AUGUST 2, 1998
Rev. Eugene Nelson, Jr.
The Community Church of Sebastopol
Around the year 100 AD, the Trojan Emperor, Trajen, sent Pliney the younger, off to Asia Minor to Bethenia, near the south shore of what is now the Black Sea. He sent Pliney to go as the governor, but he also gave him an assignment. He said he wanted to find out about these Christians. Should the empire be concerned and what should the empire do to keep them under control. This would indicate that Paul had been pretty successful in Bethenia and that the church was pretty strong.
Now Pline the younger, was one of the most learned men of his day - scholar, gentleman, philanthropist. Many of the letters he wrote, in fact, are still studied and read by scholars today. I tell you this to say that this was no wild-eyed mad man going off to kill a bunch of Christians. Pline was going to go to Bethenia and make a careful analysis of the situation and then report to the emperor.
So he went, made his analysis and filed his report. What to do about the Christians? It's interesting what he suggested. It's not what you would think. He did not suggest any kind of persecution, no jailing of the leaders, no executions in the arena. Pline didn't even care about the worship life. There was no restriction placed on worship and no limiting Bible sales or music. They could read what they wanted, they could sing, they could pray, they could worship, they could serve the poor, they could do their evangelizing - that was all fine. Pline only had one recommendation for controlling this Christian cult and that was that the fellowship meals in which the Christians engaged should be outlawed.
That's interesting. If I was thinking about trying to control or kind of keep the Christian church under my thumb, I don't know if I would focus on banning potluck suppers. But that is what he said. Let them do all they want, no more suppers together. I wonder why. It seems strange to me.
Let's look at our text. I've shared that with you not just because of that interesting story of the kid falling out of the window of the third floor of the church during the sermon, but how this text is bracketed with meals. We begin with the Christians having a meal together and it kind of ends with the Christians having a meal together. You can almost imagine the leader of the community saying, "Well, we've come together for our meal and since Paul is here we might as well let him preach a little bit."
The meal was central. When you think about it, if you work your way through the New Testament you begin to discover how true that is - the first Pentecost, all the new Christians come together, they share food and they have a meal. Lizann mentioned Jesus on the shore having a fish meal with the disciples and on the road to Emmaus how was Jesus revealed - through the breaking of the bread. In the Gospels and in the book of Acts as you trace the spread of the Christian church you trace the spread of the potluck supper throughout the civilized world. The meal was so central to what they were - to who they were.
Pline was a smart man. What did he see? A couple of things come to my mind. First of all, there was something incredibly radical about Christian meals and that is that everybody ate them together. It was a mark of the community. They'd have a meal and everyone would be there - young and old, rich or poor, male or female, which was really scandalous - all gathered around the table. As you've heard me say before, in the ancient world, social barriers, class barriers, gender barriers were enforced if nowhere else, around the meal table. You ate your kind of food with your kind of people and then Jesus comes along and blows that all apart.
A man eats and drinks with anybody. An early controversy in the Christian church. Are we or are we not, Jews and Gentiles going to sit down and eat together? Peter has a vision, God says "yes you are" and they do. The whole community, unprecedented. They would come together and the meal together with everybody there would remind them that we are a new creation a new reality in the world. All the other barriers are blown apart, we are Christians eating here together.
The church still does that. You may have seen the column in the Press Democrat a while ago about segregating seniors and in that column there were suggestions that maybe that isn't such a good idea and in that column I believe it even suggested putting day care centers in convalescent homes to try to get generations back together in this country.
That happens in the church when we are at our best. The apple pie sale for instance. When I think of the people from 9 to 90 sitting at tables, peeling apples, making apple pies, working in the kitchen. Many of our kids have grown up making apple pies with all the generations together. I think of our Family Camp which we've stressed over the years is not just for families with children but all-in-the church family camp for people of all ages and family structures. When you look around the tables at Family Camp and see people who are talking together, again you see this generational mix, a new community, a new creation.
That is certainly part of the deep pain we are feeling over Megan's death is that many of the adults in our church knew her. She grew up in our midst and that doesn't happen a lot in our society anymore. Different generations, different ages, different classes coming together and we come together around the table still.
Pline was a smart man, he saw this. We'll eliminate this. We'll eliminate this concrete remind that they are a new community of something different in the world.
One other thing, a similar, related point, but more of an economic one. As you read through the Book of Acts it is pretty clear that there were some wide ranges of income in the early church. Some people were quite wealthy and some were dirt poor. That could be a source of tension, but not around the table. When they would come together, someone could maybe bring bread for 20 and some could maybe bring a crust of bread, but when you sit down and share it, who cares? Who's counting? No economic divisions - all one around the table, again a new generation, a new community. I think of our church picnic just recently. There was a lot of food there. Some might have brought food for 20, some a loaf of bread. Who cares? We just sat together and ate with no economic divisions.
Now just imagine Pline coming and saying, "You know, The Community Church is fine. Continue doing what you are doing, but you aren't allowed to have your church picnic anymore. Oh, and by the way from now on only people 40 and above can work at your apple pie sale and only people 39 and below can go to your church family camp. Other than that, do what you want." Well, he was a smart man. It would have a negative effect on our life together. He was no fool.
We'll end these reminders that they are a new community a new creation and then our definition of reality, the imperial definition of reality with all its divisions, suspicions and fears and distrust, that will be the only definition they will have. We'll do that if we just eliminate the potluck supper.
Sometimes, before communion, I share these words. In this shared meal, Christians become sisters and brothers in Christ. In this moment we venture out from behind the screens of privacy and solitude out of the fragmentation that characterizes our lives. Communion is the great Christian equalizer. All come hungry yearning to be fed by God, all leave filled, fed on God's love. Whatever divides us from one another dies away. No ones need is greater than another's, no one's pain is deeper than another's, no ones sin is fiercer than another's. Issues of race, gender and equality, wealth, power, cease to exist at the Lord's table. Here Christians are knit together by their hunger for God and God satisfying that need for each and for all.
It's true. It's true and Pline that pagan, he knew it was true. We'll end their meals. He was a smart man.