Trinity
Sunday
Prayer
Matt. 28:16-20 and Philippians 3:17
- 4:1
1st Movement:
People can disappoint us and do things that are really hurtful
for the Church. When I was a teenager,
our church got to bulging at the seems.
Our Pastor decided what he thought we needed to do (what God had told
him that we needed to do!) and began to preach that every Sunday in one form or
another. He had decided that we needed
to step out on faith and buy new property and build across town, selling our
present facility for whatever we could get for it. Those who did not agree with him and jump on
the wagon were just not right! They did
not have enough faith! Those who had
spent their lives working to acquire the facility that we had were hanging on
to material things if they were not just ready to take their losses and move
on! Those who were counting the cost
were not trusting the Lord enough! Well,
he was successful at convincing a little less than half of the congregation
that he was right but not enough to do it and keep us together, so he took
those who agreed with him and they split off to start a new church. It matters
so much for all of us the stand we take and how we take it. Do we have all the answers? Is there room for discussion? As a preacher, I realize the damage I can do
if I make all the decisions for people like nobody else can think for
themselves or hear from God. I realize
how divisive it can be if I preach everything that I believe or everything I
think is sin like there was no other way of looking at it and everybody that
didn't agree with me was dead wrong!
There are so many positive things to preach about! God can change us! The Holy Spirit can lead us to be better than
we've ever been before! God can help us
to be united in God's Spirit! I just
need to keep pointing to the one who offers change and a new life! Here is the Trinity: God, Holy Spirit, and
the one who offers change and a new life, Jesus! I just need to keep holding up the vision of
what God can do with us and through us and let the Lord do the rest! We just need to keep going into the world
with the gospel and baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit!
2nd Movement:
In our Philippians scripture, Paul had a problem here. He had people among those who he had preached
the word to who were trying to undermine what he had to say. Division isn’t
new! Some were saying that he wasn't really an apostle so his message wasn't
really credible. Others were saying that
gentile believers needed to be circumcised!
He is calling them here, "enemies of the cross." They were trying to undo the good that he had
done and he was heartbroken about it. If
we aren't careful, any of us can be enemies of the cross. When we get the idea that we are right on
something and we don't want to let the other disagree, we need to ask ourselves
why. Is it out of love and we don't want
them to be hurt, or do we just not want to be wrong? Is it really one of the essentials that we
are talking about? The Church has always had problems with disagreements. In our scripture from Philippians, Paul lifts
up Christ as that that binds us together.
As the Early Church worked to establish their theology around Christ,
God, and the Holy Spirit, they developed the theology of the Trinity which says
they are all God, but are different ways that we experience God. Jesus tells us
in Matthew to baptize in the name of the Father, the son, and the Holy
Spirit. Here Jesus gives us a basis for
the theology around the Trinity.
3rd movement:
As we think about this, I like the United Methodist Church
because we are not told exactly what to believe; we are free to study the Bible
and come to our own conclusions as long as we believe the essentials. The
theology around God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are some of those essential
Christian beliefs. Beyond that, as United Methodists, we are given much more
freedom within Christians circles to search out our own salvation with fear and
trembling. Some are told exactly what
mode of baptism they must use. Some pastors
would have their credentials removed if they had an “unauthorized” person help
them with communion. Some would be
thrown out if they didn't believe certain things about the end times. Some are bound to certain beliefs about
tongues. Some are bound to some extent
to taking and offering communion a certain way. Some are told what they can and
can’t watch on TV. Some are told how to
vote! We are free to search out in the
Bible and the Churches tradition to see what beliefs we feel the Lord would
have us to have on these things. We can
be united and not all believe the same things on everything!
Communion is a good example of the uniting of the Church through
the Trinity, so let’s look at communion for a moment. We believe that the important things are that
we offer Christ's table to everyone and that we encounter Christ at the table
and are changed as a result of that encounter.
The debates around communion involve: should we use leavened bread or
unleavened bread? Should we use wine,
grape juice or something else? Should we
use one cup or separate cups? Do we
actually encounter Christ in Spirit, does the juice and bread actually become
the body and blood of Christ once ingested, or is it just a symbolic act? Some would even argue that communion isn’t
for everyone but just for Christians or even for some, just church members!
Some want to say that one method is more biblical than the
others. I am glad as United Methodist
that we don't have to get into that argument and that we are free to use
whatever method best helps us to capture that first Lord's Supper and encounter
the Lord in the reinactment of it. We do
believe in the Spiritual encounter with Christ at the table. According to the scriptures and tradition, on
that first Lord's Supper, they used one cup of wine (he took "the"
cup) and unleavened bread, passing it around the table. Some traditions still use real wine with all
sipping from the same cup and unleavened bread.
That is probably the closest to the biblical way. Although, it is not real clear as to whether
they all sipped or dipped. John speaks
of dipping the bread at that meal, but he really doesn't recap the communion
event. During the Prohabition, some
traditions decided, ours included, that using real wine was an unnecessary
temptation for those who were or were prone to alcoholism, so they decided to
start using grape juice. Since grape
juice does not kill germs, this opened up all kinds of issues. Thus, many traditions started using seperate
cups. Some use one cup, which keeps the
symbolism of the one cup which Christ used, and dipped the bread in the cup
(intinction). Christ used unleavened
bread because that was the common bread at the table, so today many traditions
hold to the "biblical" mode of using unleavened bread. Others say that the common bread today is
leavened bread and use leavened bread.
Getting caught up in the debate about which method is more
"biblical" is really getting away from the real purpose of communion.
United Methodists use most of these methods; the method is not the important
issue. It is hard for me to understand why anyone would get caught up in that
argument besides those who believe you should use one cup of wine and
unleavened bread, but they do!
In the service of communion, we can see the Trinity. We can see
the different actions of the 3 parts of the Trinity: God, Son, and Holy
Spirit. God is seen in the prayer,
Mercyful God …. God is seen in the Pardon, that proves God’s love toward
us! God is the one who loved us and made
a way through Jesus Christ, and there is Christ the son! In the Invitation, Christ invites to His
table. In the prayer, we are freed and forgiven through Christ our Lord. It is
Christ who showed us the love of God. It
is Christ who showed us how to live, and it is Christ who went to the Cross to
make a way for us! We see the Spirit in
the consecration prayer: pour out your Spirit on us gathered here and by your
Spirit make us one with Christ! It is
the Spirit who dwells with us and guides us in our everyday lives. As United
Methodist, we are united in the Trinity at the table. Our methods we offer communion can differ,
but the main thing is that we encounter Christ at the table, and Christ changes
us!
As
we come to the table, we believe that we encounter the real presence of Christ
at the table. The elements do not become
Christ, but as we take of them, spiritually, we can be taking of Christ into
our lives spiritually. The one cup
(whether it is actually one cup or several cups with the same thing in them)
points to the unity that we can have in Christ as we all encounter Christ at
the table and let Christ change us. As
we encounter God, Christ, and the Spirit, our differences become less important
and our focus on Christ becomes that that binds us as a Church. As Christ binds
us and our relationship with Christ becomes the main thing, our divisions and
disagreements around the non-essentials don’t seem so important! Because we believe this is an encounter with
Christ, we offer communion as our invitation to come to Christ! Thanks be to
God!
Prayer of
Confession
Service of
Communion
