Fear can make us "not okay." The antidotes to fear are self-care (and being cared for), courage, and faith. A sermon by Rev. Jeffrey Spencer presented on January 9, 2022.
Scriptures: 1 Kings 19:1-9
Series: I Am Not Okay

INVITATION (Joy)

As we prepare to celebrate communion, please gather something to eat and something to drink. If you're online, I encourage you to switch to gallery view so you can see one another. And when we get to the words of institution, I invite you to raise your bread and cup as Brenda raises her bread and cup. To minimize an amount of time the people gathered in the sanctuary spend with their masks off, please wait until both bread and cup have been blessed before eating and drinking. Today, we come to the table as one community gathering once more in a shared hybrid space. Some in-person, some online, yet all of us share one sacred space not constrained by geography or by walls. We bring our whole selves to this table, God's table. We bring our emptiness, our loneliness, aloneness and our longing for belonging. We bring our griefs, our gratitude, our tears, our fears. Our doubts come to a table with a global guest list. All are welcome at this table. And no matter where you are on your life's journey, you are welcome here, now, just as you are. Let us lift up our hearts, minds and bodies in prayer.

PRAYER (Joy)

Holy stillness, breath and source of our lives, we feel the power of your presence with us in this sacred space. Responding to your extravagant welcome, your call to experience fully the joys and the woes of our daily lives. We acknowledge that it's OK to not be OK. Help us remember that even in the darkest times, help us remember that you are always with us, especially when we feel most isolated, lonely and alone. Help us to be angels for others and to recognize those angels that you sent our way, when we are most in need. Divine comforter, abide with us, fill us with gratitude for your presence with us. For this life you have given to each of us. Bless the peace of our common cup and the pieces of our broken breath. Holy one, bless the food we've prepared for this shared table. Food for our individual journey and for our journey together in this community that our bodies are fed and our spirits nourished by the sense of belonging, which is the most vital of foods. Amen.

WORDS OF INSTITUTION (Brenda)

Friends, as we gather around Christ's table here, I can't help but think of the circumstances that Jesus faced. We remember around this table every time Jesus fed the crowds, whether it was in his ministry, in the resurrection and especially on that last night when he was betrayed. And in those circumstances facing betrayal, arrest and execution. Jesus took the bread from the table and he blessed it, giving thanks to God. And I'm not sure that that whole part about giving thanks in the midst of those circumstances really echoed in me until today. So he took bread. He gave thanks to God, blessing that bread, and he broke it. And he gave it to them, inviting them to eat and to become the body of Christ. Take and eat. And in a similar manner at that meal, he took a cup from the table. That may have been the Elijah cup, the cup set aside for Elijah coming to announce the presence of the Messiah. Maybe he was inviting the disciples to be like Elijah and to announce the presence of the Messiah, and he gave thanks to God blessing that cup. And he shared with them, inviting them to drink. And to allow his life force to flow through them. Take and drink. Our Advent story tells us that the Christ child whose birth we anticipate will one day sit at tables with strangers and friends, building relationships filled with love and grace. We see this, as Jesus fed the multitude, turned water into wine, and ate with the dear ones in that upper room the night before his death. It was there that Jesus took the bread, blessed it and broke it. Remembering him through this broken bread, our eyes are open. Christ is with us. Take and eat. He then took a cut and blessed it. And in his blessing, he reminded them that when they sip from the fruit of the vine to drink in remembrance of him through this cup of blessing, our hearts are warmed. Christ is changing us. Take and drink. On the night that he was arrested in the shadow of execution and death, Jesus sat at a table with those that he loved. In the midst of their fear and anxiety, He offered them a different vision for their lives and offered a ritual for healing and wholeness. He took the bread and he blessed it. When he broke it, and he gave it to them, and he said, "this is my life, broken open and shared with you. Each time you eat this ordinary bread, remember the extraordinary transformative power of lives when they are broken open for justice and love." And then He took the cup, traditionally reserved for Elijah, the holy one to come. But instead of waiting, he said, "this is the cup of blessing. Each time you drink of this cup, you participate in the promise of new life, of liberation, of the yes to communion with God." Ministering to you in Christ's name, we offer the bread and the cup, take, eat and drink.

PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING (Brenda)

Great and Glorious God, we give you thanks that you have begun to reign! We thank you for this feast of love, which is a foretaste of the day when all the faithful shall gather with you. Give us courage to accept the costs and joys of discipleship. Give us strength in the struggle for justice and peace that your ways of justice and truth may triumph on this earth. Amen.