Commandments
and Communion
World Wide Communion Sunday - October 2 / 2012
When I was a little girl we always ate dinner at the
dining room table. Breakfast and lunch
were served on the kitchen table, but dinner was at the dining room table. Most of the time it wasn’t fancy, we used our
everyday dishes, but eating at the dining room table put the meal in a
different class. Here we had to use our
knife and fork properly – we had rules –
· no
singing at the table,
· no
chewing with your mouth open,
· if
you would like something you must say “please pass the potatoes”
· no
elbows on the table,
· you
must wait for everyone to finish before you can have dessert
· you
must finish your first course if you expect to have dessert!
When I was a child these rules seemed ridiculous, and I
remember lots of times when my mother or father would correct our behaviour. I used to resent it, and often wondered why
we just couldn’t eat in the kitchen where the rules were not so strict – I also
noticed that sometimes in other people’s homes they did not have to worry about
how they held their fork or if they chewed with their mouth open. My son Ethan shared a story about a co-worker
of his who chews with his mouth open and when it was mentioned to him that it
was kind of offensive – he responded that ‘it makes his food taste better to
eat that way’. I have grown to
appreciate my parent’s instructions – I know how to eat politely at any dinner
table – my manners and the way I hold my knife and fork, have stood me well
over the past decades. I have not embarrassed
myself or others with rude behaviour at a dinner table. The structure and norms taught to me by my
parents, has made eating politely just something I do. They ended up being rules / structure that
gave me freedom instead of restrictions.
We have been following the Israelites on their journey
in the desert – on their journey between slavery and freedom – through the
desert, and through their places of struggle and disenchantment with their new
life. Remember where we have been –
people crying out to God to release them from slavery – and Moses comes forth
to lead them out of the land of Egypt – toward the promise land – but after
they cross the sea, after they have been in the desert for a month or two the excitement
has worn off and the reality of what it means to become something else –
someone else – no longer a slave but now a citizen off to find the promise land
– but also no longer have food, shelter, schedule, purpose provided to you by
your master – when the Hebrew people begin to understand the price of freedom –
the begin to understand just how hard change is and that to be transformed from
slave to free is a painful process. We
are hungry Moses, give us food – we are thirsty Moses – where is the water – we
need organization we need a structure for how to live - this is what is
happening in the reading today – as the people get more and more ancy – God comes
to them once more and gives them ‘the law’ – in the shape of two stone tablets bearing the
words that we call ‘the ten commandments’
Moses brings a different type of grace to the people
this morning – as he meets God on the mountain and receives the next gift – the
ultimate gift – the gift the keeps on giving as the words have become timeless
and have meaning and are as relevant for Hebrew people in the middle of the
desert as they are for us right here at St. James ~Rosemount in the middle of Kitchener.
These words are our words too – these words
· this
framework /this set of rules /these policies and guidelines /these laws
The ten commandments have become sacred to generation
after generation right back to the Hebrew people journeying in the desert and
right forward to here and now, in this time and in this place. These words of God, given to Moses, presented
to the Hebrew people have been used to set laws in nations, have been used to
determine guidelines of acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, have been used
to place judgement on some people choices, have been used and reuses and used
again in so many times and my so many generations that I wonder if we can even appreciate
what these words would have sounded like to the first hearers – the question
becomes how much baggage do we bring to these sacred words that they are
distorted by our interpretations. When
we listened to the scripture story this morning how many of us instead of feeling
the gift and blessing and grace these commandments offered instead feel the
heaviness of law and judgement and condemnation that these words pull up from
inside us instead.
What if the 10 commandments is not a list of regulations
but instead a series of supportive instructions about how to live on this earth
in a way that not only honours God but also our neighbour, honour our selves
and also the earth and all living creatures.
What if the ten commandments is not a list of rules that God uses
against us and tick – tick – tick – tick when any of us covet or use the Lord’s
name in vain or dishonour one of our parents or head on out after church to do
some grocery shopping. What if God had
in mind way back then – and still has in mind for us today – was a framework –
a filter which offers a way to live in the world which respects God, and others
and self and Creation. What if what God
was doing was offering a life giving framework of respect and love, much like
my parents instilling in me table manners?
