Breaking Bread Together

Jeremiah 23: 1-6
Mark 6: 30-34, 53-56

Today is our Communion Sunday. This is the day we take the bread and wine and we remember the sacrifices of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the day we stop for just a moment in our worship to appreciate the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, filling us with warmth and love and acceptance, as we come to Christ’s table.

The scriptures in Mark show us how important it is for the disciples to take a moment to break bread with one another and how, even back before technology, there wasn’t always time to do so. When we read the words, “For many were coming and going, and they had no time even to eat” it sounds so much like what we go through daily.

We are too busy to pause for a real lunch, and so we munch on vending machine food while working at our desks. Our teens and children grab a pop-tart for breakfast as they walk out the door instead of sitting down at the table for a meal. Parents and children drive through the fast food restaurant on their way to soccer and dance practice. Those of us that commute sip on double lattes to get us through the day and we snack on unhealthy things while in the office before coming home with takeout for the night. Even our babies and toddlers graze on cereal pieces and other portable foods while we hurriedly shop at night after work.

We are a people that are besieged by activities and responsibilities that reshape even the most basic functions of life like our eating habits. Our busyness prevents us from gathering for family meals, and we may even forget that we like stopping for a moment to sit around the table with our loved ones. We forget the pleasure of sharing parts of our day with each other and as we forget these things, we do not realize what we lose with our busy schedules.

What would happen if we Christians became too busy to break bread together? Why does it matter so much to Jesus and consequently to us, that we take time to have communion? And if it is important for Christians to break bread, doesn’t that mean it is important for our families to do the same?

 When I think about my memories as a child, some of my favorite ones revolve around the dinner table. Those few precious times when my mother was able to be with us as we ate dinner. I can remember a lot of laughter as one of us did something silly that made the whole table laugh. I can remember having serious discussions with our mother about things that happened at school that day. And at church, some of my favorite memories were during the meals the church shared. It was fun eating spaghetti and garlic bread with people I didn’t see every day. I learned a lot in those times and it was wonderful to share something more than worship on Sunday with them.

Taking time out of our schedules to break bread is about more than remembering Jesus’ sacrifice for us. It reminds us that we are a family, one created through common beliefs and goals through Christ. When we commune together we share bits and pieces of our lives and we are better for it. The same thing is true for when we take time to break bread with our family. We need that time, we need that space. It is a holy time, even though most of us would never have imagined it that way.

But now we need to look at the fact that Jesus and his disciples could not get away to break bread together which is often the case for us as well. Jesus saw all of the crowds and he had compassion upon them. This is not the same thing as pity. Compassion literally means to suffer with a person. Jesus saw the people and their needs and he hurt for them and could not in good conscience, let them continue to suffer despite his own needs and desires in that moment. He put aside his own tiredness, hunger and pain to help them.

We, as a church, need to follow Jesus’ example. I know that we get tired of committees and meetings after a long day at work. Most of us have been consistory members and on every other committee at one time or another. We attend church every Sunday, a lot of you send your children and grandchildren to Sunday school too. These are all wonderful, good things to do. But they wear on us and eventually we become tired of doing these things.

Jesus and the disciples got tired too. They didn’t always want to go out and teach and preach to the people. Then, Jesus would see them. He’d see the pain on their wan faces, he’d see the hunger and tiredness they could not hide, and he suffered with them. He could not let them continue to be in pain. The church needs to be a place of healing and comfort. This needs to be a place where people come when they are hurting.

The fact that people do not think to come to church when they suffer is very telling. Shouldn’t the church be considered a place of rest and comfort to those that are lost? If people are finding more help from a book than they are their local church, we have our work cut out for us. Yes, sometimes we get tired and discouraged. Yes, there are going to be days of frustration and anger that more aren’t doing their share.

However, if as a church, we do nothing to help the people that are hurting, then we hurt ourselves too. That is the secret to this passage today. Jesus helped those people despite his own aches and needs because to leave them like they were not only hurt them, it hurt him too. Christians are supposed to love their brothers and sisters. If we truly love the people around us, we cannot blindly walk past them when they are in pain.

Sometimes that will mean putting aside going to the movies for the night or sitting down with a glass of wine after a long day. Yes, we deserve the break. Yes, we are tired and hurting ourselves. But the love we have for our fellow human beings requires sacrifice. If we only help when it is easy or when we have time and energy, then we are not proving anything. It is when we make time for others despite our own hurts that we show our love and compassion just as Jesus has done so many times.

It is then that people will see the church as a source of comfort and healing because there are people within the walls that will help no matter what. Loving others is about sacrifice. Jesus showed us that, and it is what we remember today as we break bread. Jesus died so that we may live, and he asks that we love people enough to help even when we are tired after a long day.

Amen.