Communion with Christ

How do we meet and come to know Jesus in a powerful way that shapes our lives and communities? This is actually one of the central questions we should be asking, because it is from our relationship with Jesus that everything else stems. On the negative, a distant relationship with God means that we are distant from truth, goodness, morality, love, joy and more. On the positive, the closer we grow in our relationship with God, the more our hearts, minds, soul and strength will be shaped to be like Christ. Communion becomes an essential reality whereby we grow in this relationship with Jesus. It is not only one of the most important means, but it also is a lived out and physical framework that speaks to us about the truth of how we come to this closeness with Jesus. Today, we will look at how we commune with God and how that ultimately leads to communion with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

So first, let's define communion. Obviously, it is this meal we are about to partake in together, but it speaks to something richer as communion is a kind of closeness, bond, and unity that goes beyond friendship, or common ideas. It is about drawing close and finding an intimacy where the other knows you and can see you - every part of you. This is the kind of closeness we are meant for and if we searched our hearts deep enough, we would find a longing for this unity too. Yet, we know this closeness is far too difficult. I can be too scared to show you every side of myself, because I don’t know how you will judge me and I don’t know how that will affect you. We can be too scared to see too much of one another, because there will likely be things we don’t want and struggle with. We don’t want to draw close in the midst of these differences and difficulties, because working through them, understanding the other, and holding on means I need to change, you need to change and sadly that means losing some things that I might be holding on very tightly to. Despite all of this struggle, the need persists, we need to draw close in such a way that we are known and we know the other. And there is something so special about being known.

Communion with Jesus is even more special, because he knows us in ways that we don’t even know ourselves, he has the power to not just be other, but to live in us and draw us into live in him. This unity with Jesus is beyond our understanding and it is a great mystery that our whole lives should be spent learning and growing into. 

This communion and divine intimacy starts with a simple but profound action - consuming Jesus. We are invited to consume Jesus, to take him in, to have him fill our bodies and souls. At communion we ingest him and he satiates our hunger, he fills us and then he feeds our every cell. It is such an important reality that speaks to the reality of what Jesus is doing. This taking in and consuming Jesus should repeat itself in our daily lives. Every time that we hear Scripture the Word - Jesus - enters through our ears, vibrates our body, and then is communicated to and lives in our minds in a way that challenges us to think differently and so change everything. Every time we breathe, we are invited to breathe in the breath of God, the Holy Spirit and that same breath then fills our lungs, and enlivens our body, but it also carries our words and communicates to others - and when it is the Holy Spirit it draws them closer. Every time that we pray, we stop, and we draw to our hearts and minds God, Our Father in Heaven and he draws close to us. It is as if we sit down with our best friend and draw close for special words just exchanged between us. It is very intense language, but our life of faith is meant to be filled with moments where we consume Jesus and he comes and lives in us. 

In many senses, Jesus is trying to do the same thing with us, because he is trying to draw us into himself too. God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is trying to draw us into his community, into his body, his family, his glory, love and bounty. Jesus longs to envelope us with his nature that is like a great blanket that warms us, protects us, but also guides us and makes us new. Jesus in our passage from John 17, speaks about both realities, this longing to live in us and for us to live in him. It makes sense that we could live in God in all of his grandness, we could imagine what a taste of that could be, but at the same time we are called to witness God’s grandness and glory living in us - living through us. This reminds me that God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness. 

This brings me to the practical realities of how we actually come to this mysterious and profound communion with God. As I said, communion is an effective means that also teaches us how to grow in our relationship with God at any time. So let’s walk through a few of the details.

First, it starts with remembering. We draw to our mind God and we remember his work, the stories, his character. This is important, because we put our eyes on the right thing and our aim becomes straight. 

Second, we approach, we walk towards the altar, we open our minds, we speak, we move towards the one who we see and know (even if just a little). God does come to us and he moves the greatest part of the distance, but a relationship must have both parties acting to move together.

