Today, we're asking God what he would say to us about this teaching from Paul on Holy Communion. You know, there's a problem about us human beings and it keeps cropping up and that is that we tend to take the good things that God has for us and we profane them. Whatever God does, whatever God makes, whatever he says, it's pure and beautiful and holy. But we have a way of desecrating these things. The creation-beautiful beyond words. But we pollute and destroy. Human life-sacred. We bear the image of God from the womb and yet we abuse, we attack, we abort. We use people selfishly. We deceive others. We ignore their great needs. The land, the waters, the air, food, sex, we consume these holy gifts of God and we do it wastefully and carelessly, thinking about our pleasure, thinking about our comfort to satisfy our endless lusts and passions.

The holiest gift that God has given to us was his son and his son provoked our ugliest and most profane act of all! God came among us and we bloodied, we broke, and we barely even remembered to bury him after we had killed him. But God in his mercy took that blasphemous, unthinkable day in history and God called it good because God chose to declare the blood of Jesus as a wholly perfect sacrifice for all our sins. And then through Jesus, God commanded that his people always remember and even reenact the sacrifice that Christ made for us through the sacrament of Holy Communion and that's of course what we do today. If there was ever a pure and holy moment, it's this one when those who love the Lord stop and become still and remember and then we receive the bread and the wine prayerfully, humbly, reenacting that simple meal in which he established a new agreement based wholly on his grace. But apparently, as wonderful as that was, within a few short years, believers were profaning holy communion and the Lord's supper and we read about it here in Corinthinians.

I wish we had time to read that whole chapter and really get into it. We don't. They weren't taking it seriously in Corinth. They were participating in the Lord's supper in an unworthy manner. Apparently the Corinthians custom was to share holy communion in the context of an evening meal-like our potluck suppers-and when the believers came together, the rich, who could get in earlier because they didn't have long work hours, were congregating in one part of the house and apparently refusing to share their rich, plentiful food with the poorer believers. So prior to worship, the rich would gorge themselves and sometimes drink too much. They didn't wait for the poorer working class people to arrive after a hard day's work. And they didn't wait for the slaves who were sometimes the last ones to be able to get there at all. The latecomers, the poor, who had very little to bring, would arrive hungry. Perhaps they weren't able to eat at all and went to the communion table hungry. That wasn't good. Perhaps they were guilty of taking the bread and the wine that had been set aside for the sacrament and not distinguishing that from their dinner that night. So both the leisure class and the poor working class were guilty of abusing the holy purposes of the Lord's supper through selfishness, through greed, through thoughtlessness.

Listen to Paul's words to them in 1 Corinthians 11:20-22; 26-34a (from Eugene Peterson's The Message).

You come together, and instead of eating the Lord's Supper, you bring in a lot of food from the outside and make pigs of yourselves. Some are left out, and go home hungry. Others have to be carried out, too drunk to walk. I can't believe it! Why would you stoop to desecrating God's church? Why would you actually shame God's poor? I never would have believed you would stoop to this. And I'm not going to stand by and say nothing...Anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Master irreverently is like part of the crowd that jeered and spit on him at his death. Is that the kind of "remembrance" you want to be part of? Examine your motives, test your heart, come to this meal in holy awe. If you give no thought (or worse, don't care) about the broken body of the Master when you eat and drink, you're running the risk of serious consequences...So, my friends, when you come together to the Lord's Table, be reverent and courteous with one another. If you're so hungry that you can't wait to be served, go home and get a sandwich. But by no means risk turning this Meal into an eating and drinking binge or a family squabble. It is a spiritual meal-a love feast.

Anytime we disregard or devalue what Christ did for us on the cross we sin against the Lord himself and Paul says we should examine ourselves in the way we come to the table, in the way we come to the death of Christ. So you pull back from this passage there seems to be three simple points that the apostle is making. One, we believe that in the death and the cross, Jesus established a wholly new possibility to be forgiven our sins-past, present, and future-and adopted by God as his children. Anyone who puts his faith in Christ is adopted into God's family. This is the new covenant. This is the new agreement. So the Lord's table, when we come to it, is a place of mercy. The second point he makes is, the Lord's supper is a holy ceremony, it's like a holy little meal that celebrates this new covenant and reenacts the supper at which Jesus announced the good news. It's our most holy act of worship-the cup representing his blood, the bread representing his broken, bruised, brutalized body.

