295 The Second Sacred Event

   (Note: This blog entry is based on the text for “The Second Sacred Event”, originally shared on January 24, 2024. It was the 295^th video for our YouTube Channel, Streams of Living Water (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB7KnYS1bpHKaL2OseQWCnw), co-produced with my wife, Rev. Sally Welch.)

   Holy Communion is a sacrament, a sacred event. Some say it is the second sacrament. Is it? And what does it have to do with Evangelism? Today, we’re going to find out.

   It’s been said that the early bird catches the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

   This past week, college sophomore Nick Dunlap won the Professional Golf Association’s 2024 American Express golf tournament. He was the first amateur to win a PGA tournament in 33 years, and the youngest amateur to win one since 1910.

   Being an amateur, however, means that he is not allowed to receive the $1.5 million prize. Who gets the money? According to PGA rules, it goes to the next best scoring professional player in the tournament. In this case to Christiaan Bezuidenhout, the player who came in second.

   A sacrament is something that is commanded and practiced by Christ. It includes scripture and some physical thing which is the means by which humans enter into a transformative encounter with God, receiving God’s grace.

   Sixteenth century Church reformer Martin Luther believed that only two of the seven Roman Catholic sacraments (Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Communion, Confession, Anointing of the Sick (including last rites), Marriage, and Holy Orders) met those requirements: Baptism and Holy Communion.

   Holy Communion has been called the second sacrament. Baptism brings us into the Body of Christ and Holy Communion feeds members of the Body. In fact, Baptism is a requirement for receiving Holy Communion.

   So, though Holy Communion is second in order, it is not secondary in importance.

   Jesus himself instituted Holy Communion during the Passover meal he shared with his disciples, his Last Supper. In some ways, he was preparing them for what was about to happen.

   Luther described Holy Communion in this way, in his “Small Catechism”, or “FAQs” of the Christian life,

What Is Holy Communion (the Sacrament of the Altar)?

   Holy Communion is the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ given with bread and wine, instituted by Christ himself for us to eat and drink.

Where do the Scriptures say this?

Matthew (26:20-30), Mark (14:17-26), Luke (22:14-23), and Paul (1 Corinthians 11:23-26) say:

   Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the night in which he was betrayed, took bread; and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take, eat, this is my body, which is given for you; this do in remembrance of me.”

   After the same manner also he took the cup after supper, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you; this cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you, and for many, for the remission of sins; this do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

   What happens in Holy Communion that’s such a big deal? In Holy Communion, we commune with God! That’s what makes it Holy Communion. 😊 God is present in, with, and under the forms of bread and wine! That’s a big deal!

   In Holy Communion, Luther writes what the Bible says: “we receive forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.” That’s a big deal!

   Communion isn’t a ritual, or a snack, or a tradition. It’s not a symbolic meal. It is the living presence of the one true living God, and all that is necessary to receive it is to believe what is said in the words, “given and shed for you for the remission of sins”!

   Luther concluded the FAQs with, “for the words for you require simply a believing heart.”

   If you go to a farmers’ market, a supermarket, or a restaurant, you will see lots of food. You will also see people filled with food. Some, perhaps, with more than they need. While too many experience food insecurity, we are a physically well fed culture, for the most part.

   But, in our increasingly secular culture, you will see people who are starving for the good news of God in Jesus Christ. They look fine, but they are spiritually emaciated. They feel fine, but they are starving spiritually. They just don’t know it, yet.

   And, yes, the other end of the spectrum is that we can be spiritually obese. We can be only consumers of the body and blood of Jesus and never share it, never work in response to it.

   Either way, it’s not good for our heart, for our true selves.

   Holy Communion is the answer to our spiritual emptiness and the inner brokenness that comes with our estrangement from God.

   Holy Communion is the answer to our spiritual obesity, because it sets us free from sin, death, and all the powers that oppose   God.

   All that is necessary is a believing heart.

   Come to Holy Communion and enter into the presence of God.

   Let the Holy Spirit open your hardened heart, listen to the promise of God given in that sacrament. Receive its benefits. Be a vessel, be a blank slate, be a place where God may enter and clean house.

   Consider all the ways you spend your time that give you no hope, no courage, no life, no power, but rather for the things that don’t satisfy your real hunger. Be a new creation.

   Jesus offers us a way forward in John 6:27, where he says to his disciples,

27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.”

   When you buy your food, share some with the hungry, give some money to organizations that help the poor. Announce the already but not yet Kingdom of God in your life. Get some spiritual exercise that is not self-serving or self-righteousness, the empty calories of virtue signaling. Work instead to proclaim the kingdom of God that has made you and all things new!

   Talk about what happens in Holy Communion and invite people to share what you have found in Jesus Christ, in a living relationship with the one true living God.

   D. T. Niles, the Celanese (or, today Sri Lankan) evangelist, ecumenical leader, and hymn writer, once said, “Evangelism is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread”.

   Martin Luther said almost the same thing, “We are all mere beggars telling other beggars where to find bread”.

   Someone showed us the way.

   We have been shown the way to bread, the bread of life, in Jesus Christ. We have received new life. We are fed in the forms of bread and wine in Holy Communion.

   It is the second sacrament, but it is not secondary. It is, with Baptism, the means of God’s grace, the assurance of life and salvation.

   The world is starving for that which truly satisfies, which we receive in Holy Communion. Receive it and invite others to do the same!

   Share the good news!