of bread. I then invited her to reach into the velveteen holder from which she
took a cup like you will have today, and drank of it. She ate the bread as if it
were the first time she had tasted food all day- not eating ravenously but
gratefully, glad that it had been lovingly prepared for her. She would then
drink from her cup, and her face looked like if she died right then she would
have been at peace. I’ll never forget the impact of Holy Communion on Arlene:
days of preparation, including prayer, reading, forgiving, pressing clothes,
tidying up, and preparing him room at the table of her heart. What an example.
Today I am aware that Twelve Step
programs, which have some very healthy components to them, have one step that
demands that the person make a rugged self-examination of his or her life that
is not unlike an act of contrition and forgiveness. Today’s journey in
Scripture to the Jordan River reminds us how important repentance is in the
life of a Christian—turning away from, asking forgiveness for, and
demonstrating remorse concerning a particular action or attitude. Today, we can make a thimble full of juice
and a piece of bread the most important and meaningful meal of our Advent
season instead of another church ritual to endure. It is
all about preparing.
Let me close with words that my
preaching professor at
Preparing and pondering; let us
reflect on and rejoice in both today.
Jeffrey A. Sumner