The Festival of the Body and Blood of Christ, Cycle C

"The Proper Adoration of Christ"

June 6, 2010

The Rev. Dr. David M. Wendel

Saint Luke's Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs

Lessons: Genesis 14:18-20; I Corinthians 11:23-26; St. Luke 22:7-20

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Some of you are familiar with the delightful little series of books described by the author, Mark Schweizer, as "Liturgical Mysteries". They're tongue-in-cheek novels about deaths in and around St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in the town of St. Germaine in the mountains of North Carolina, the latest edition of which is titled, "The Organist Wore Pumps". Part of the story involves the visit of the relics of one of the three wise men, to this little Episcopal church. While tradition says that the relics of all three wise men are actually in the Cathedral in Cologne, Germany, according to this book, the remains of one of the three were stolen by the Welsh priest who was responsible for taking the relics to Cologne in the first place. So that, leaving two in Cologne, the priest took the third to a little monastery in England, ending up finally in a small chapel in Nantwich—which began loaning the relics out to Anglican parishes as a fund-raising scheme to repair the roof of the church. Whereupon the relics of the one wise man end up in this little North Carolina town and church, on the Festival of the Epiphany, supposedly bringing some special blessing to St. Barnabas and the parishioners, as they plan to have the relics, stored in the beautiful old reliquary, carried in procession during the service, placed in front of the altar.

Because, you see, that's how relics of saints have been used throughout the ages—as representatives of the saints, so that praying to the relics is thought to draw on the treasury of the saints, the good works of the saints, to bring blessings to those who are praying in the presence of the particular relics. And while Martin Luther believed and taught that one didn't need to pray to saints as mediators, because we can pray directly to Jesus and draw on the rich treasury of His own blood and righteousness, still, the practice is ancient and long-held within the Christian Church. Which is why the good people in the fictitious St. Barnabas Church all came out on the Epiphany, to worship and pray in the presence of the relics of one of the wise men. Except that, what remained in the reliquary were not the remains of the wise man, but simply chicken bones and such, because it seems, the children of the congregation, having a lock-in the night before, got into the relic-box, dropped it on the floor, swept up the remaining ancient dust and ashes, disposing of them by brushing them into one of the organ pipes, which left the box lighter and without the former rattle. So, they filled the reliquary with chicken bones, locked it back up, and no one was the wiser. Except that, it remained to be seen whether various chicken bones could bring spiritual blessings equal to those brought by the relics of a saint!

And the reason I'm sharing this with you, is to cause us to think about the difference, really, between the age-old custom of collecting and storing and in some places, venerating the relics of saints on the one hand, and on the other, our worshiping today, the very real presence of Jesus Christ, in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood, as we celebrate the festival of Corpus Christi. Now we should point out that Lutherans have not been "big" on celebrating this festival because from the beginning, the focus had been more on "adoration" of the sacramental elements, rather than reception of the Body and Blood of Christ. While adoration of the Body and Blood of Jesus in the Sacrament is not wrong, because it is simply worshiping the Risen Jesus in our midst, the idea of parading the host around through the church and even out into the streets rubbed Martin Luther the wrong way. From several hundred years before Luther, because of penitential practices, the faithful rarely received communion, but replaced reception of the Body and Blood, with adoration of the real presence of Christ. Naturally, as Luther wanted both the Lord's Body and Blood to be offered in the Holy Sacrament, he also wanted to reverse the medieval practice, and taught that the faithful should commune regularly, as Christ intended, rather than just looking at the sacrament from afar. Lutherans refer to this as the instituted use of Christ—that apart from the divinely instituted action—that of Christ feeding His disciples with His very presence in the Sacrament, there is no sacrament. Also, quite naturally, then, Luther and the reformers downplayed the Festival of Corpus Christi, because in the middle ages, the big event of the festival was to have a great procession through the village or city so that all might view the Lord's Body, carried around in a monstrance—a golden holder which held the Host for viewing. Luther preferred that the faithful come to church and receive the Lord's Body and Blood, rather than only carry Him around in procession. So, to eliminate this practice and to encourage reception of communion, Luther refrained from putting this festival on his church calendar. And Lutherans in some places continue to hesitate and worry about observing this festival day because it seems to some, as not unlike the veneration of relics of saints, almost idolatry.