Third, humility. We kneel before God, we ask for help and guidance, we listen, we recognize our need, our littleness, our inabilities and at the same time God’s grandness and capacity. To some degree every relationship needs this as we are meant to recognize the other for the goodness God has planted in them and the things that we are lacking in them, but with God this humility is at its peak, because he is not just the cure of our limits and weaknesses, he is also the great superseder of our strengths. Everyone has fallen short of the glory of God, even in individual things. We need humility, we need to kneel, because humility is the natural recognition of God’s grandeur and our need - humility is a natural consequence of truly approaching God. 

Fourth, we empty. At communion we put down everything, and take everything out of our hands so that God can fill them. When we meet someone truly wonderful in our lives, we make space for them, we put other things to the side, because we know what joy, wonder and life they can fill it with. This is true with God to the utmost. This emptying and putting aside is a natural consequence to seeing God’s glory and wanting more. Nothing else in this world compares and so we want to be filled with him to the utmost. 

Fifth, we have to receive and be filled. This is harder said than done. Even with people we love, it can be hard to receive and fill our lives with their joy. There are too many things that we hold onto, or that we are only willing to let go of for a moment. We have too many plans, hopes or dreams that may not mesh, we are too scared to give up so much, to depend on someone that much, we question the cost. Yet, we must remember again and again that the benefit, the true fulfillment of the Holy Spirit far surpasses any cost. 

Lastly, we remember again and the process repeats itself. We remember again, because we have met God anew, he has filled us in grander ways and so in remembering we hold on, and he holds onto us. Then we are invited again into even greater closeness. Thus our lives can be a perpetual growing and surpassing indwelling of the Holy Spirit, whereby the goodness of God consumes us, while we are consuming it. 

The natural consequence of this is communion in the body of Christ - it is an intimate and profound connection with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. If we all remember and have our eyes on Jesus, then it means we are all looking at the same thing. If we are all approaching Jesus that means that we are also perpetually moving closer to one another - even if we started in very different places. If we are all humbling ourselves before Jesus that means that we are all recognizing our shared needs and limits. If we are already emptying ourselves, that means that we have created space for others. If we are already being filled with Jesus it means that we will be open to how Jesus will fill us through others. And then as we are we don’t just remember Jesus, we also remember how God has worked through others and how he has made himself known in the body of Christ. 

Communion becomes this mutual and unifying act, whereby we all together, remember Jesus, move towards his table where he is host, we humble ourselves, and we are filled. There are some who serve, or clean up, or set the table, humbling themselves before you to give you the goodness of God and yet at the same time they are lifted up because they are filled with the service of God. No matter what place we fill in this communion, we are all sharing in an intimate closeness with Jesus that fills us. We all witness the glory of God that is beyond our understanding. We all live in the loving sacrificial service that Jesus is practicing to draw us in and enter into our hearts and minds. 

So, today, as you come to Jesus’ table, think about what you are doing. Think about these actions and what they mean. Finally, remember that Jesus is drawing you close so that you may be filled by him and so that you might live in him. This is a divine and awe-inspiring communion that we all long for - a communion nothing else in this world can offer. AMEN

Hello to my St. Matthew’s Family,

We all long for closeness sometimes, don’t we? We all long for that connection where we are known and loved and where we can know and love another. I am so thankful for the people in my life that give me a taste of this in really special moments and I hope you can look back on your life and find really special moments of this closeness. 

We are meant for closeness, we are meant for communion: a kind of intimacy and knowledge that goes beyond friendship or even romance. If we look deep within our hearts, I think we all know this. The Lord’s Supper, Eucharist, or Communion becomes an essential way that we discover and enact this communion and closeness. Here is God who commands us to consume him and yet invites us to live in him - what language of intimacy. We are given a fairly simple practical way to grow in this communion: 1) Remember, 2) Approach, 3) Humble ourselves, 4) Make Space or empty our hands, 5) Receive, 6) Be filled, 7) Take it with you (Remember). This is a continual pattern that we are called to repeat not just at communion, but in practically every moment of our lives. This is a pattern whereby we can perpetually grow in our relationship with God and so grow in faith, love, hope, joy, peace, fellowship and so much more.