A Sermon Preached by: The Rev. E. Scott Winnette
Our Common Cup
Psalm 23 & Acts 2:42-47
February 1, 2009
“My cup runneth over.” Beautiful language. “My cup runneth over.” Beautiful imagery. When I hear the prayer of Psalm 23 I imagine that overflowing cup - that over-brimming cup of abundance, and our loving God handing it to us on our driest and darkest days. We are given water and wine. We are given life in a cup over-filled, sloshing out God’s Grace, Joy, Peace and Love. Do you remember Susan Andrews sharing her warm, childhood dream of curling up in Sunday morning’s offering plate as it was carried down the aisles of worship? As a little girl she knew that she belonged in church. Well, similarly, I can imagine us, as church, the children of Christ, belonging together, bathing and swimming, floating and playing in the common cup, God’s dream of perfect community.
When we partake in the sacraments we are immersed into the dynamic grace-filled community of God. The mysterious power of baptism and communion binds us together. The sacraments prove our interdependence. We Presbyterians do not provide private family baptisms, we don’t lightly offer individual Eucharist. The sacraments are not rituals of independence. They are the signs of our Christian community. They are the signs of God’s gift of belonging. Through them we realized that we are bound together by God. The sacraments are seals signifying our being and becoming the good Promised Community of Christ.
Have you seen sun-basking turtles? I grew up watching them crawl out of the water of Murfreesboro’s Stones River unto rocks and branches. The turtles climb out of the nurturing and protective water looking for a whole lot of sunlight, and maybe a bit of quiet. They don’t climb far. They stay close to the water. When we were in Louisiana last year to help with hurricane clean-up, we took a break and went on a boat down the bayous looking for alligators. We saw many alligators; it was great! And we saw many more quiet turtles basking on the fallen tree branches. When the boat cruised close to them, they spritely slid down into the waters to safety.
Bear with me for a moment. I am going to try a new metaphor. We are the turtles. The protective waters represent God’s idyllic promise of grace-filled community. The dry branches represent the good and bad pathways of our individuality -- good paths that help us grow as healthy persons, and the bad paths that guide us into self-absorbed or society-driven isolation. We turtles are born amphibious with life in the common waters and life solitary out on the branches. We are born to live in both worlds. But too often we turtles get enamored with ourselves and how it feels to be free from the common waters and we climb farther and farther away. We may start our private journeys seeking some quiet, needing some personal sunlight, or wanting a good private treasure.
But unlike natural turtles, we can climb up those branches into the trees and we can forget the comfort of the waters. We can forget the beauty of togetherness as we pursue our independence. We can forget the dynamic life within the common water as we seek our personal fortunes. We go too far living dry, solitary lives.
The pools, streams, and seas of living water remain constant. The community born in God is always available. For our relational God maintains the grace-filled living waters. And when we are touched by a drop of that holy water in baptism, and when we taste the water in our communion – the Spirit of God lures us back to the communal seas. The moisture reminds us and joyfully shocks us into remembering who we really are. We are holy selves born to live in holy community. Joyfully, we turtles quickly slide and leap back into the protective pools, the joy of God’s community.
After Jesus was killed the disciples wandered back to a familiar, dark, dry valley. While Jesus was alive he had shown them how God intends for us to live together. They saw in him a new respect for every person. They saw a courage that fought against injustice and separation. They experienced a great new belonging – they belonged to God -- PRAISE GOD WE BELONG TO GOD, and they belonged to each other – PRAISE GOD WE ARE NOT ALONE. The disciples saw Jesus perform miracles of togetherness -- water turned to wine and strangers turned into family. But after he was entombed, they wandered farther and farther away from God and each other living again into isolating fear.
Then Jesus came to them resurrected and full of life. He broke bread with them and witnessed to the eternity of life together. He told them to wait for a baptism of the Holy Spirit. So what did they do? They gathered together and lived with each other in prayer. Then the miracle of Pentecost occurred and they tasted and were touched by life again and they were filled with the power of God’s communal grace.
Re-centered in Christ’s community, they welcomed the world home and many believed. Today’s text from Acts shares that 3000 strangers were drawn back to the common cup, back to God’s family. We are given a picture of that idyllic community. The 3000 came down from the pursuits of their personal fortunes and from the marginalization of society’s prejudices and they shared everything. The pain of one became the pain of all. The problems of one became the problems of all. The resources of one became the resources of all. The JOY and PRAISE of one became the celebrations of all. Strangers were turned into family.
How did this happen? We are given the formula. The fresh Church members were baptized and through the touch of holy water, God called them home.
And then they learned together. They listened to the Apostles share the stories of Jesus. The fellowshipped together, the Greek word is koinonia which means communion and sharing. This fellowship is more than coffee together. It was their recognition of deep belonging. They broke bread together.
This is both the Lord’s Supper and many good potluck meals. They prayed together; living together into what it means to belong to God. And the last step of the formula of community was service to each other. They ensured that each of them was beloved. They shared the stuff of their lives.
The same formula is ours. We know it still works. When we taste the water in Christ’s blood we are lured to God’s blessed community. When we are touched by the water of baptism we are pulled back to the living water of community. We come together to hear the stories of Jesus, to learn his parables, and to share our faith in his miracles. We fellowship together. We get to know, love and belong with each other. We break bread together today at the Lord ’s Table. And in two weeks, make sure to attend our Congregational BBQ on the 15th. We pray our prayers of intercession and praise together. Then we care for each other. I have been with you for awhile now, and I have seen you take care of each other in amazing ways. We turtles are called to the waters, we are reminded of the beauty of community. In Christ we strangers are turned into family. We share our lives. Your pain is our pain. Your problems are our problems.
And when we are at our best - your gifts, talents, time, and resources are to be freely shared, ours together. And finally, your JOY and PRAISE is our worship together.
As our world climbs higher and higher into economic fear, as many of us lose our jobs and personal security, we will be tempted to wander farther away from each other in hardship, suffering, embarrassment and shame.
Our God forbids it. We must taste the water and realize that we are bound to care for each other. We will joyfully share; we will make space for you in our homes; we will be sisters and brothers.
Many years ago when I was a missionary to England, I took a week’s vacation and I traveled to the Isle of Iona off the coast of Scotland. It is one of those holy, thin places where God overflows. An old ruined abbey was rebuilt by a group of Protestants and they built a new communion of faith. I went to be with them for a couple of days. On my first day, I met the five or so who lived in the abbey. They were buzzing with excitement for a lunar eclipse was to occur that evening. I spent most of the day wandering the island’s green hills. That evening I stood with the warm strangers watching for the eclipse as cold island rains fell upon us. We really couldn’t see the eclipse because of the clouds, but it was a fun and rich time anyway. Well, the next morning I woke up sick as a dog.
One of them came looking for me for breakfast. She urged me to come down and rest before the fire place. She kept the fire roaring all day. Another was in the kitchen preparing food and he brought me fresh chicken soup for lunch. Another wandered by all day with hot tea.
That evening blessed by all the loving care of strangers, I felt better and I joined them at the dinner table. Before we ate, we prayed, and then we read scripture, we broke fresh bread together and I saw Christ’s church. The beloved brothers and sisters had shared all they had with me inviting me to belong with them before God. This morning we are invited to taste the common cup and again slide into the water of God’s presence, that dynamic community where God belongs, and where we belong together.
May it be so for you and for me. Amen.
