Real Presence. August 15, 2021. The Rev. Kathleen M. Sturges

 

John 6:51-58

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says, “Does this taste funny to you?”  Given what Jesus is saying in our gospel reading this morning, I just couldn’t resist. Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood...Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood...whoever eats me... It’s pretty graphic language. No wonder the Jews found it hard to swallow! But it wasn’t just the Jews. In the early years of the Church, one of the common charges levied against Christians was cannibalism. And it’s easy to understand why with all of Jesus’ talk.

 But of course Jesus wasn’t speaking literally. Although he was speaking truthfully. The bread and the wine which he later identifies as his body and blood (Jn. 13:1–17:26, see also Mt. 26:17–30, Mk. 14:12–26, Lk. 22:7–39) is a significant way, but certainly not the only way, that we experience union with God in Christ. That is why the early Church and the Episcopal Church believe that having communion, celebrating the Eucharist is the primary and highest act of Christian worship. And also why we do it not just once a quarter or once a month, but every single Sunday. Except when we don’t...like during a pandemic.

 So what was that like for you? Did you miss the Eucharist? Was it any big deal when you finally received the body of Christ after over a year? In the first few months of the pandemic, a priest posted a similar question on Facebook, “How does it feel to go without the Eucharist?” The comments poured in. Some people said that they missed the Eucharist deeply, longing for it, as one man said, quoting a psalm, “more than the watchman for the morning.” Another said that going without the Eucharist was making this “one of the hardest times in my life.” Many expressed a longing for the physical feel and comfort of the sacrament, as one put it: “to be reminded in a physical way of the presence of God in taste, texture, and smell.”

 However, Episcopalians are a diverse bunch so naturally there were plenty of others who expressed the opposite sentiment. There was a group that said that they didn’t miss the Eucharist much at all. Many confessed that what they really missed was being physically present in the midst of a worshipping community. And some clergy said that even more than receiving the Eucharist what they missed most was saying the familiar words of the prayer and placing the bread into the hands of their people.

 For some of us it may be difficult to put into words what it is exactly that we missed about the Eucharist because the whole experience is so wrapped up in mystery. As we gather and pray we give thanks for all God has done and is doing (hence the word Eucharist which comes from the Greek word meaning “Thanksgiving.”) And in the midst of giving thanks we ask the Holy Spirit to sanctify the bread and wine and make it for us the body and blood of Christ. Now the Episcopal Church doesn’t drill down on how exactly the bread and wine are transformed, but the Church does proclaim that once the elements are prayed over and the people say the Great “Amen,” they are changed. We call it the 'Real Presence'  - that, somehow through the mystery and the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is really present in the bread and the wine.

 So when we consume the consecrated elements we truly are doing what Jesus said - we are eating his flesh and drinking his blood (although, for now, for everyone’s safety we are just receiving the bread alone). The invitation to eat Christ’s body and blood is an invitation not just to follow his way, but to actually take him into our very selves, our souls, our bodies so that he may abide in us and we in him. It is one of the most intimate acts of communion. And through that communion, that eating of Christ, our souls are fed and we are transformed.

 Behold what you are: become what you receive. On occasion, those are the words we use to invite you to come forward to receive the bread and wine. The words are ancient. Christians have heard them throughout the centuries all the way back to St. Augustine in the 5th century who proclaimed that as we receive the Eucharist we are mystically transformed into the very Body of Christ, given for the world. For in the broken bread and the wine outpoured we glimpse Christ’s body on the cross and see the lengths to which God is willing to go for each and everyone of us - a deep, fierce, passionate love beyond measure.

 Every time we receive the Eucharist, we are transformed a little more fully into the Body of Christ. In a tactile way we become a little more in touch with who we really are. Beyond any titles or labels, our successes, our failures, or even how we self identify, the deepest truth of who we really are at our core is Beloved - God’s Beloved. Over and over and over through the Holy Eucharist we get to abide in that divine love. Divine love that fills us and flows through us so that we might become what we receive, bread for the world. Lives that feed, nourish, and bless others. Behold what you are: become what you receive. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them.