World Communion

October 6^th, 2013     “World Communion”       Rev. Heather Jepsen

Lamentations 1:1-6, 3:19-26

Luke 17:5-10

Page through the newspaper this week and you get quite an eyeful.  What once was unheard of now appears a common event.  Government shuts down because politicians have ceased to negotiate.  Like kids on the playground, they stand and yell while thousands of Americans are trapped in the middle without pay.  Mass shootings are so common in our news they hardly warrant a mention.  What once would have captured our attention for weeks, a shooting at a secure Navy Yard in DC, is now brushed aside as a common event.  In every newspaper we read as violence marches on in the Middle East and Africa.  There are continual stories of child abuse and molestation, many coming from within our very churches.  And then there are all the regular stories; another rape, another domestic violence, another armed robbery, another murder, the list is endless.

          I know for myself, when I sit down to consider our world today, to really think about the way we live with each other, the way humans treat each other, I become heartbroken.  We talked last week about opening our eyes, and when I open my eyes today they are filled with tears.  When I think about those who have nowhere safe to sleep, those who have no food to eat, those who are threatened constantly by violence, those who face rape and torture, I am heartbroken.  How many times have those who suffered cried to the Lord for an end to violence?  When will their prayers be answered?  When will peace ever be a reality in our world?

          When I consider our world and the daily life for many people less fortunate than I, I am tempted to lose hope.  I am not just saying that.  The temptation to lose hope is very real for me, it’s tangible, it is right before me.  I am often tempted to wonder if God is even really listening to prayers.  Have you ever felt that way?  Have you ever asked yourself, “Where is God in our world”?

          That is the question the writer of Lamentations had been asking.  The book of Lamentations is composed of five lyric poems that lament the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians.  The people of Jerusalem have been devastated, their city and their homes are merely a memory.  Listen again to the lament over Zion . . .

          “She sits alone, the city that once was full of people.  Once great among the nations, she has become like a widow. . . . She weeps bitterly in the night, her tears on her cheek; . . . she has no one to comfort her . . . Judah has gone into exile with suffering. . . The memory of my suffering and my homelessness is bitterness and poison!”

          You can hear the sorrow and pain in the voice of the poet as he cries to the Lord.  One would expect that he is wondering where God is in all this suffering.  Why do we suffer?  Why are we exiles from our homeland?  Where is God in all of this?  Does God even hear our prayers?  I would not be surprised to hear these questions asked, and yet as we continue on in the passage we find something completely different.

“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:  The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, The faithful love of the Lord hasn’t ended; they are renewed every morning; great is your faithfulness.” 

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.  These are the words the poet writes in exile; these are the words he uses to describe his Lord.  Even in the midst of suffering and hardship, even in the midst of homelessness and grief, even in the midst of war and death, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.”  What a powerful message this is to us in our own days of suffering and war.

The poet continues, “The Lord is good to those who hope in him, to the soul that seeks him.  It is good to wait in silence for the Lord’s deliverance.”  It is good to wait quietly, to be patient, to keep watch for the work of the Lord in our midst.  It is good; simply to sit, to watch, and to wait in faith.         

Today is World Communion Sunday and I must admit that it is one of my most favorite days in the liturgical year.  Today is the day when we remember that we are not alone in this.  I think that sometimes we forget that we are not the only church.  I like World Communion Sunday because it reminds us that we celebrate at the table with the whole world.  Not just everyone at our church, or everyone in our town, or everyone in our presbytery, or all the Presbyterians in the world.  No, we celebrate with all the Christians in the world; Christians in Africa and the Middle East, Christians in China and Mexico, and Christians all across the United States.  When we come to the table we never ever come alone, rather we always come with the great community of believers all over the world.

          Today the Presbyterian Church has also dedicated to a focus on Peacemaking which I think is fitting.  When we consider the Christian communities around the world, we realize the great need for peace among the nations.  Our church has set this day aside as a day to pray and to work toward peace in our communities and around our world.

          To work and pray for peace with patience is a tall order.  It calls to mind the words of the apostles in Luke “Increase our faith!”  The apostles have been given lessons on how to be a community of Christians and after hearing about how they need to get along with each other they cry out “Increase our faith!”  “Help us to have the faith that we need to deal with each other in peace” we say and I imagine they said as well. 

Jesus’ response to their request is to tell them a strange parable about servants and masters.   “Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’?  Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’?  Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded?  So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’”

          Though at first a bit of a mystery, when we examine the parable closer we see that it is about our relationship with God.  The message is that if you are a servant of the Lord, you will do the right thing because that is your job.  If you are a servant of the Lord, you will work toward peace in the community and in the world.  And do not expect a reward for your work; you are simply doing your job.  The parable reminds us of our place in relationship to God.  God owes us nothing for our discipleship, and similarly we can not earn anything from God. 

          I think in its own way this parable answers the request the disciples made.  “Increase our faith!” they say.  And Jesus’ response to them is basically “Do your job.”  Even when you are in doubt, even when you are in sorrow, even when you are seriously tempted to lose hope; keep going.  Keep doing your job, keep going through the motions, keep serving the Lord, and in doing that, you will increase your faith.  The advice Jesus gives is that when your faith is waning, just keep going. 

          It is interesting that in the parable Jesus mentions the servant coming and taking a place at the table.  I think that unlike the earthly servant and master, in our relationship with God we are invited to the table.  Though we can not earn our place at the table, no matter how big our faith is, a mustard seed or smaller, God invites us to God’s table.  God invites us all, the whole world, to come together and celebrate the sacrament of communion.

          When we gather at the table, we join believers around the world in a meal that celebrates our unity in Christ.  It is in Christ alone that we have our life and salvation.  It is in his death and resurrection that we are redeemed and not by our own merit.  And it is in Christ alone where we will find peace.  Even if we are feeling low in our faith, we are to come to the table and be fed.  Keep going, keep working, keep celebrating communion in community; and your faith will be increased, your hope will return.

          On this World Communion Sunday I find hope for our world in the presence of our Lord at the table.  And I find hope for peace in the knowledge that we don’t come to this table alone, rather we come with our brothers and sisters around the world.  “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.”  May we work and pray for peace in our world.  And in the meantime, as we read our morning newspapers may we be patient and faithful, for “The Lord is good to those who hope in him, to the person who seeks him.  It is good to wait in silence for the Lord’s deliverance.”  As we celebrate communion today may we remember our brothers and sisters around the world and stand with them as we struggle for peace.  Amen.