And yet, the two practices are worlds apart, because on the one hand, what is being venerated are the earthly remains of dead human beings, while on the other, we are worshiping, yes, worshiping the real presence of our Living Lord who is not contained in a box, a reliquary, carried here and there at the whim of the owners, but we are worshiping the Risen Lord who incarnates himself, who comes into our midst when and where He will, as Savior and Lord, not dead and buried, not entombed in some far off grave, but risen from death to live forever, and to live with us, forever. He is Savior and Lord, present not just in some spiritual, abstract way, but physically, bodily present when He presents His very Body and Blood to us, for our forgiveness, strength and salvation. What we have in the Sacrament of the Altar, are not relics, not ancient remains, but Christ's real presence—Christ with us, offering Himself to us that His life, His Body and Blood might be in us, and with us—coursing through our veins, united with our body and blood, that more and more, we might become like Him, as He abides in us, and we in Him. This is why Luther so desperately wanted Christians not just to look at Jesus, not just to view Him, but to receive Him in communion—because while seeing Jesus might have some positive effect, it pales in comparison with eating and drinking His Body and Blood. Just as looking admiringly at nourishing green vegetables will do nothing for you, but you must eat them to receive the vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants contained therein, so sitting in the congregation adoring the real presence of Christ in the sacrament will not bring to you the full spiritual benefits His sacramental presence offers. You must eat and drink, in order to receive Him! We partake of Him, to have His risen life in every cell of our bodies. We hurry to communion, each and every time it's offered, so that Jesus Christ will be present, not just here, on the altar, but physically, literally in us. As Jesus says in John 6, "Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise Him up at the last day. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him."

And that's why still today, what is needed among us is more eating and drinking of Christ's Body and Blood in the Holy Sacrament. As the problem in Luther's time was neglect of the sacrament because people felt unworthy, our problem today is neglect of the sacrament because people feel they are just too busy to come receive Jesus each and every Sunday. As with most Christians in the U.S., the average Lutheran worships only three Sundays out of ten. Some come more often, some come less, but the average Lutheran comes to weekly worship only 30% of the time. And sure, we are busy. We are over-committed, and over-stressed, and believe we just can't squeeze in weekly worship, every week. And yet, the best antidote to our broken, troubled lives; the best potion for our healing and strengthening; the most useful prescription for dealing with our busy, overscheduled lives, is what St. Ignatius of Antioch termed in 110 AD, "the medicine of immortality". Ignatius wrote, "Come together in common, one and all without exception in charity, in one faith and in one Jesus Christ, who is of the race of David according to the flesh, the son of man, and the Son of God, so that with undivided mind you may.break one Bread which is the medicine of immortality.enabling us to live forever in Jesus Christ."

This is the proper way to adore Christ in the sacrament of the altar—to cherish Christ, to hold Christ, to give Christ an honored place in your heart and your life—by receiving Him—by eating and drinking of Him, in the sacrament of His real presence among us. This is the reason He came, and comes—not to be paraded around in a reliquary, not to be loaned out to be used as a fund-raising technique, not to be viewed as a museum piece, but to be received by the faithful, every Sunday morning. We adore Christ in the sacrament when, each and every week, we feast on Him who is the Lamb of God, the Living Bread from heaven, so that His presence will go from stomach, to blood, to heart, where He will dwell with us, and we with Him, always! That's why we're celebrating, today, the Festival of the Body and Blood of our Lord—to remind us why we receive Him in the Sacrament of the Altar, and to be encouraged to come, as often as we can, to eat and drink, at the Lamb's High Feast!

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.