Okay, we all fall in ‘ruts,’ so to speak, and This Guy deserves as much condemnation as the rest.
I find myself in a sort of ‘theological rut’. Kind of like Walter in “The Big Lebowski,” everything always seems to circle back ’round to one particular area of theology, specifically, one idea.
The record I think stands easily which judges this one of the most well-trod ones in the history of our dear tradition. I think I’m safe in asserting that the amount of traffic it has gotten proves its relevance to the core of the Christian message.
Theologians, historians, and everyone else important refer to this concept as dualism.
A Greek idea originally, it holds esoteric, “spiritual” stuff as better than (if not wholly superior, in every sense of the word, to) fleshly, this world stuff. Some forms of it actually hold the universe (including, but not limited to, God, Satan, and all aspects of creation) to be at war with itself, the “spiritual” stuff vs. the “fleshly” stuff.
Pop quiz: Don’t think, just answer. Choose any two.
Which honors God more, praying alongside the latest Chris Tomlin hits or loving your spouse well?
Which would God prefer you cultivate, your prayer endurance or whether you work as though unto Him?
Which does God like more, those Chris Tomlin hits or Beethoven’s 5th?
Remember, don’t think, just answer. I’m wanting honest answers here, not the “right” ones. Besides, I’m not waiting around on you. Feel free to email your results.
So this morning during Communion, for the first time ever, as best I can recall, it really did hit me as I was eating the cracker that something truly profound, truly otherworldly happens during that sacred meal.
I know of no way I can get you there to that pew from earlier in the day, but the power of Communion, throughout the history of Christianity, has manifested in one particularly powerful way:
It reminds us that God is not ashamed of these bodies of flesh and this dirty, unclean, unpretty physical world made up of stuff that doesn’t always behave itself.
See, Christianity has stumbled time and time again in its history, guided by some charismatic leader who whipped some group into a frenzy over how deeply, fundamentally ashamed they ought to be at their weaknesses (like needing to go to sleep), their temptations (like being attracted to the opposite sex), and their attractions (like enjoying beautiful art).
Communion reminds us of the God unashamed of what His creation says about Him.
Communion reminds us of the Incarnation (as well as Christ’s Passion).
Communion reminds us of the God so real to us we can taste Him.
For all of our weaknesses, failures, nastiness, unfaithfulness and outright defeats… God is right there with us.
Whom, or What, have we been admonished to remember when we come to that table?
Jesus.
“God with us”.
Maybe that’s what that cracker tasted like this morning… God with us.
I should get some more of that.
What everyone’s saying