The Great Leveling Table

I sat quietly after communion with tears filling my eyes and slipping down my face.  Today I had the sacred privilege of taking communion with a beautiful older woman suffering from dementia. I could not help but think of my father who died in 2006 after seven years of struggle with the disease. I never got to take communion with him after he became ill. I lived too far away to see him more than once or twice a year.  I wondered if anyone did—if after the onset of his dementia he was able to participate in the shared meal with other believers. I was brought to tears because I would have loved to experience that with him. I was brought to tears because I miss him.

But sharing communion alongside a beautiful older woman with dementia  brought me to tears for much more profound reasons than my own grief and loss. This experience of sharing the body and blood of Christ together from such different places in life was a powerful reminder to me of just how leveling the table is that Jesus set for us. At this table there are no titles, no credentials, no superior intelligence or any other hierarchy. There is only the table set for us with the gifts of God for all who are willing to come with nothing but their sin and gratefulness. And this reality—coming together with only our sin and our gratefulness—is what allows us to experience the presence of Christ in the deepest way.  With all our sin that stands against us, the emptiness of our hands, the utter bankruptcy of any of our earnings,  opens  our hearts and makes room for us to experience the fullness of Christ who is completely for us. An older woman being stripped of memory and a younger woman being stripped of pride together hearing the words, “the body of Christ given for you,” and “the blood of Christ poured out for you.” 

This precious woman could only express in minimal words her delight in participating in the meal but her serene face and her sweetness of spirit touched me deeply. And her willingness to go to the table with me—a stranger to her—was also humbling. She took my hand so willingly and so lovingly. Together we remembered—each as much as we were able—Christ’s death on our behalf. All my seminary education, all my years of preaching and teaching about the meaning and significance of the sacrament of communion and this beautiful sweet woman suffering from dementia taught me so much more.

The table that is Christ’s is the great leveler. Rich and poor, strong and weak, brilliant and simple, educated and uneducated, young and old, of every tribe and nation are all welcomed to the table because of who Christ is and what Christ has done for us.  Nothing more.  

Of Thee I Sing

My father was a WWII POW. He was in the US Army just 19 months when he became a prisoner of the Japanese during WWII. He was starved and often brutalized and suffered for three and one half years until Japan surrendered in August of 1945. He was liberated about a month later. He did not re-enlist. But he often said, “If my country needed me and I could serve, I would go again.” He was very patriotic. And one of the signs of his patriotism was evident whenever the national anthem was played the tears would roll down his cheeks. Whenever the flag was raised or any patriotic songs were sung or played my father would silently cry. These symbols of our country moved him deeply. He lived to be 85 and I don’t think the emotion ever subsided. I have witnessed this over and over again with the American people, and veterans in particular, in a variety of contexts. Patriotic music moves people—especially people who understand the cost of our freedom.

As a pastor and worship leader it makes me wonder. So often I sit in worship and observe people singing songs about the love of God, the sacrifice of Christ, the price he paid for our sins, the grace and mercy and forgiveness of the Lord, the new life we are given, and yet I would dare to say the majority of people sitting in worship are at least visibly unaffected by what they are singing. Now, don’t get me wrong. I do not believe that tears are the primary or necessary evidence of heartfelt worship. I am just saying that the contrast between what I see when veterans sing the national anthem and what I see when many Christians sing in worship makes me wonder. It makes me wonder if we understand the cost of our spiritual freedom? I do not see the same level of engagement with the lyrics of the words of worship music as I do with patriotic songs. Animated and enthusiastic is how I would describe patriotic singing followed by clapping and whistling and cheering. Not so in worship in many churches I preach and worship in. And heaven forbid, if someone actually moves or raises their hands during the singing! Even when the song’s lyric’s say “we lift up our hands” few venture to actually do such a demonstrative thing.

The important question for person to ask is, of whom or what do I sing? What makes my heart sing? What gives me goose bumps? What makes me want to shout for joy? What causes me to silently be in awe? These are questions especially important for people claiming to be set free by the blood of the Lamb. Tears will not reveal the answer to all of these questions but they do indicate some level of deeper engagement in the music and its words. The question for me is clear, no matter what the visible signs, who is the “thee” of whom I sing?!

A More Visible Church

Today four congregations in Downey California were much more visible. Today congregations from four different denominations worshipped together celebrating the birthday of the Church and the gift of the Holy Spirit. We did this in a city park. And we got to that park by parading down the sidewalks, each congregation joining the parade as we went along. You have heard of progressive dinners? This was a progressive Pentecost parade. It was a beautiful thing to behold. Men and women, boys and girls of all ages carrying banners and balloons, and wearing red walking (some in strollers and one in a wheel chair) through our city on our way to worship in a park. We were much more visible today. We were outside the walls of our respective buildings. That made us quite visible. But we were also together. This also made us much more visible. Racially and denominationally, Sunday morning is said to be the most segregated hour in America. Not for our four congregations today. We were seen together. And we were enjoying being together.
Once at the park we were much more visible. Our worship was done out in the open, in the round around a park pavilion. Children were running around. Some people arrived early and some late (as usual). Our music was much more visible thanks to a trombone ensemble, a vocal ensemble and everyone singing together. We sang in Spanish, we sang in English, and we said the Lord’s Prayer in many different languages all at the same time. What a glorious Pentecost sound! And what a visible Church! Neighbors near the park, cars driving by, walkers and joggers, people coming to the park for recreation—all saw the Church. There was no traditional sign posting this was the Church. The sign was in our being together. The sign was in our uniting around our one faith in Christ sealed by the one Holy Spirit given to us for life together. The true Church, the one that belongs to Christ and knows no geographic, structurally, or denominational boundaries was gathered and very visible. It was a glorious sight! It was a glorious sound! The tongues of fire were not over our heads. The tongues of fire were in our hearts and the result was that we all heard the good news in “our own language”—the language of our hearts. Today the Church was much more visible.

Of course where there is fellowship of the Spirit there is always food! We shared a birthday cake for the Church of Christ and the Spirit that makes it alive. And there was coffee. Always there is coffee. Worship, cake, coffee—together they made a celebration visible for the community. Today the Church was much more visible. I pray that the Spirit of God who gives us life, and that same Spirit that gathered us in the park today, will send us out into the world with the Spirit’s fire in our hearts so that the Church will be much more visible wherever we go!