Eucharist
Come to the table
On September 9, when many of our members return from Labor Day vacations or summer travels, the gospel text from Mark and the sacrament of communion might be a powerful combination to welcome folks back to the gospel-centered community.
Whether she knows it or not, the Syrophoenician woman’s reference to the table is a persuasive image for her audience. The table stands at the center of Jesus’ ministry.
Eating in ignorance
Reconciliation requires relocation. To see the effects of our food choices, we have to get close to the land.
Unsettled issues: The Protestant-Catholic impasse
The broken communion evident at any eucharistic service is an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible state of affairs.
The morning communion rush
When John Wesley sent missionaries to America, he said
simply, "Offer them Christ." That's what the Chicago Temple sees itself doing,
no questions asked.
Table manners: Unexpected grace at communion
In Bosnia, I was reminded that the God who shows up at communion is a God who brazenly seeks us out of the crowd.
An insistent invitation: John 6:51-58
Which would you rather do, contemplate belief or consume the flesh and blood of Jesus?
Broken and shared: Worship: Act four
All the elements of worship have led us here, to the Eucharist, or communion table. Now a reshaping of human society begins. Just as the bread and wine are offered, transformed and received, the congregation—and through it the whole creation—is offered, transformed and received by God.
Cemetery picnic: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
Chang Lee survived two brutal wars in his mother country, Korea. He lived through the dangers posed by Japanese bombs, Chinese howitzers, North Korean minefields and American carbines. But he did not survive an encounter with a mugger in the hallway of his own apartment in the U.S. He was brutally stabbed, and died at the age of 80. Chang Lee’s family were members of the parish I served in Queens.