Weekly Greeting - August 1, 2025
I never celebrated the Sacrament of Holy Communion until I was in seminary.
It’s a bit of a convoluted story, but in my home church — which was not United Methodist — no one was allowed to celebrate the Lord’s Supper until they were baptized. And I had not been baptized. There’s no good explanation for why I hadn’t been baptized. I had decided to follow Jesus at a young age, but no one ever asked me if I wanted to be baptized and I never asked to be baptized…so it just never happened.
I was baptized when I was twenty years old and a senior in college, but the opportunity to celebrate Holy Communion never presented itself until my first week at Boston University School of Theology at our weekly Service of Word and Table.
It was the first time I had ever heard the Communion liturgy, and even now, every time I hear it, it seems richer and more lovely than the time before.
This Sunday we are going to follow The Service of Word of Table II from the United Methodist Hymnal. After we hear the invitation to the table, confess our sins, and hear the pardon, we are going to share signs of peace. Specifically, the hymnal directs us to “offer one another signs of reconciliation and love.”
Passing the Peace, as it is familiarly called, is more than just sharing words of welcome. It is a time to seek reconciliation with one another, to ask for forgiveness from those who we have harmed, and to offer forgiveness to those who have harmed us. If there is no one with whom we need to be reconciled, we can simply exchange a handshake, a hug, or a fist bump with our neighbor and say to them, “The Peace of Christ be with you.” The traditional response is “And also with you.”
If we listen closely to the invitation, it tells us that Christ invites to his table those who
1. Love God
2. Earnestly repent of their sin
3. Seek to live in peace with one another.
Regarding #1, I always say that whether or not you love God is a matter of your own conscience, but if you showed up for worship, chances are you’ve got that covered.
When it comes to #2, the liturgy gives us the chance to repent of our sin, both communally (the confession that we say together) and personally (the opportunity for silent confession).
And regarding #3, if there are those among us with whom we are not at peace, the liturgy gives us the chance to make those relationships right again.
When we have taken care of those things, we are ready to hear the story of salvation once again in The Great Thanksgiving, pray the prayer that Jesus taught us, and receive the gifts of bread and wine that are — for us — the body and blood of Christ.
I am looking forward to celebrating this holy meal with you for the first time this Sunday!
With gratitude,
Mary Beth