Breaking bread in their homes....a reflection on the readings for the 4th Sunday in Easter

A number of years ago I was struggling with some health issues that I thought were heart related. I would have this intense sensation of pressure on my heart and pain in my back and arm. My mother had heart issues and died of a massive heart attack when she was only 65. So my concern was founded in my family history. I saw my doctor and she determined that it was digestive issues and diagnosed me with acid reflux. I took medication for it, but eventually I found some dietary changes that I could make and I weaned myself off of the meds and have controlled the acid reflux well with diet. One of the dietary changes I made was to reduce my gluten intake. I am not gluten intolerant, but too much gluten in the over processed foods that are the staple of American diets causes acid reflux in me. However, well made sourdough breads create a different kind of gluten that does not bother me. So now I mostly eat sourdough bread. 

Sourdough bread has been difficult to find in these Covid times. And like many people I decided to make my own sourdough bread. But first I had to learn about it and make my own starter. I mixed flour and water and let it sit at room temperature. I added more flour and water daily and watched as this concoction soured, formed bubbles, and became yeasty. Finally I made a loaf of bread. 

But the bread was tense and tough and it did not brown well. It was pale and smooth. It tasted fine, but the texture was off. In fact it was so bad I threw it out.  Anyway, I have more starter in the fridge but it will be awhile before I start it up and try again. 

In our reading today from the Acts of the Apostles we hear more about the formation of the early church by the followers of the resurrected Jesus. Acts gives us our most comprehensive history of what happened in the days and years after the resurrection and how this movement expanded from a small band of Jewish people to include people from many different backgrounds across the entire Roman Empire and beyond. 

I am particularly drawn to the line in today’s reading about the disciples spending time in the temple and then breaking bread at home. I’m also thinking about all the discussions taking place on Facebook and other social media forums about Holy Communion and how difficult it is to not break bread in church and receive communion. One person even wrote that the church’s directive to not offer communion is like the church hoarding the sacrament. She thinks the church needs to expand and change and grow in its theology to allow for virtually consecrated bread and wine. 

I am always one to enter into new ways of considering how we practice our faith and the theological implications of it -  how is God being revealed to us in this time and place?

While I appreciated the questions and the call for theological dialogue around virtual communion, I do not think that the directive from the Presiding Bishop and our own Bishop to not offer virtual communion means that the church  is “hoarding” communion. No one is taking in the bread and the wine and keeping it for her or himself. 

In fact, as is our practice, we eliminated all reserved wafers on Maundy Thursday. Typically at the Great Vigil of Easter I consecrate new bread and wine, and some of it goes back into the ambry and the candle is lit.  

But we did not consecrate bread and wine at the Great Vigil. And, to this day the ambry in the chapel stands bare. No reserved sacrament. No candle burning.

One can’t hoard what one does not have. 

Instead we are being invited to consider what it means to create a kind of temple space in our homes and to create a kind of sacred time in our meals, and to invite Jesus to join us in those ordinary moments of daily life. 

This is very much like it was in the days of the early church. Not long after the story of Acts the temple was destroyed in the Roman-Jewish war. People scattered all over. The Jewish people who were followers of the rabbi Jesus, eventually became known as Christians.  Christians developed practices that distinguished them from their Jewish heritage, connecting the blessing of bread and wine at a meal to Jesus instead of to Moses and the exodus. Blessing and sharing this sacred meal is one of two rituals that the Episcopal Church has set aside as sacraments. 

A sacrament means that this ritual reveals to us in an outward manner something spiritual that happens inside - it is the outward sign of an interior grace. In a sacrament God does something, uses the outward elements to change something inside of us through grace. In Baptism, God uses water. In Holy Communion, God uses bread and wine. 

I believe that there is something distinctive in God entering these elements of water, bread, and wine, when they are prayed over by a group of people in communion with one another, in the same room at the same time. I also believe that God will show up in ordinary ways in our ordinary homes and our ordinary meals, in the bread and the wine that we have at home.

And, while both are true, they are not the same thing. 

So maybe it’s a bit like using yeast to make bread and creating yeast by fermenting flour and water. They are not the same. The bread is not the same. Both are good, but not the same. 

We know that we are going to ease back into in-person worship very slowly. It will be a long time before we sing in church, have communion in church, or have coffee hour. And even then, there will be precautions. We will never be the same. Virtual worship will be with us for a long long time. And that really is a good thing, I think. How we reconcile Holy Communion in this new era can should lead to some interesting dialogue and reflection. 

I am not sure where I stand on virtual communion. Some days I think that virtual communion is fine, God and the Holy Spirit can go where they please and can surely move through space and sound in virtually every possible way. Other days I think there is something profound about making a sacrament in the real presence of one another, all in the same room. 

But if there is one thing our readings this morning assure us of: God will lead the church as God did with the disciples, as God is doing in the reading from John where we are reminded that Jesus is the gatekeeper, the shepherd, the one who invites people in and sends people out, and Jesus, as we know, will do that in every way possible to include every possible way and every person. Virtual communion just might be the next way that Jesus is opening the gate and inviting everyone in and sending everyone out. Just like Jesus did with Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, so Jesus may also do now with virtual communion. Or not. Maybe there is and will be something more important in the idea of people gathered together in person in one room all praying together and making communion. 

For now, until there is some new understanding or renewed understanding,  let’s give thanks that God shows up whenever and however God shows up. Let’s give thanks for opportunities to gather in this virtual reality. Let’s give thanks for community. And remember that loving one another as God loves includes keeping everyone safe. 

Readings 4th Sunday in Easter