Jesus continues his walk to Emmaus with the two disciples. He begins to explain to them from Moses and the prophets and psalms all the things that God has done to prepare us for life. He addresses the concerns and points us to a greater understanding in the words of the good book. Reading Scripture and the sermon or message, is one way we can hear Jesus tell us what we need to know to address our needs and concerns as we walk in life.
The worship service has two parts, the Word and Table. The Word section follows the ancient pattern that came to the early Christians from the synagogue services that they were used to. There were prayers and then reading of the selection from the scrolls, the Old Testament as they knew it and the rabbi would explain or direct them to understand what had been read to them at that time. The Word portion of worship is like that. We hear from the scripture and we receive an interpretation or explanation or direction for what to do with God's word for our lives.
I was chatting with someone the other day who asked about the scriptures that are chosen for the worship services. I have been a lectionary preacher, one who follows the multi-denominational church common text lectionary of three year guided lessons to cover the major stories of scripture over a three year period, most of my ministry. But since coming to Liberty Grove I've gone to short series or preaching on a list of major Bible stories to cover the essential moments in Biblical formation. This summer I'm preaching on the book of John Wesley's 8 Essential Life Enriching Practices, in order to remind us of the habits we United Methodists should be following if we want to grow spiritually.
The scripture lessons come out of the book to show us the relationship between the practices of habits we should be following and God's instructions about that. Last week we were looking at the walk to Emmaus scripture from Luke 24 because it shapes how we worship.The middle section of that story is the power of the interpretation of the Word into the concerns and the life of Jesus.
The early Christians added to the synagogue component of weekly worship, the Table section of the Last Supper that Jesus gave his disciples in the Upper Room and commanded them to keep remembering to share this with each other. In Methodist circles John Wesley insisted that only a duly ordained clergy person could administer the sacrament in order to keep it's meaning and importance as clearly connected to Jesus as possible. In the early days of Methodism, the clergy person would have 15 to 18 churches and would only be by to offer communion once a quarter or so. We kept that pattern of quarterly communion way past the time when most United Methodist churches have a regular ordained pastor who was there each week.
Moving to monthly communion, on the first Sunday of the month, has taken a while to be adapted as a usual practice among us. John Wesley thought it should be available every week, but he was talking about a two to three hour service each week as well, and it was possible during that time. We who are so time conscious now, can't manage a two to three hour services, so the monthly communion fits our schedule a little better.
When Jesus finished the interpretation of the scriptures concerning his death and resurrection, the two disciples had arrived in Emmaus. They begged Jesus, the stranger still, to stay with them for dinner. He accepted. When Jesus took the bread and gave thanks and broke the bread and gave it to them, their eyes were opened and they recognized him. He immediately disappeared from their sight. Their hearts were so strangely warmed by all of this, that they knew he was risen, and they jumped up from the table and ran to share with the disciples in Jerusalem, that he was risen indeed, and they had recognized him in the breaking of the bread.
It is my hope that every time we move toward the portion of worship that we receive the bread and the cup that our eyes will be opened to see and know that the Risen One is with us. And we should rise up from the table and be ready to share our faith in the Risen One with others too. Hopefully we see Jesus is with us when we break bread and can let that shape who we are and what we do, from then on.
May the worship with Word & Table be a powerful tool to help you grow spiritually. You can see why this is so helpful to growing faith. Come and worship. Go find a church to share in the habit of gathering to hear God speak to you and sense his presence with you always.
Blessings on each of you
Pastor Jeff
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