"SUNDAY DINNER "
By Michael Browder Ph.D.
March 7, 2010

One of the best things about my life when I was a child was Sunday Dinner. I knew that I belonged to a family and I knew what was important in life because of Sunday Dinner. I know the world is different today, and I know that there may be some here have never experienced what I am talking about, but if you have, you would agree that there was something special about Sunday Dinner.

When I was a small child, we lived on my grandparents’ farm in Chesterfield County, and Sunday dinner was when we gathered at Grandma Ficke’s house after church on Sunday. Where I grew up, Sunday Dinner was not an elegant meal, and Grandma never fixed fancy dishes. We always had fried chicken, from the farm, that Grandma had dressed herself. There were always mashed potatoes and gravy, and either butter beans or snaps. And there were always homemade rolls. I will never forget the taste of Grandma’s homemade rolls, cooked in the oven of the wood stove. I have never tasted their equal, down to this very day. And of course, there was always cake or pie for desert. After Sunday dinner, we were stuffed. We felt like we had been to a holiday feast. It was like Christmas every week.

As good as the food was, it was not the most important thing. What was most important was family gathered together. It was your flesh and blood. Yes, we were family. And even if we had our moments, (which we did!), we knew that we were still one family, and very much a part of each other.

But, when I think about it, it was more than just the food and the people: It was the grace of God that brought us together. It seemed natural that we gave thanks before the meal, that we acknowledged God’s presence and God’s blessings in those moments. We couldn’t help but recognize God’s forgiveness and love, because we knew we were a family that needed it. For me, one of the times that the love and the presence of God became real to me was around that table at Sunday dinner.

For Christians, Holy Communion is our Sunday Dinner. We are gathered in God’s house around God’s table. When we come together like this, we are a family, the family of God. That’s what church is all about. The young children who will be coming to the Lord’s table today, especially those who have been learning about Holy Communion, I want them to know that they have a family in Jesus Christ. I want them to look back on this day and remember that we had our Lord’s Sunday Dinner.

The Bible, in I Corinthians, reminds us that we are one body, one family. There are many of us, and we are very different, but we are all sharing the same loaf of bread, a sign of our unity. In John 17, Jesus says that we should be one with each other, just as we are one with him, and he is one with God. This is our bond of unity, our sacred Sunday dinner.

Holy Communion is a sacrament. A sacrament is something we do on the outside to remember what God does on the inside. For Protestants, (and we Methodists are Protestants) there are two sacraments and two qualifications for something to be a sacrament. The two qualifications are:

1. It is something that Jesus did himself.

2. It is something Jesus commanded us to do.

Our other sacrament is what? Baptism. The Roman Catholic Church has seven sacraments, but they define sacrament a little different from the way we do. For instance, Catholics have marriage as a sacrament, but Jesus never experienced marriage.

Sometimes we call the first sacrament by different names. The name Holy Communion reminds us that it is a holy time, and that it is a time when we experience communion, that is, a special closeness with God and with each other as God’s people. Communion may also be called the Eucharist. This is a Greek word for the thanks that Jesus gave when he broke the bread. We also call it the Lord’s Supper, remembering that Jesus began the tradition of the bread and the cup at the Last Supper with his Disciples, just prior to his arrest and Crucifixion.

Like the water of baptism, the bread and the cup are very simple, everyday symbols. The bread comes from the wheat, grown in the earth; and the wine comes from grapes, the fruit of the vine. Although Jesus originally used wine, Methodists usually use grape juice. This is because we have a history of standing against the abuse of alcohol. We wouldn’t want anyone to stumble from tasting the wine of communion.

The bread and wine actually come down to us from the Passover. Jesus was celebrating the Jewish Passover at the Last Supper with his disciples. The Passover is a wonderful tradition from the Bible. Just as the Feast of the Passover reminds us that God delivered Moses and the people out of slavery in Egypt, the Communion table reminds us that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ delivered us from the slavery of sin and death.

And Jesus himself, with his own words, gave new meaning and significance to the bread and cup. When he took the bread, he said: “This is my body, given for you.” And when he took the cup, he said: “This is my blood, shed for you.” At Holy Communion, we remember the cross and the sacrifice, and the salvation of Jesus Christ.

We do not agree with Roman Catholic theology, which says that the bread and wine actually become flesh and blood. We do believe, however, that Jesus is really present. Through the real presence of the Holy Spirit, Christ is not only in the bread and cup; he is also present in our hearts, and in our community. Communion reminds us that we, the church are also the “Body of Christ.” Communion is a time of love for one another that binds us together as the body.

And Jesus said another thing at the Last Supper. He said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” “Do this to remember me.” We receive Holy Communion so that we will never forget Jesus. We will never forget his love. We will never forget his sacrifice. We will never forget his salvation. We will never forget his eternal life. We will never forget his presence, his Holy Spirit, living in us now.

So, Holy Communion is a covenant. A covenant is a relationship between God and us. When we come to receive the bread and the cup, it is a good time to renew our relationship with the Lord. Not only do we remember how Christ has committed himself to us, we also consider how to commit ourselves to him. We come with repentance, asking God to forgive our sins. We come with hope, remembering that our sins have been forgiven through the cross of Jesus Christ. We find new life, remembering that, just as Jesus rose from the dead, we are born again by his grace, with his power at work in us.

At the Passover, it is the duty of the youngest child to ask the question that reminds the family why they remember God at this feast. Today, our young children have prepared themselves to lead us to the Lord’s Table. May they remind us of God’s salvation and what it means to us. Let us indeed remember Jesus Christ. As we receive the bread and cup, let our hearts be filled with faith and love. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.