In the spirit of “Don’t waste
leftovers” (Luke 9: 17), a summary of
last week’s unspoken communion
homily on “Being ONE as Friends
on CommUNION Sabbath.”
***
1. I Miss My Friend. My last phone
conversation with my mother was
while taking a walk on September 5.
Now that she’s gone, I miss my mother. My best
friend, her friendship.
*
2. “The CommUNION of Friends.” The 5th century
Apostles’ Creed states: “I believe in God the Father;
Jesus Christ His only Son; the Holy Spirit, the
commUNION of saints…” The “commUNION of
saints” is about our God-given need for connection
with one another as friends.
*
3. The 7 th Century “Painting of the Friendship”
(based on John 15: 15) shows Christ putting his arm
on the shoulder of an unknown friend. Explanation:
“This unknown friend is each one of us. The Christ
descends to the lowest point of the human condition.
He does not let the smallest fragment rest on us of
what oppresses us.” “What A Friend We Have In
Jesus!”
*
4. Jesus Your Friend Suffers for You. John 15: 3:
“Greater love has no one than to give their life for
their friend.” Philippians 2: 4-8 Jesus became
obedient to “the death of the Cross.”
*
5. Jesus’ Brothers and Sisters Here Today. We can
see Jesus here today by the wells of Lubbock: in
fellow humans going through the inconveniences
and indignities of life travel, screaming through their
own crosses. At the ER, the bus stop, and at church,
with hot and dirty feet, anguishing, thirsty, alone, and
waiting. In the heat of noon hour, exhausted and
weary, whose flesh is torn, and whose arms, wrists
and ankles were pierced on the sixth hour. Naked
and in shame, sitting on our individual crosses of
pain, we can hear His “I thirst” in each other’s
spoken and unspoken “I need.” And we also meet
Him, and are revived, in the fellowship of our
common death.
*
6. ONE as Friends on CommUNION Sabbath. After a
long labor to give us birth, on the Sabbath, Jesus,
wrapped in burial clothes, rested in the tomb. Now
this Sabbath, and every day of the week, we get to be
invited, seated and served at His family table, as we
serve one another, give and receive bread, and
embrace one another. We get to experience divine
fellowship, through the wonderful gift to one another,
of our incarnated humanity.
With love and blessings, Pastor Sam
Recent Comments