Eucharistic meditation, Fourth Advent

1 Corinthians 10:16-17: Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a communion in the blood of Christ? Is not the loaf which we break a communion in the body of Christ? Since there is one loaf, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf.

We make a lot of the Lord’s Supper around here. We say that it’s the climax of our worship, the center of the life of the church, the table at the heart of the universe, the source from which living water flows to the world. Isn’t that a little over the top?

After all, look at us. What do we do here? I talk with you for a few minutes, I pray a little prayer of thanksgiving, break the bread, and then we pass it out for everyone to eat a tiny morsel. Then we do the same with the wine, and you barely get enough wine to taste it.

To all appearances, we’re not at the center of the universe. We don’t seem to be doing much of anything.

There are a number of responses to that objection. One is that what looks like a meager little meal, what appears to be a pathetic excuse for a feast – this is the way God does things. How can a sprinkle of water, a crust of bread and a thimbleful of wine be at the center of the world? How can we renew the world with that? Might as well ask, How can God reset the creation by putting an infant in a manger? It’s the same question.

But another answer has to do with the character of holidays. Holidays are precisely days to do nothing. Sabbath means “ceasing,” and every holiday has a sabbatical quality. It’s an interruption of commerce, production, useful activity. In fact, sabbatical inactivity is the most useful of all inactivities because on holidays we gather to do nothing together.

Without Sabbath, we are in danger of treating each other as means for our own ends. Without Sabbath, our fellowship is only partnership in projects, not fellowship with one another. Without Sabbath, we go our separate ways to pursue our own earnest agendas, including earnest leisure. Sabbath, ceasing, holiday, eating and drinking at this table – all this doing nothing together is what forms us into a communion of believers.

Let this meal set the pattern for your Christmas celebration in the coming. Eat, drink, rejoice with your family and friends; give and receive gifts with thanks and joy. Delight in doing nothing, and rejoice in doing it together.