The Day of Thanksgiving of the Institution of Holy Communion (CORPUS CHRISTI)

3^rd June 2010: Sung Eucharist (7.00 pm)

Preacher: The Revd Robert Martin

Readings: Genesis 14:18-20, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, John 6:51-58

Last Sunday afternoon some of us from the cathedral attended a marathon of a service. It lasted almost 3 hours and included the consecration of a new cathedral, the enthronement of the diocesan bishop, the installation of a dean, the presentation of numerous gifts, a ‘fullsome’ homily from the bishop, and that’s all before we even got to the Liturgy of the Eucharist itself. But at the end of the service there was another simple ceremony that almost went unnoticed…after communion the new dean went into a small side chapel and placed the Blessed Sacrament, the consecrated bread of the Eucharist, in the Tabernacle. There reserved in the very heart of this new cathedral was the real presence of Christ in his Sacrament. Reserved in a tiny chapel where all can come and simply be with the Lord.

We too, here at St John’s, have the Blessed Sacrament reserved. The sign at the west door tells us its reserved in the Lady Chapel but to be honest its really one of our best kept secrets…If you look carefully you can just about see the light lit next to it, and if you make your way up to the lady chapel you will find the tabernacle/aumbrey on the right hand side….often obscured by an exquisite flower arrangement or sometimes an escaped de-humidifier….not exactly that place of quiet resting in the Lord’s presence that many of us long for. It’s probably heresy to say it from this pulpit but perhaps we could take a lesson from our new sister cathedral in East Kowloon. It often feels like ‘the light is on but no-one’s at home’.

But being ‘at home’ is what tonight’s feast is all about. In scripture a tabernacle is a place where God makes his home among us and in the sacrament that we celebrate and give thanks for tonight Christ truly makes his home among us. Tonight is not a repeat of Maundy Thursday but a celebration of Christ’s presence with us and for us in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

So, we celebrate the truth that in the Eucharist Christ is present with us and that we can be present to Christ, that there is no unbridgeable gulf fixed between our humanity and Christ’s divinity. He himself has bridged the gap and he makes himself, as it were, available to the Christian faithful under the forms of bread and wine. He who said, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live for ever”, himself feeds us with the “true food” that is his flesh and the “true drink” that is his blood. [John 6: 51ff.]

Today we are fully able to experience just how “multi-sensory” our worship can be. We smell the incense and taste the sweet richness of the wine. We hear the music, the prayers, and most importantly the invitation to Communion. We see the colours of the vestments, and the movement of the clergy, and again most importantly, we see the Sacrament lifted high for us to recognise as something so much more than mere bread. We touch our brothers and sisters in the exchange of the peace and we touch the very Body of Christ we take into our hands. And the things we taste in the bread and wine are none other than God’s love, offered to us and full of the power to make us divine lovers. Our multi-sensory worship is a sign of the possibility of multi-sensory God-oriented lives at the very heart of God’s rich and beautiful Creation.

In the Sacrament we are offered no less than the love of God who is, as St. John always reminds us, Love’s very self. It is no less than the love that looked down at us from the Cross, looked down at us at our worst moment and still said, “I love you and offer you my love.” It is the love that overcomes death and finds, in the midst of the greatest tragedy, hope and resurrection life. And we are free to accept or refuse. In fact, this truly radical freedom to respond to the love God offers us is one of the signs that we are created in God’s image, that we share with God in the capacity for real love, freely given.

Love is that fundamental quality of God that can not be forced upon us. We can not be coerced into loving and we know this from our own experiences of human love. So much more then, God can not force us to love him. God can not force us to love each other. God can persuade us. God can and does continually offer us opportunities to respond to the love we are offered and for us to act in love. But for the love of God to be real, for it to operate in us, it must be accepted freely. This is the love - freely and continually offered - that is pulsing in the very Body of Christ, in the bread and in the wine that, being brought forward and placed upon the altar, is transformed by the Eucharistic actions of thanking, remembering offering, and invoking the Holy Spirit into God’s self-giving love present with us, and then made available for us.

It is our decision whether or not to carry in ourselves, make a part of our physical being, and bring into the world the love and very presence of God. And in deciding to come forward, using the freedom God has given us in Creation, we know that the Eucharist is not merely something that we take, something to which we are entitled, but rather that it is a gift we are given.

As we come forward and decide to accept this love, this new life, into our own bodies, we open ourselves to the possibility of being transformed by it and changed into that which we have received: the very Body of Christ alive in the world. In this way we pass along the gift God has given us in the Sacrament to the world through the actions of our transformed lives. This decision and the action of reception are our acts of faith. It is a faith that is not an intellectual ascent to a doctrine or idea, but the true, active response to the love of God offers us. Our faith is something we Catholic Christians do.

Indeed, each time we hear the priest proclaim, ‘Draw near with faith.’ we are presented with an invitation. And with that invitation comes the choice of whether to say “yes” or “no.” It is a real choice, a life-and-death choice that we are completely free to make. Will we choose to unite ourselves with God and with all other Christians? Will we choose to participate in what God is doing in the world? To participate in the loving activity of a God who is in the process of reconciling all things to himself? Or will we turn away from all this and say that we do not want to share in a life at the very heart of God? Or, will we follow a third path, and simply just wander up to the rail and stick out our hands without considering the awesomeness of our participation in the Eucharist? For to receive the sacrament, is an awesome responsibility, it is to receive Christ himself.

In my home parish in London there will be a procession tonight. The central aisle of the church will be carpeted with flowers, little girls and boys will scatter rose petals, the Salvation Army band will play ‘Sweet Sacrament Divine’ and the Blessed Sacrament will be carried solemnly in procession, not just through the church, but out into the streets of the parish. The Real Presence of Christ proclaimed on the streets of London. There will be a parish party afterwards and fireworks to celebrate the feast. Some of you may say its just a bit of a ‘high church’ extravaganza? Well, yes of course it is….. but it is also, and this is the important bit….a powerful witness to the presence of Christ in our midst….in the Sacrament and in his people who are also the Body of Christ.

It’s a profound disappointment for some of us that we don’t proclaim Christ’s sacramental presence in the same way here at St John’s. We certainly have the setting and the music, if not the will to do it. But regardless of whether or not we walk around the church carrying the Host in a monstrance, each one of us IS most definitely called to carry the presence of Christ out into the world, into Hong Kong. As we receive the Body of Christ, and indeed become the Body of Christ, in this Eucharist we ourselves are called to be ’outward and visible signs’ of Christ’s loving presence. Each one of us is, in fact, a Blessed Sacrament Procession!

So today, when we hear that invitation to Communion, let us all act like this is a true life-and-death decision. Let us act consciously to come to the love God offers us and take it into ourselves. Then, as we prepare to leave this church tonight let us be filled with the knowledge and an awareness that we are bringing God’s love into the World, showing it to a World that may not know it needs it, and showing that this love is there just by accepting it. And finally, when we leave tonight let act as if we have been transformed by God into bearers of love, reconciliation, and hope. Tonight and tomorrow and for as long as we can, let us act as if God were truly dwelling in us and that we are united with all those who have received the Sacrament into one family, one Church, capable of giving ourselves up to God’s unfailing purpose of ever expanding love.

Amen.