Maundy Thursday

Fifth Grade 1st Communion

FROM MEMENTOS INTO MIRACLES
Boys and girls are collectors, aren't you? Favorite cars and trucks, seashells, books, souvenirs from Disney World and the Timberwolves, trophies, stuffed animals, bells, baseball cards, and maybe a few old dusty Beanie Babies... whatever!

Grownups are collectors, too. I used to have a stamp album when I was in 5th grade (pretty boring) but now I collect dolls... I have two of them so far... Here! Martin Luther and his wife Katie [1] - whaddya think of my collection, eh??!?

Well some of the things we collect are silly, aren't they, and we're not really serious about them, but other things we have are important to us. Special enough that we'd really try to save those things if our house were on fire. Often these things aren't what you'd call a whole collection because they are one-of-a-kind, a souvenir connected to a memory of someone or some experience.

A little crocheted cross given to you by an old woman you once sat beside on a trip. The candle your dad held when you were baptized, and the tiny towel the pastor used and then tucked into your blanket while your mom was holding you. The little Communion glass you take with you as you leave tonight. Not a collection but the sign of something personal, something holy, connecting you to someone special, certainly bringing you to the heart of God in Jesus Christ.

To the eyes of faith it's NOT just bread and wine, because whenever we eat and drink this - just as Jesus said... 's true isn't it? - in this Meal at this Table we "Do this in remembrance..." Remembrance - something holy happens. Jesus happens. WE happen with Jesus. Somehow Jesus is here and we are here with him. It will taste like bread and wine, look and smell like bread and wine, and we don't often shiver or tremble or see visions or feel different in our Communion. And for that reason many people, especially grownups, tend to be skeptical and they claim nothing's going on here, that it's just an empty ceremony.

But when you were in finals of dance competition or you opened your birthday present and got the new Ipod that you always wanted, was that just an empty ceremony? When you went to your grandpa just before he died and the two of you talked for the last time, was nothing going on? The Jews who gather at their Seder Meal in their homes tonight, twelve disciples with Jesus for the last time, is that "Yawn! No big deal! Some ol' same ol'?"

Just because you don't always feel it here in church, or just because it doesn't look like much, that doesn't mean there's nothing to it. God doesn't depend on how we feel. God doesn't need us to agree with him in order for God to make good things happen. God doesn't have to wait until we're paying attention before he loves us.

God plants faith within us, then uses this bread and wine to make that faith grow. God - in other words - doesn't depend on us. God depends on God, and God is utterly reliable. Jesus, knowing what would happen to him, stared death in the face and didn't chicken out even when he was nailed to the cross. Jesus, knowing what would happen - and knowing what his friends would do when it happened - gave them this Supper to know about forgiveness, forgiven even though they ran away, denied and disbelieved him. Jesus, alone on the cross, feeling forsaken even by God - then three days later raised to life and coming back to his disciples, telling them to practice resurrection.

And so we do, each time we eat this bread and drink this cup; we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Do you hear the contradiction in that little creed? "We proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." How can two different things be true at the same time? How can God be so reliable? How can this memento make us part of that?

We don't have to have the answers to all our questions before we step up here. We have God's promises made real in Jesus Christ. Last Sunday evening at our Seder Meal I asked you to say "Amen" out loud when you receive this bread from us and when you take the cup. "Amen" which means... what? It means... "Yes!!"

I have something else for you tonight about that word Amen. A collection - yes, back to that, because when Christ calls us to his Table, he calls us to be part of a collection called disciples, a collection called the Christian church, where God's one-of-a-kind promise takes shape. That's one reason why our families are so important tonight and why this First Communion happens in the Family of the Church. God, too, likes collecting, and he's collecting us around this Family Table.

Now, do you remember what your sentence will be when Pr Kristie asks those questions in just a few minutes? "I do and I ask God to help and guide me." That's another way to say Amen. Amen is the short cut for the longer words. "Amen." "I do and I ask God to help and guide me." And that's what this collection of people say when they clap for you as we welcome you. They say WE, too, help and guide you.

Amen - you believe it... God helps and guides you... (and so do we)... and you practice resurrection with these signs of bread and wine. Amen. That's more than a simple souvenir, more than a meal. That's a miracle.

Nate Castens
Chanhassen, Minnesota

[1] These were my bobble-head dolls from Old Lutheran.com