Dear Grace Vancouver Family,
At the centre of any home with any sense of health, joy, togetherness, belonging and family... is a Table.
Well, here we are in week 3, part 3, already with this series of reflections on the Lord's Table. We ended last week's reflection on the Table with this: what is the sacramental life? On the backside of every bulletin we pick up on Sunday mornings at Grace Van or more recently have downloaded as a link, there is the fine print describing some of Grace Van's vision. Under the middle section on "Inward: Transformed by the Peace of God in Christ," there is a simple statement on the sacramental life and it simply reads like this, "our participation in the sacraments of bread and wine flow into our everyday lives." Have you read the fine print? Sometimes the fine print matters.
So maybe a starting point for today's reflection is asking, "what do the bread and wine signify for us?" Well, there are certain words that we as believers use that are not explicitly Biblical words, but they are words that can easily and necessarily be "deduced" from Scripture and they are important words; the two that jump to mind immediately for me are "Trinity" and,... well,... "Sacrament."
Sacrament comes from the latin word Sacramentum which simply means "mystery." The New Testament Greek word for mystery is musterion and what musterion always refers to is the "mystery of the Gospel." The Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 3:6, "This mystery (musterion) is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promises in Christ Jesus through the gospel." Who are the Gentiles? The Gentiles are all who are outside the ethnic people of Israel from the Old Testament,... in essence, Jewish people. So the grand "mystery" of the Gospel is that you and I (as Gentiles, nonJewish people) have been included in the promises of God, incorporated into the family of Israel by faith,... whoa... AWESOME.
The mystery of the Gospel is that we have been included, that you and I BELONG. Romans 1:6 says this grand mystery of the Gospel includes the Gentiles/Nations who now belong to Christ Jesus. There are very few words in my vocabulary that penetrate my heart as the word "belonging," so much so that I spent six long years working on a doctorate on the very topic!
Remember how I opened this series and have repeated each part of it? "At the centre of any home with any sense of health, joy, togetherness, belonging and family... is a Table." So when we participate at the Table together, we participate in a table of BELONGING. And the "musterion," the awesome, unbelievable, hidden truth revealed is that we have been included as children of God to belong!
Well, the children of the King must also behave in a way that befits their status as royalty, so this is also why we must repent and make sure we are right with King Jesus as well as our brothers and sisters every time we come to the Table.
Alexander Schmemann wrote this in his terrific book For the Life of the World:
"No one has been 'worthy' to receive communion,... all merits, all righteousness, all devotions disappear and dissolve. Life comes again to us as Gift, a free and divine gift.... we call the Eucharistic elements Holy Gifts. Adam is again introduced to Paradise, taken out of nothingness and crowned king of creation. Everything is free, nothing is due and yet all is given. And therefore, the greatest humility and obedience is to accept the gift, to say yes- in joy and gratitude."
It is this gift of G-R-A-C-E (God's Riches At Christ's Expense,... thank you J.I. Packer) that we celebrate and receive every time we come to the Table. John Calvin called the Table a "visible word" of the Gospel of Christ, of this great wondrous mystery that we have received His Grace.
So, if we are restored to our Kingly status of royalty every time we partake in this Table of belonging together as children of royalty, how ought we then step into the world on "Monday"? Well, I think the answer is fairly straight-forward, isn't it? As children of the King who continue to renew themselves in the power of the Table week-in and week-out. We live according to this "Gospel Remembrance" in all that we do and in everything that we are,... this is the Sacramental Life.
Paul put it this way in Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Do we understand we participate in His sacrificial death, again and again, whenever we participate at the Table? At the centre of any home with any sense of health, joy, togetherness, belonging and family... is a Table. We "touch and taste" the "Visible Word" of God that tells us Jesus loves us.
Pre-eminent 20th century theologian Karl Barth was once asked, "what is the most profound truth found in all the pages of Scripture?" Barth answered, "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so." So we touch and taste this goodness when we gather around the Table by faith. Jesus loves us indeed.
The Sacramental Life is the whole of life set apart in love and service to our Great God. This morning I fixed my mom breakfast, paid some bills, talked to mom about going to the bank for her, picking up some meds,... also talked to her about the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16 and the fully sufficient sacrifice of Christ in Hebrews 10. She asked questions about Moses and Jesus, who they were,... the relationship and timeline of the Old and New Testaments (she's never professed faith in Christ before!) She learned the meaning behind the word "atonement" and that the first five books of the Bible are also known by the name "The Book of Moses." I've asked many to pray for her to receive Jesus. She is now on her iPad, also taking her blood pressure,... oh, reading the New Testament book of Hebrews too in her Chinese Bible!
I am writing this article, though I did take a break watching some YouTube clips. I'm a sucker for old professional wrestling clips with Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan (I wasn't a churched kid, but I was very faithful to be in one place every Sunday at 10a... sitting in the church of the World Wrestling Federation with patron saint Hulk Hogan, haha)... I was just ushered back into one of the sweetest moments of my childhood... Hulk Hogan body-slammed 500 lb. Andre the Giant in Wrestlemania III,... amazing (Andre did a terrific job in the Princess Bride too, not too long before he passed away). In recent weeks, I've been getting into "The Last Dance" on Netflix about Michael Jordan's remarkable basketball career; yes, I had "Air Jordans" as a young teenager in the early 80s. When I was home in Vancouver "on quarantine" because of my travels to Seattle, I worked out with my daughter Mia, when I was "off quarantine," I went and threw the football at Memorial park with my boys. We celebrated Mother's Day together last Sunday, and will celebrate Calvin's 15th birthday this Sunday. Today I have a 5:30p online workout and will talk to an asset manager about nexts steps in getting mom and dad's estate in order. I will FaceTime my dad and get new tires on my car. My sister will drive me, even though it will take less than an hour to change the tires, for precautionary reasons, I choose not to sit in the shop at this time. Tomorrow I will take my mom to get a blood test at a lab. Meanwhile, I meet with my small group on Zoom on Thursday nights, staff meetings Tuesday afternoons, had an elder candidate and advisory member training session Monday night through the Westminster Confession of Faith and a book by Michael Horton called "Putting Amazing Back into Grace." I hope to be home on Saturday and back on a 14-day mandatory quarantine. I've struggled with being home-bound so much and get down at times too like many of you.
Why do I give you all these mundane details of the minutiae around my life?... actually, I forgot to add that I brushed my teeth this morning and prefer Colgate to Crest! ... I give you these details because I want you to know that all of life is sacramental,... yes, I even brush my teeth for Jesus : ) Actually,... I do, because I want to take care of this life I have been given and honour Him with it, because it is ultimately His,... my teeth too!
This is the Sacramental Life,... the elements of the bread and wine flow into everyday life. This Sunday cannot come soon enough as Tunyi will be giving his message this Eastertide season out of John 21, where he will point us to how the disciples returned to their trade as fishermen in the wake of the resurrection. There will be much to receive from Tunyi regarding all of life as being sacramental, as Tunyi continues our series on "Living the Resurrection."
That's the Sacramental Life... sometimes the fine print matters.
Blessings dear friends,
Pastor Mike
Next Message in this Series: The Wedding Supper of the Lamb and Who Comes
No comments:
Post a Comment