i

*

} ¥ 4 ih UNLIXY BAIN JOLT 4. weanesgaay » at 4 Tt, LoD

We are here thie evening to prepare ourselves for the cédebration

$s manner is ian old, old Christian

be
pa
Hs

ey

of Holy Communion. | 20 do so in 4!

custom and a particular custom of the Presbyterians. \ In recent years

it has fallen from grace, so to speaks| In restructuring the corporate

worshio of the Church, it has been the studied jopinion of most men

that the Preparatory service is superfluous; \tHat Communion should be

celebrated regularly, and that no special preparation is necessary.
I coneur, and yet in Holy Week, prior to the observance of Maundy
Thursday, I think it highly appropriate to prepare--through the
discipline of worship.

Originally those who attended Preparatory |services were the only

ones allowed to participate in the saeranent.| You are familiar with the

Communion tokens used in conjunction with World-Wide Communion.

+

One function of these tokens was as a ticket to Communion .\ Given out

—,

at the Preparatory service, they would then be |presented at the

en,

service, kmayxweuxa of communion _and the worshipper would be allowed

2

to commune . | Onwiously this wouldn't work here-+-nor is this what I
——

10 ———

have in aan it is my hope that this service will prepare

us--and that cur experience together this evening will make tomorrow

evening's Communion more meaningful.

Our purpose so defined, I have chosen for|my text--our Lord's

Prayer at the conclusion of the Last Supper, a¢ recorded in the

(b

4

17th ehapt. of the Gospel according to John .\ There are only a few

occasions in the scriptural accounts where we are given the opportunity

——

of reading the content of Jesus' prayers .\The most famous of allv-

the Lord's Prayer--of course is not a prayer, at all, but a pattern

By

almost entirely dependent on what the world saw, when it looked at
the Christians | It wasn't SO much what they said, or who they were --

but the new and different relationship with each other that convinced

others of the truth of their faith \ An ancient, said (see how tney

loveone another’ ) and it was this love--and the unity that grew from it,

so absent in all of history, that drew the world to the Cnurch.

Something new had happened--for here was a community of people acting

]
as no other comuunity of people had acted before.

et the early Christians did not come by this naturally.\
oo '
Ss

they were of the same stock ag alloof us, with the same tendencie

toward disunity ang Aivis Weness- :\ In fact, early Christianity had
,
to immediately break out of the old pattern OF jJyudaism-~a religion

q
totally confined to one nation.\ This was the Church's first crisis.

Nearly 211 of the lst Christians were Jews, accostomed to consédering

————— —

411 Gentiles une ean.\ 1 Totally emersed in thein own history, cultus

and culture, it seemed only natural to them that to become a Christian,

a £

=a
ct
uw

2 convert ought t rs

“—
‘

ecome a Jew. \ Wetatn this context it was

impossible to tilk about true unity with anyone but a fellow Jew.

a

It was St. Paul who seized this issue, and fought it_out with Peter

and vanes » \ Paul saw the Gospel a8 the message jof r edemption for all
1

men->-as it didn't matter if a man was a Jew or a Greek, a slave or

—_———

a free man--Jesus Christ died for him--and Christianit y brought him

—_ $$ ———

into 2 new community of fellow believers. Christian unity became gp

possible because Paul won the struggle.\ The Church did not become

a narrowly de Fined, vacially and culturally baged institution because

Paul alone rea LLeee that all men were meant to participate in the new

brotherhood.

This is still a very live issue for vs. \ wnat is, evil--how

can we avoid it when we define it. \ How ean we Live norma 1 lives

in the world God has eset us and be faithrul Christians. \ We have

our sone rere Puritans, ‘abo would actually leave the world by

adoveating a totally negativistic approach to life.

But here, in this prayer for the disciples,| we read again that the
Christian, of any age, is to be totally in the world, living_out his

faith out there where decisions are made, where men encounter men

in offices, stores, schools and neighborhoods \\ Christianity is

8 Llife--affr ‘irming | faith; the answer (if not to hide from the world,

but to take our faith out there and Live with the tension of Christ's

demands.

The third theme of our Lord's prayer has to do with an effective

Witness. [vs thou hast sent me into the world, so I have sent them

into the world. ») The disciples had found | new meaning to their Tives

because of Jesus christ. | Through him they had iexperienced the love
of God, and from that love they had felt a new unity springing. \ But

here, in his prayer, we discover again that Jesus! intent for them

was not that they should simply return to their normal lives and enjoy
their new faith. | He was sending them into the world, even as God had
sent him into the woria.| He was sending them dut to do the same things
God had sent him to ron They were to fo their new unity--their

new faith and the good newslthat something new has happened in the

world, into eye and ear shot oF a men. | That is ia say the church

does not exist in and of itself. It never did beat when it does today

a ar =

it ceases to be the Church of Jesus christ.\ It's awfully easy to make

this mistake today. It's awfully easy to think of this as our Church

i

*

Innt is the createst problem facing mankind today? In one form

a

. ee be ee 2
an int her we ee | a nd nm irse ] ves Tf at ir in to a 18un Ly > A 1 Lena cien cE

4vistqescc, if we try to anser that question J| ‘nd how does thi
sf 1- + l eae ee * pie Fa] . sae
ty, which is of course, 2 genralization, Pxpress iteelf specirs
ae * s “ de on oe, ee om le oe fh A BF ey egy
+ woeagne its ucly head in internationa L relations in ne Tory
upér-nationalism; in nations th “efuse ta be vespongible fc
% S ean etd ay te o Paw ; or * | i
V Ut ea 2 110 + LAvine ULd CE We aL S a \ ake yee rer bi 'e TLE
AE ee es
: i im on mi nation under the false udse f. Patriotism as
——————— z —_—$_—$————
*

2 ae "4 4 2 Ey = a a 2 =
that Word interpreted by the radically inimyedt right wing.| Americ
first" is the battle @ry, nysterical: intoned |b veople filled with

uispicion, fear and hatred for anybody but Amenicans.{ It is expressed
- ee —- a — . (a

in Racism in our country and throughout the world. | x is expressed

in a latent classism thet categorizes people ay the size of their
— e

income and the organizations they belong to. | ae is seen clearly in
It is experienced by

an

the sinful disunity within the Church itself ‘

arfyone who lives in this community for more than a few months and
—_—_—_ |

witnesses the absurd ectacle of a town of 4

QvO seed. peopie constantly

in
pute, resuiting from ear ability to

= — -

2

embroiled in controversy and di

ta

sit down with each other and be reasonable. | ; and finally, disunity is

ee

2xperienced by everyone of us as we confront our neighbor every day,

the neighbor we don't like, with whom we con't agree--a&he ne lghbor

with whom we certainly don't wa

nt to spend any |time.

These are problems that have always plagud@d civilization--they
ple bee ——

re not new. t today they take on a note of |immediacy that is

afford a brash nationalism

a
@
Q
=
and
t+
Ww
ry
©

ae
[wrt
)

)

~

Ho |
tar)

3

3

o
=

D

2

7.
-
~
on a
O
tH!
oO
Lan}

Cc
@
i)

because one nation could consceivably begin a war to Which there would
208 (COS SY Leveeea?
be no end. | We aan no longer afford a nationa 21 |exclusi yeness because
tao
theYs e of the world is closely intermixed with our fate, whether
we like it or not.| We can no longer efford ragism and personal disunity

.-eooc