"a Meal To Share Around The World"

Luke 22:14-20

“A Meal to Share Around the World”

On the first Sunday in October, many Christian Churches across the world celebrate what is called “World Communion Sunday.”

And so, this year, that is today.

World Communion Sunday is set apart to try and demonstrate how all Christian Churches, no matter what denomination or non-denomination they are—are interconnected…

…share something very special…

…something that is at the heart of our faith.

When Jesus wanted to give His followers a way of understanding what was about to happen to Him, He didn’t give them a theory.

He gave them, and thus—US—an act to perform.

He gave them a meal to share.

And it’s a meal that speaks more volumes than any theory could.

Meaning, the best way to find out what it says is, of course, to do it.

When we take Holy Communion we do it to celebrate the GREATEST GIFT ever Given to Humankind—The Gift of Jesus’ life for the salvation of the world.

It is something Jesus has commanded us to do…

…like other commandments such as “Love one another” or “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

Or as Christ did on His final night on before His Crucifixion, “He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to [His disciples], saying, “This is my body given for you, do this in remembrance of me.”

In other words, “Do this and it will cause you to remember me.”

Jesus knew how easily the human mind forgets.

And if you are anything like me, it seems as if time wipes just about everything out…like a sponge on a chalkboard.

Jesus was basically saying, “In the rush and stress of your life you will forget me.”

Can any of us relate?

We forget because that’s the way the brain works, not necessarily because we want to.

So Jesus is saying, “Come together in as my Family and do this again and again and again with your brothers and sisters, sons and daughters—and you will remember.”

Somewhere deep in the human brain is neurological link between food and memory.

Many of us have “food triggers”—distinctive tastes or smells that immediately carry us back to another time.

Maybe these favorite foods were prepared by someone special to us…or maybe they remind us of where we used to live.

When we eat these foods, the memories come flooding back and we taste a kind of joy!

The seasons do this for me as well.

How about you?

(pause)

We come into this life from out of the presence of God, and when we leave this earth, we return—by God’s grace—to heaven.

But there is a way in which we can be said to live our entire lives in a haze of forgetfulness.

A famous biblical scholar once said that one of the most important things in being a Christian is “to practice memory in a world of amnesia.”

The Lord’s Supper is a very important way, a command Jesus has given us, so that our consciousness will come alive to the reality that there is a world beyond this one—the world that is Most Real.

We came from that world and we return to it through faith in the life, death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

(pause)

Once upon a time, twin boys were conceived at the same womb.

Weeks passed by and the twins began to develop.

And as their awareness grew, they laughed with joy and said, “Isn’t it great that we were conceived!

Isn’t it great that we are alive!”

The twins explored their world together.

And they found their mother’s cord that gave them life, and they sang for joy: “How great is our mother’s love that she shares her own life with us!”

Weeks stretched into months, and the twins started to notice just how much each of them were changing.

“What does this mean?” one twin asked the other.

“It means that our stay in this world is coming to an end,” the other twin said.

“But I don’t want to go.

I want to stay here forever!” the first twin replied.

“We don’t have a choice,” said the other.

“But maybe there is life after birth,” the other one said.

“No, we will shed our cord. How is it possible that we will live without it?” asked the other.

“Besides, we’ve seen evidence of others who have come before us and gone on.

Yet none of them have come back to show us that there is life beyond.

No, this is the end.”

And so the other twin fell into a deep despair saying, “If life ends at birth what’s the purpose of the womb?