As we partake it, it's as though we're participating with them in the upper room. We're proclaiming the miraculous meaning of his death. "Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again." So as we approach the table, it's a table which unifies us. It brings us together as God's adopted children who come humbly. But the third point he makes is that if you participate in a disrespectful way, you're guilty of the worst sort of profanity. You're taking in vain not just the name of the Lord but the merciful deed of the Lord on the cross and you'll be harshly judged by God. So the Lord's table can be a dangerous place, as well. It's a place of mercy, it's a place that unites us, but it can be a dangerous place, also if we come in the wrong way.

Now I've been reflecting on these things in light of where we are as a church within our larger church family and it's led me over the last 3 years, through a series of emotions as I think about the larger church. First, I've had some anger. Second, I've had some grief. And more recently I've had some fear. Let me explain. Over the last 40 years, I've observed a subtle but clear shift of thinking in the Episcopal Church about Holy Communion. On the one hand, Episcopalians participate in communion much more frequently than they used to. Most Episcopal churches are now Eucharistic churches. That means every time they open the doors they're having Holy Communion, like the Catholics. The Episcopal Church didn't used to be that way. But on the other hand, I have observed an alarming development. It's a devaluing, even a profaning of the Lords' supper through a gradual development of a very different understanding of Christ's death. Now in the words of Jesus himself, in the words of the apostles, in the words of the church fathers, in the words of the reformers, indeed, throughout the history of the orthodox church, there's been one central, essential principle that has bound us all together and that is that Jesus died for all people and it is only through the doorway that he opened to God on the cross that anyone can come to know God's saving grace, God's loving embrace. This is the message of every book of the New Testament. This is the gospel. Just listen to the apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 15.

I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved. I delivered you as a first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day, in accordance with the scriptures.

Listen to what John the apostle says.

Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger... Whoever believes in me shall never thirst... For this is the will of my father, that everyone who looks on the son and believes in him shall have eternal life." ... Jesus said, "I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved." ... "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me."

Jesus is God's gift to the whole world. His offer of the way of forgiveness is for all people, for all time, for everywhere. That's the reason for evangelism. There is one gospel for all people. Jesus commands us to go and call all people to faith in him. Now what's happened, however, in recent times, is that our culture has become absolutely horrified by any hint of exclusivity, particularly I the realm of religion. And I observe that that has now become more and more the attitude of pastors and church leaders, as well. As long ago as the 60s and 70s, some bishops in our church began to reject the need for sharing the gospel with others because they said, "Well, one religion is as good as another, basically, if it's faithfully practiced." Now back then, these men were viewed as exceptional radicals but times have changed. A dear friend of mine attended a funeral a couple of weeks ago at Washington Cathedral over in D.C. In the Episcopal burial service, almost always the minister will read the passage from John 14 about "in my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, do not fear--have no fear." And then Thomas says, "But Lord, we don't know the way." And he says, "I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life." Now at this service, the minister chose to omit verse 6, the one about the way, the truth, and the life. And so he read the part about we don't have to fear death, God is preparing a home for us, but he left out the part about Jesus being the way. Now you say, "Now, John what can you expect? That's just one of those radicals over on the other side of the Potomac." And I'm telling you, no, you're wrong. This is becoming the accepted thinking in the Episcopal Church.

We have a new presiding bishop - you can read all about her in today's Washington Post and Washington Times. I'm sure she's great person in many ways. Time Magazine recently interviewed her and asked the question, "Is belief in Jesus the only way to get to heaven?" Let me tell you what our chief bishop said. She said, "We who practice the Christian tradition understand him as our vehicle to the divine. But for us to assume that God could not act in other ways is, I think, to put God in an awfully small box." Now this week, she had an opportunity to clarify. She was interviewed by NPR. The NPR interviewer said, The NPR interviewer said to her, "I read that [Time interview] and I said, "What are you: a Unitarian?!? What are you - that is another concern for people, because, they say Scripture says that Jesus says he was The Light and The Way and the only way to God the Father."