J Ellisworth Callas wrote a book called – “ The 10 Commandments from the Backside” it is
about reframing the 10 commandments – instead of a negative list of all the
ways not to be, and not to act and not to behave, what he does is shift from a
negative to a positive focus and, for me this reframing speaks more
authentically of what I believe is God’s desire for us as humans beings living
on this earth. They cause me to rethink
what God is really asking of me living my life on this earth in the midst of
all of God’s creation. So, instead of
You shall have no other
God before me // God shall have all of you
You shall not make
yourself an idol // you shall adore the mystery that is beyond comprehension
You shall not take the
name of the Lord your God in vain.// you shall enter into God’s name
Remember the Sabbath and
keep it holy // the Sabbath will keep you
Honour your father and
mother // you shall accept the blessings of the past so that you can have a
future
You shall not murder //
you shall embrace life
You shall not commit adultery
// you shall cherish the sacredness of your mate
You shall not steal //you
shall become a larger person
You shall not bear false
witness against your neighbour // you shall bless and be blest by truth
You shall not covet your
neighbours’ house, wife, slaves, ox or donkey // you shall rejoice in your
neighbours having.
When we reframe and hear
these life giving words from the positive instead of the negative – we are
given a glimpse of the kingdom – we are given an opportunity to see what God
really had in mind for this world and it’s people and creation embracing life, accepting the blessings,
cherishing sacredness, rejoicing in the having of another – the kingdom of God –
which we are blessed to live in
This Sunday is the closest
this year to the Jewish celebration of Yom Kipper the day of Atonement for
those of the Jewish faith– Friday was the Kol Nidre service which is the prayer
said before the service begins. On this day
the community asks and receives forgiveness from God. – a fellow
preacher was sharing that she attended such a service Friday evening – ‘at the
beginning of the service a number of members of the congregation were invited
to the bima to hold the Torah scrolls while the prayer was sung. She was overwhelmed by the looks of joy on
the faces of those holding the scrolls and the notes of longing and
faithfulness in the voice of the cantor.
She then reflected on how it powerfully reminded her that the commandments
that are so often reduced to a list with all the excitement of a section of
civil code they are in fact an expression of God’s deep and abiding love for us
and God’s desire for us to remain in this covenant as a living, dynamic, reciprocal
relationship. These commandments are about a reciprocal relationship – that
gives as well as receives – much like the meal that we are about to partake –
it declares that our relationship with God it is living and dynamic and reciprocal.
And in Christian
communities this morning all over the world, people just like us are
participating in a practice that reminds us that we are living in God’s vineyard – and that we are not the owner, but
the owner wishes to be in intimate relationship with us – the owner care and
loves us and desires us to embrace life, to cherish sacredness, to rejoice in
our neighbours having and to belong to God, adorning the mystery that is beyond
comprehension.
This act of communion is about re-membering – re-membering
who we are and whose we are .. we are God’s people…re-membering where we live
and who is the owner .. the earth is God’s vineyard …and re-membering that we are all part of a continuum
of creation from our brothers and sisters in the desert, experiencing first the
life giving words to the men and the woman around the table in the upper room sharing
the simple meal with Jesus to us sitting in these pews this morning about to
partake of breads baked or bought by members of this congregation, sharing
their heritage. We re-member that God is
with us here and now – and God will be with us and our children and our
children’s children, children. This meal unites us as one people – first individually
– unites us with Jesus as we recall how he to shared this meal and from that
place went to Golgotha – and unites us to each other- each of us in this
building, the babies in the nursery to the 90 year olds in the pews as we
re-member that we are all in this together – this church – this congregation –
this denomination – this Christian community – this meal reminds us that we are
united in more than name, this meal unites us with others in other churches and
other denominations, in other countries, in other languagues and cultures and
in other faith groups – this meal unites us with God – re-membering that we are
one people, one human species that all live in the vineyard of God….
Jan Richardson writes:
“World Communion Sunday reminds us that Christ calls us to a table where
the welcome is wide. He offers us a space with bread and wine in abundance to
give solace to our sorrow and to stir our joy. Even as Christ invites us to
this table, he does not mean for us to linger here forever. He gives us
sustenance in order to send us forth, carrying a space of welcome within us,
called to offer it to those we meet”[1] come to the table and remember who you are
and whose you are – come to the table and find nourishment and hope – come to the
table as you are for you are all welcome…..Amen
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