Take this Cup
by Rev. Dr. Amy Chilton on 04/06/23
The tiny wooden chalice you see above is one I used in a communion service at the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem in 2005. There, gathered with my classmates from various Christian denominations and surrounded by Christians from around the world, we crossed denominational lines and remembered together the night that Christ sat at table with his disciples, broke the bread, and drank the wine. That was a holy moment. In real life, when not touring the Holy Land with one’s seminary professors, it is harder to remember the powerful, unifying force that communion should be. Here at PMBC, when we eat the bread and drink the wine (ok, juice), we take it all together, serving one another and closing by singing “Blessed be the Tie that Binds.” Blessed be the tie that binds, Our hearts in Christian love. The fellowship of kindred minds, Is like to that above. What a powerful recognition that Christian unity, remembered and practiced around this table, reflects the very essence of God’s being. In 1527, just a few years after the beginnings of the Anabaptists in Switzerland and Europe (these cousin ancestors of ours were called “radical reformers,” which never fails to make me giggle), a minister by the name of Balthasar Hübmaier, wrote a new liturgy for communion that included what he called The Pledge of Love. The Pledge included promises to love God, to love neighbor, and to practice “fraternal admonition.” Hübmaier wanted those who participated in the Lord’s Supper to become “one bread, one body.” So before taking communion he had them commit to loving each other and encouraging one another in their faith. In the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians we discover that the Corinthian church was practicing communion in a way that reinforced social stratification. Some folks were eating everything while other folks quite literally went hungry. The wealthy were being seated at the table and weren’t thinking about the others when they ate all the bread and drank all the wine - which left the poorer folks who were already hungry even hungrier. “So then, my brothers and sisters,” Paul wrote, “when you come together to eat, wait for one another” (11:33). Today is Maundy Thursday, the day of the Christian year when we remember together Christ sitting at that table with his disciples. A day when we break the bread and drink the wine and remember not only Christ’s death, but also the life of unity and love to which he has called us. Today and throughout this year, may we remember together that we are called to love Christ through service to one another, through kindness, compassion, and forbearance. While we do not take a pledge of love before communion, perhaps we might remember as we hand the tray to our neighbor, that we are indeed committed to loving and encouraging one another. For this is part of what it means to remember Christ. Blessings, Pastor Amy
