Scripture reading: Phil. 2:1-11
Paul is writing to his friends and fellow believers in Philippi, from a prison cell and a position of powerlessness and uncertainty.
It isn’t the first time Paul has been in prison. In fact, he was thrown into prison the first time he was in Philippi. That was the time an angel of God came into the prison at night to open all the cells and set all the prisoners free. It was quite an event, and probably at least part of the reason the Philippians were so happy and willing to follow Paul and believe what he had to say about Jesus and God and the coming of the kingdom of God.
This time, though, no angel, no night-time visitation, no miraculous opening of the cells. And instead of being able to write to the Philippian believers about another miraculous escape, Paul reminds them of a hymn instead that they all know.
He introduces it saying, “let this mind
be in you that was in the Christ Jesus” – or, as it reads in the Good News
Translation: “the attitude you should have is the one that Jesus Christ had…”
and then he reminds them of the song about Jesus they all know.
Your life in Christ makes you strong, and his love comforts you. You have fellowship with the Spirit, and you have kindness and compassion for one another. I urge you, then, to make me completely happy by having the same thoughts, sharing the same love, and being one in soul and mind.
Don't do anything from selfish ambition or from a cheap desire to boast, but be humble toward one another, always considering others better than yourselves. And look out for one another's interests, not just for your own. The attitude you should have is the one that Christ Jesus had:
He always had the nature of God,
but he did not think that by force
he
should try to remain equal with God.
Instead of this, of his own free will
he
gave up all he had,
and
took the nature of a servant.
He became like a human being
and
appeared in human likeness.
He was humble and walked the path of obedience
all the way to death—his death on the cross.
For this reason God raised him
to
the highest place above
and
gave him the name that is greater
than any other name.
And so, in honour of the name of Jesus
all
beings in heaven, on earth,
and
in the world below
will
fall on their knees,
and all will openly proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to
the glory of God the Father.
Meditation
Today is World Communion Sunday. The day was first conceived in 1933 by the Rev. Dr. Hugh Thomson Kerr, minister to Shadyside Pres. Church in Pittsburgh, PA. He imagined it as a day to bring Christian churches together in a service of Christian unity, focused in the common rite of communion or the eucharist of Christ. In the words of his son, a teenager at the time, the intent was to inspire and encourage Christians in all churches to know how important the Church of Jesus Christ is, and how each congregation is inter-connected with all others.
The idea caught on. The Presbyterian Church in the States adopted the day in 1936 and four years later it was endorsed for all churches – primarily mainline and liturgical churches, that is, by the Federal Council of Churches which later became the National Council of Churches.
It’s not surprising the day originated in the mind of a Presbyterian minister and was first adopted by the Presbyterian Church – servants of a tradition that especially emphasizes the predestined chosen-ness of God’s people from among the other people of the world, the sense of special purpose this carries, and even the sense of entitlement to a certain pride of place – if not as the whole loaf of God’s people, at least maybe the upper crust.
Not surprising too that the idea caught on and took off in other churches mostly after the Second Great war and into the 1950’s and 60’s when times were good for the church in our part of the world. Numbers were up, buildings and budgets were up, and the church felt secure in its influence and place in the world.
Oh, but how times have changed! For some decades now – since probably the 1980’s and 90’s we have been lamenting the slide, the decline and the loss of much of what we had, and believed we were meant to have. Numbers are down, buildings and budgets are at risk, and we certainly don’t have the influence or the pride of place in society or even among the variety of religious traditions that we used to have.
So what does World Communion Sunday mean
today? What does it inspire us to
celebrate, and encourage us to be or do?
What kind of community do we give thanks for being, in the name and
spirit of Jesus, the Christ, who
of his own free will … gave up
all he had,
and
took the nature of a servant of others.
He became like a human being – weak and vulnerable,
and
appeared in human likeness – unremarkable and ordinary.
He was humble and walked the path of obedience
to God and to the needs of others all the
way to death—
even death on the cross – a lonely and ignoble way to go.
This is who and how God-in-Jesus – the one we are in communion with – is in the world. Not so much in strength, power or pride of place, dominating over others. But more in humble service, self-forgetfulness, committed to do whatever is needed – like the poorest servant would – for the good and well-being of others.
And yes, that leads in some ultimate sense to exaltation and glory, because God sees what is done in secret, and God honours the slightest gift given. In the end it will be clear to all and celebrated by all that this way – the low way of loving self-giving – is the real way of life and hope for all the world’s healing.
But along the way, before the end, there is not always such recognition. Not often such acclaim. Not usually such glory.
Remember, Paul is in prison for preaching God’s good news and for doing God’s good will for others – especially for the poor and the weak – in and against a corrupt and flawed political and economic system. And it’s not the first time he’s been in jail for that.
And even though he and the Philippians remember how the first time he was set free and exempted from the power of the state by God’s angels, that was clearly a one-time affair. Neither he nor they expect that to happen again. That kind of entitlement and special exemption and unique protection from loss or risk are not what Christian faith and discipleship are about.
Rather, it’s about the gift and the call to be a blessing to others, of being able to serve others in the name and the way of Christ, to be part of a community both called and willing to be broken open to share who they are and what they have with others, and to have who they are and what they have poured and shared for the well-being of the world.
As we remember in the eucharist. As we celebrate in communion. As we remember and are called to live in the way of Jesus.
And incidentally, does it really matter whether this happens strictly and explicitly in the name of Jesus? Whether this kind of love is lived out in the world explicitly as a Christian or not?
Because is it the name of Jesus, or the way of Jesus that it’s all about?
I think of so many of the things done here in and through Fifty United Church, and how many of the things we do involve, and even depend on the partnership of others – other persons and other organizations that are not explicitly Christian, that have no professed religious identity, or that claim another religious tradition as the one that’s shaped them and their commitment to the world’s well-being and their willingness to give themselves for it. And we’re not alone in that experience of communion and common cause with others beyond us.
It makes me wonder what World Communion Sunday might mean today.
What does it mean for us not to be a breed apart from the rest of the world, but one part along with others who make up the whole loaf?
Or, to put it another way, what does it mean for us not to be the upper crust somehow above everyone else with pride of place in God’s dispensation, but actually, like everyone else in the end, just a bunch of crumbs that when gathered together by God become enough to help nurture and sustain good life for all the world?
We’re not celebrating communion online here today, but the next time you eat a piece of bread – no matter what kind – maybe give some thought to what it means to be part – only part, but as good and necessary a part as others, of the whole loaf that’s created by God for the well-being of all.
I wish you a happy World Communion Sunday.
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