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Third Sunday after the Epiphany
January 21, 2007 Sermon by The Rev. Bill Van Oss, Rector
Readings       

It might surprise you to learn what my favorite part of the Sunday Service is. As much as I like to preach, as much as I find singing to be uplifting and meaningful, as much as it is a privilege to lead prayers and to pray the Eucharistic Prayer, and to greet people before and after the service – none of those are my favorite part.

What I enjoy the most, what I most look forward to at every service is giving out communion. I love to distribute communion. I love when little children hold out their hands and I see their hands covered with magic marker. I love to see families side by side, kids wedged in between parents and maybe a grandparent in the midst of them.

I enjoy seeing the elderly being helped up the steps by an usher, they slowly make their way to the rail.

I love seeing a little boy or girl run up the steps, anxious to get their communion.

I enjoy seeing single people shoulder to shoulder with their community, their brothers and sisters. I love to see new faces, people sometimes not sure what to do, not sure what this is all about but drawn to it – this mystery.

I see the calloused hands of a working man, the soft pale palms of a child, the wrinkled, well-worn hands of the elderly, white skin, brown skin, black skin.

I see eyes filled with joy and laughter, and eyes that show fear and pain. And I can invite them all – you all – with the words, “this is the Lord’s table, all are welcome to this meal.”

This is not my table, or St. Paul’s Church table, or an Episcopal table, or a bishop’s table. This is Christ’s table. Christ is the host. And the bread and wine are the gifts of God for you, the people of God.

Christ is the host of this meal, and all are invited, whether you are brand new to church and to the journey of faith, or if you have been coming to this table for decades.

All are welcome: rich and poor, gay and straight, young and old, male and female, black and white, married, committed, or divorced or single, saints and sinners, doubters and assured, lonely and fearful and lost. Come and receive the bread and wine, the body and blood of Christ. Hold out your hands for the bread of heaven and sip from the cup of salvation. You are welcome here.

And I get to break off a piece of bread or pick up a host. I look at it, and then I look at you and say: “the Body of Christ.”

“The Body of Christ,” I say, speaking of the bread and also speaking of you. You are a member of the Body of Christ, you, whoever you are, however you are this Sunday morning.

You are one of the many members of the Body of Christ. “Jew or Greek, slave or free,” St. Paul says in our second reading today. Radical words, radical hospitality. We are one Body, distinct, oh yes, we are not the same. St. Paul explains this using bodily imagery: one’s an eye, another is an ear, there’s a hand, and here’s a foot.

We are all unique and different and gifted, that is how God created us, and one is not greater than another, for all are needed to make the Body complete. We are many parts, we are all one Body, the Body of Christ.

When I say to you, as I give you the bread: “the Body of Christ,” I am speaking of the bread, and I am speaking of you and me. That’s why people come, some for the first time, seeking something, but not quite sure what, and some over and over for a lifetime.

We hunger to hear the words, “the Body of Christ” and to taste the Bread of Life – to become the Body of Christ. We hunger for meaning and new life, for hope and for healing. We hunger the way the people hungered to hear God’s law after they returned from exile in the Book of Nehemiah, and the way the people who assembled in the synagogue hungered to hear life-giving words from Jesus at the beginning of his public ministry. “Their eyes were fixed on him and they hungered.” And Jesus makes it clear, from that first moment of his public ministry, in his first sermon, He proclaims: “I have come to be good news for the poor, to release captives and to give sight to the blind.” Your debts are forgiven, you are no longer slaves. This is the year of the Lord’s favor.

Brokenness is healed, the lowly are lifted up, the youngest child up to oldest elder have a place at Christ’s table. As we pray in our prayer after communion, the bread and wine “assure” us, “that we are living members of the Body of Christ and heirs of God’s eternal kingdom.” So assured that we go forth to do Christ’s work in the world: to love and to serve.

Having received the Body of Christ, we are reminded that we are loving members of the Body of Christ, called to Be the Body of Christ in our corner of the world today.


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