I brought something to show you. For me, it is one of the most precious things I own.
But I am guessing that for most of you, this looks like nothing more than a little tin box. There is nothing special about it. It is dull, gray, a few rust spots here and there. If you saw it laying somewhere, you might think it is just a piece of junk or something that needs to find its way to the trash.
But when I look at this I see more than just a tin box. I don’t see a dull, gray, worthless piece of junk. Instead, I see my grandmother.
There hasn’t been a day in my life that I can remember when I didn’t know about this little box. I can tell you exactly where it was for the first 21 years of my life, and I can tell you where it has been every day since.
From the time that I was a very young boy, every time that I would go visit my grandmother, she would take me over to the cabinet where she kept this little box, take it down, and tell me about it.
“Christopher,” she would say, “this little box may not look like much, but belonged to my mother, your great-grandmother. She kept it in the front pocket of her apron, and I never remember seeing her without it. When shedied, I kept this little box because it reminded me of her.
“One day I’ll be gone, and when that day comes, I want you to have this box. You’ll know where to find it, because it will always be here.”
I would smile and agree, and then she would take this little box, place it gently back upon the shelf, and close the cupboard door.
What you see may be a dull, gray box, but I see my grandmother.
When I look at it, I see her smile and loving eyes.
When I touch it, I feel my grandmother’s hands.
When I open it, I can smell her house.
When I read the note inside, I can hear her voice.
“On the night before he died for us, our Lord Jesus Christ took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and gave it to his disciples saying, ‘Take, eat. This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’
“After supper, he took the cup of wine, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them saying, ‘Drink this all of you. This is my blood of the New Covenant which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this in remembrance of me.’”
Most of you have probably heard those words prayed hundreds of times. They are known as the institution narrative, and are the words we pray over the bread and wine at every Eucharist, every time it is celebrated.
They are and have been prayed across hundreds of countries spanning thousands of years, prayed by millions upon millions of Christians.
They were prayed by my parents, my grandparents, my great-grandparents, my great-great- grandparents… you get the picture.
They were also prayed by the disciples. By Peter, Andrew, James, John. They were prayed by Paul.
They are the words that, for Christians, make those ordinary elements of bread and wine something extraordinary. Through the prayers of the Eucharist, the bread and wine – ordinary things that anyone could buy at any grocery store – are transformed for us into Christ’s body and blood.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s not a magical formula that or some kind of trick that takes place that makes the Eucharist special.
Rather it is the constant and frequent recalling of the story that brings us into the very real presence of Christ.
By following Jesus’ commandment to “Do this in remembrance of me” the trappings of time and space shed away and in our hearts we are right there in the upper room with Jesus and his disciples, and it is:
Jesus’ voice that we hear.
Jesus’ face that we see.
Jesus’ touch that we feel.
And it is Jesus’ very own self that we take into ourselves to nourish us on our spiritual journey.
This is the Eucharist and it is the primary example of what the church calls a Sacrament.
Technically, a sacrament is “an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.”
A Sacrament is something we can touch, taste, smell, see…
A sacrament has a material form – bread and wine, water, oil, the laying on of hands…
But it is also something that reaches us on a much deeper level than our five senses.
A Sacrament brings us into a closeness with God. It reminds us of who we are and whose we are. It helps us experience God’s presence in our lives here, and now. And it touches us in a place that nothing else can.
The Eucharist and Baptism are the two primary sacraments.
While we are nourished by Christ’s body and blood through the Eucharist, it is through our baptism that we are joined to that body.
Through the symbol of water, we are washed clean, buried with Christ in his death, and raised to new life in him. The apostle Paul puts it this way, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.”
In our baptism we receive the Holy Spirit and are marked as Christ’s own forever. Nothing we can do will ever change that. We are grafted into God’s family and become sons and daughters of God. And as sons and daughters of God, we promise (or our parents and Godparents promise for us) to live our lives in the way that God intended – as human beings created in God’s image, the very image of love.
For many, the next step is confirmation where we take on for ourselves the promises that were made for us at our baptisms and the bishop lays his hands on the candidates heads, asking the Spirit to be strengthened for Christ’s service – to live fully into the image of Christ.
There will be failures, and when we do not live up to those promises we have the sacrament of Reconciliation through which we receive forgiveness of sins and are reunited with a loving Father with outstretched arms.
Unction reminds us of God’s desire for us to be whole and recalls one of Jesus’ main ministries – the healing of the sick. Through oil, the laying on of hands, and prayer, we seek that wholeness in body, mind, and spirit.
And for those who are called to it, there is ordination and marriage.
In ordination, men and women make special promises to serve Christ’s church in a special way– to be living symbols of Jesus’ ministry.
And in marriage, when it is at its best, the husband and wife symbolize for us Christ’s love for his Church through good times, and through bad.
These are the sacraments. They are Jesus’ gifts to the church. They are the way that we remain connected, even when it seems impossible to do so, and believe me, there will be times when it feels impossible to be connected to God.
I opened this little box for the first time 15 years ago on the day that my grandmother died. Inside was a tiny slip of paper on which my grandmother had written these words,
Dear Christopher,
May you never forget how much you are loved.
What an amazing gift my grandmother left me. I can think of nothing that I might have wanted more from her.
The sacraments are God’s small, gray, rusty boxes.
And inside there is a note for you too. It is a note from God, and it addressed to you.
It says,
Dear ______,
May you never forget how much I love you.
Whatever you remember from this talk,
Whatever you remember from this weekend,
I pray that you will remember that.
The sacraments may be dull, gray boxes, they may appear to be nothing more than bread, wine, water, oil,....
but inside they contain the most important message you could ever hear.
Never forget how much God loves you.
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