One Bread – One Body

Easter promises the return of life, new growth, and the promise of a bountiful harvest to come. Here in the Rocky Mountains, after a long, peaceful winter slumber, the earth is suddenly alive again – the first glacier lilies appear as the snow recedes and all the baby animals start frolicking in the meadows as the days become longer and warmer. It’s a beautiful time.

And as we contemplate the mysteries of the natural world, it becomes the perfect opportunity to ponder the mysteries of the divine world. We witness the regenerative power of nature and hope that we too, somehow, are also capable of rebirth. Rebirth not only in the next world, but hopefully in this world as well.

The story of Jesus on the cross is a powerful reminder of our place in this world. It is a visual and visceral sign that these flesh and blood bodies do not last forever. Jesus descended to Earth to become flesh and blood knowing that He would be sacrificed for us. He was resurrected and carried back up to Heaven, and in that action we were also granted the chance to receive forgiveness for our worldly sins and live forever with God in Heaven.

When we gather together for Easter Sunday as Christians, we are acknowledging the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. We are giving our devotion and gratitude to Him in return for His gift of everlasting life to us. But we also need to celebrate our own lives in this time and this place without forgetting what He did for us. 

We do this by gathering together as a faith community, and taking in His Holy Spirit as sustenance for this world and the next. How do we do that exactly? By taking the Sacrament of Holy Communion. This Easter Sunday, let’s consider all that this sacred act in the name of Christ has to offer us in this world.

On the night before he was crucified, Jesus took a Jewish festival meal and gave it new significance. He began a tradition which still continues in the Christian Church. He told his closest followers to remember his death by eating bread and drinking wine. In different Christian traditions, this is known as Holy Communion, Mass (the term used in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches), Eucharist (a Greek word meaning thanksgiving), the Lord’s Supper or even just “breaking bread”.

It might seem simple, but these basic items were the perfect symbols for Jesus’ message. Bread points us to the continual sustenance we receive from the Lord; wine points us to the joy of the Gospel and of our eschatological end, Heaven. Human beings are a compilation of body and soul and both need to be fed — you might say that bread sustains the body; wine sustains the soul.

1 Corinthians 14 

Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.

John 6:35 

Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty”.

Jesus, in asking His disciples to ‘do this in remembrance of Me’, was asking His disciples to honour His memory by paying due diligence to the word and teaching of God. He intentionally created a way for His disciples to keep their faith in Him at the forefront of their lives. Indeed, the very sustenance of their lives itself became the body and blood of their Savior. By elevating everyday elements of our “daily bread” into divine elements representing the wisdom and spirit of Jesus, the act of consuming these items becomes a Holy Communion or direct link with Him.

In today’s reading, Paul reminds us that “because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf”. In other words, communion isn’t meant to be done privately. Rather, it’s to be celebrated together as one body– a community of believers joining together, unified by Jesus. I’m sure we all can relate to the act of sharing a meal as a bonding experience. Dating couples go out to dinner. Business deals are signed over lunch. Diplomatic missions are concluded with a state banquet. Weddings are sealed with a “happy hour” reception and feast. Families bond by gathering to celebrate holidays, or just to share ordinary meals together. It’s part of what brings us together as a culture and creates community. And even if you begin a meal with others as strangers, you will most likely leave as friends.

That is the magic of communion. It makes us into one loaf.

When we take communion, we commit ourselves to God and each other, as messy and at times painful as that can be. That means taking seriously the ways that our divisions stand in the way of being unified in Christ. Communion is a deliberate act of just that: communing.

It is an everyday opportunity to bring ourselves before the Lord and celebrate the life He has given us through His death and resurrection. It is a chance to live through His teachings and share our abundance with others. It is an obligation to be of service to others and offer compassion and acceptance. As this sacrament is celebrated all over the world, it truly brings us all together as the living Body of Christ. So, when we remember the cross of Jesus, we celebrate our communion with Him and with each other through Him, with Him and in Him.

And even if you aren’t Christian, doesn’t this all feel very familiar? I’m invited into many people’s lives over the course of the year to help them celebrate special moments, no matter what their beliefs or traditions may be, and if there is one thing I can usually count on, that there will be some form of bread and wine served – or maybe even cake and champagne. These are the foods that help us celebrate and create memories, not just in modern times, but in ancient times too. Our ancestors broke bread and sipped wine together as a sacred daily ritual because they knew what a miracle it was to have these specially cultivated foods. They knew how much work went into producing them, and what a gift it was to share them as a community.

I remember in our little Ukrainian church in North Dakota, each family would bring a basket of items from their Easter dinner to the church to be blessed – a little bit of ham, beautifully decorated eggs, some horseradish, a dish of salt, and a block of butter pressed in the shape of a lamb if you were fancy. And of course, all the ladies seemed to be in a silent contest about whose Easter Babka was the most beautiful. Indeed, there would be many, many loaves of this special bread offered to every family at church to take home and share at their Easter dinner.

Most of all I remember how joyous it was to sing together in that little church on Easter Sunday. It’s only natural to get excited about celebrating life and the people with whom we share it. And our Lord was clever enough to know that if he could link his story to our celebrations, literally into our daily bread, we would always think of Him and contemplate what His sacrifice means to us every single time we sat down to a meal together.

So this is our assignment this Easter. To commune with others. To share the bounty. To support each other physically and spiritually. And to remember His sacrifice. Not just for the sake of thinking that Jesus is some kind of super-hero (He is!) but for our own sakes. Are we really worthy of the earth’s bounty? Have we served our fellow man lately? What are we willing to sacrifice for the good of all?

When we take communion, we are remembering Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and committing to honoring His memory and sharing His teachings by gathering with friends, family, and even strangers. The bread and wine are tangible, visible reminders of Christ’s journey which, just as they magically transform earthly matter into divine sustenance, they transform our mundane lives into a special celebration of Divine Love. Just as we depend on food and drink to live physically, we can only live spiritually through Christ as one Bread, one Body.