2025-10-07
Brooke Strong
Sermon Text...
Stores from Around the Table
Story #1 Why We Gather in Community at the Table
Scripture Acts 2:42-47
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Awe came upon everyone because many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
Reading The Least of These by Rev. John Campbell-Nelson
A powerful story shared by the Rev. John Campbell-Nelson, retired pastor and Global Ministries mission co-worker for more than three decades in West Timor, Indonesia.
Much has changed in Indonesia over the last 25 years, and many people’s lives have improved. But the shift from a traditional to a “modern” way of life is a constant source of social conflict. The hidden constant in this conflict is the role of personal relationships and social status: you are who you know, and who knows you. If you don’t know anybody, you are nobody. That realization has been haunting me lately, in the form of a dead baby.
Her name was Rita Norlina Selan. Her mother died when Rita was a few weeks old. Her father is a farm laborer who had no money. Unable to buy milk, he fed her rice water and sugared tea. Rita starved to death.
This sort of thing happens in the hills of Timor all too often. But in Rita’s case, it happened less than a mile from our house. The milk she needed was sitting on a shelf in our pantry. The car that could have taken her to the hospital (or her mother before her) was parked in our garage. So why didn’t she get the help she needed? Because her father didn’t know us, and we didn’t know him. When asked why he didn’t come to us for help, he said he was malu (translated, that as a combination of shy, ashamed, and afraid). He knew who we were and where we lived, but he did not feel socially important enough to make requests of the “Big White People.”
Rita reminds me that social analyses of the causes of poverty and training on nutrition and public health, while important, are secondary. What is of primary importance is building the kind of community where no one is nobody. That’s the kind of community that Jesus worked to create, and it’s the kind of community we have yet to become.
Story #2 Sharing the Table
Scripture Luke 22:21-34
But see, the one who betrays me is with me, and his hand is on the table. For the Son of Man is going as it has been determined, but woe to that one by whom he is betrayed!’ Then they began to ask one another which one of them it could be who would do this.
A dispute also arose among them as to which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest. But he said to them, ‘The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.
‘You are those who have stood by me in my trials; and I confer on you, just as my Father has conferred on me, a kingdom, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
‘Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.’ And he said to him, ‘Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death!’ Jesus said, ‘I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow this day, until you have denied three times that you know me.’
Reading Table Manners by Ken Frank Susi
This story comes from Ken Frank, a member of the Claremont UCC in Claremont, CA. Ken and his late wife, Betty, first went to Turkey in 1982 to serve at a school founded by missionaries, but operating under secular regulation in a Muslim culture. He shared this story:
I benefit from my dialogues with Muslim friends in Turkey because of the insight I gain into myself, my own culture, and my own Christian tradition. One Muslim friend recently set me thinking about the Last Supper. We were wondering together about the psychology of that event as the last meal of Jesus with his disciples. If you knew that a certain meal with someone special in your life was to be your last one together, what would be in your mind? How would you behave?
We read various things the disciples did and said at this last meal. In the Gospel of John, we see that one person – Judas – walked out. And Peter kept interrupting Jesus, asking Jesus what he was doing and why. In Luke’s account, the disciples spent the meal arguing which one of them was the greatest. And Simon Peter passionately pledged his unwavering loyalty, a promise he promptly broke. According to Mark, each disciple indignantly denied that he would ever betray Jesus.
It seems that there continued to be “issues” between Jesus and his followers, right through their last meal together. Jesus couldn’t trust all of them. He had to lecture them again on humility, even putting it into physical form with foot-washing. And the disciples most likely were still wondering where was this kingdom that Jesus had been preaching about, and what role they would play in the dramatic events that Jesus kept promising would happen.
The disciples continued to remember that Last Supper. In hindsight, they must have been devastated by their behavior at the table. They dealt with it not by blocking it out but by recalling that last meal as a terrifically meaningful moment in their lives -- not because it was pretty but because it was their last and climactic meal, the one that concentrated the story of their lives with Jesus and their struggles to cope with him and each other, with their disappointments and their hopes. It became part of their identity.
I’m grateful to my Muslim friend for opening a door for me to think about these things. May this reflection deepen our celebration of this last meal for each of us.
Story #3 Sharing the Meal
Scripture Mark 14:22-25
While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, "Take; this is my body." Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. He said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."
Reading World Communion Sunday in Congo by Paul Turner
Paul Turner served as a Global Ministries mission co-worker in the Democratic Republic of Congo until 2019. He shared this story about celebrating World Communion Sunday with the Community of Disciples of Christ in 2018.
The Community of Disciples of Christ in the Congo share in communion each first day of the week. For Congolese Disciples, the fellowship and breaking of bread has cultural and spiritual significance. It is foremost an expression of unity in the faith, recalling a shared experience of baptism. Communion also complements the cultural practice of sharing a meal in community, wherein each person is afforded a satisfactory portion.
In most parts of Equator Province, preparation for communion does not involve wine or grape juice because it’s not always available, and it is difficult to store given the climate. A widely available soft drink called Vitalo is commonly used as the emblem for Christ’s blood because of its red color. The emphasis is placed more on the red color resembling blood than a drink originating from grapes, or “the fruit of the vine”, which is not commonly cultivated in Equator Province. Vitalo is not always available in remote areas, so the local churches there must improvise. They sometime use crushed spinach seeds mixed into water to turn it red. A little sugar is then added to sweeten the taste. Bread is used as the emblem for Christ’s body, but also biscuits or sugar cookies are a substitute when bread is unavailable.
CDCC churches celebrate communion with solemn reverence. The church doors are closed and candles are lit. Instruments and drums are silent during communion. The only sounds are raised voices singing familiar communion hymns.
World Communion Sunday is an acknowledgement that the whole of Christianity practices communion in some form or fashion. While the emblems, look of the tables and certain customs may vary around the world, we all come to share in this meal as an important tenet of our faith. World Communion Sunday is an opportunity, and a reminder, to bring what we love about sharing the Lord’s meal to the world, that sense of unity, presence, peace and community. May we always seek to bring these elements to the world in remembrance of Jesus.