Let me tell you what she said. She said, "Christians understand that Jesus is the route to God. That is not to say Muslims or Sikhs (or others) come to God in a radically different way. They come to God through human experience, through human experience of the divine. Christians talk about that in terms of Jesus." And so the NPR interviewer said, "So you're saying there are other ways to God." And she said, "Human communities have always searched for relationship which is beyond them with the ultimate, with the divine. For Christians, we say that our route to God is through Jesus." She hesitates, "That doesn't mean that a Hindu..." she hesitates, "doesn't experience God except through Jesus. It says that Hindus and people of other faith traditions approach God through their own cultural context. They relate to God, they experience God in human relationships as well as ones that transcend human relationships and Christian would say those are our experiences of Jesus, of God through the experience of Jesus." The interviewer said, "It sounds like you're saying it's like a parallel reality, but in another culture and language." And she said, "I think that's accurate. I think that's accurate."

Now friends, this sounds really good. It sounds thoughtful; it sounds open, humane, kind, unassuming. Any pathway to God works, one works as well as another. The trouble is, friends, this is not Christianity. This is universalism. It's not Christianity. And in spite of all the beautiful and orthodox language in our Book of Common Prayer, more and more of those who read it aloud in worship no longer really believe it. Listen to the language as you go through the rest of the service today. The Episcopal Church declared in the 1990s a decade of evangelism but actually lost thousands, hundreds of thousands of members during the decade of evangelism. Do you know why? Because the Episcopal Church doesn't really believe in evangelism any more. If one way is as good as another, then why try to convince others to follow your way. And so what happens is that now, not just many Episcopalians, but many mainline denominational folks come to Holy Communion, participate, receive the elements, but in actuality don't believe that Jesus is the truth, the Savior of the world. They believe he's one way among many and they wouldn't want to put God in such a small box, as Mrs. Schori said. One member of our vestry said to me this week, "John, that awfully small box of which our presiding bishop is speaking is the gospel." Now according to this new way of thinking, the apostles were wrong, the church fathers were wrong, the reformers were wrong. They were all guilty of putting God in an awfully small box and Jesus himself must have just been wrong about this or else he's really misquoted in the Bible because of the scores of times he refers to himself as the unique way to God. These are the two issues on which this whole current denominational controversy is based: the authority of scripture-is the bible true, and secondly, the unique exclusivity of Jesus Christ. All the hubbub about sexual sin, it's not unimportant. But these are the two cancers that are consuming the life and the health of our denomination. Now the reason I said a minute ago that I was afraid, is that I believe to receive Holy Communion when I have not really submitted to the unique claim of the gospel is the spit in God's faith. If I don't need a savior, then why did God send his son to the cross? He's up there on that cross looking down and saying, "If I didn't have to do this, why am I up here?" Would you, if you were God, would you do that to your child if there was another way? If this is true, all the saints and martyrs died for the faith and the gospel in vain, needlessly. I want to be as clear as I possibly can. Jesus did not say, "I am a way to God, but you know, if you're from Rome, you might be happier worshiping Diana in the temple down the street. More power to you." He didn't say that. His claim is to exclusivity. Now I know that some of you are not hearing what I am saying with a lot of comfort. (It would be awful if everybody in this church agreed with me completely. I wouldn't want that.) So if you're uncomfortable, I just want you to think about what I'm saying, I want you to hear what I'm saying.

I have this vague recollection of when I was a little boy of trying to bake a cake once. Only once did I try it. But I worked really hard. Somehow I got confused. Back in those days some flour had yeast in it and some didn't. So I got the wrong flour, and I didn't know to put yeast, I didn't know to put baking powder in there. I missed that somehow in the recipe. And so I baked this cake and the darn thing never rose. It just laid there in the pan. It was flat, lifeless and it wasn't worth a thing. Now my point is if you're attempting to construct your faith on all the moral principles of Christianity and on all the stories of Jesus, but you leave out this one key ingredient, the uniqueness of Jesus, you may live a pretty good life, but it's not the Christian life. It's a flat and lifeless imitation. I know it sounds humble to say Jesus is the way for me but he may not be best the way for you, but I promise you, friends, if that's the position you take, the next generation will not follow in the way of Jesus.

Now, this raises all sorts of questions, and God didn't say he would answer all our questions about this. He just said that we're to trust in his son. So I want to ask you this morning, are you building your life on God's son as the way, the truth, and the life, or are you building your faith, your life, on what culture tells you is true. Jesus says he's the way to God. If we believe this, it gives us assurance, it gives us hope, it gives us a purpose, it gives us a way, a direction. And it also invites persecution, doesn't it? I just got back from spending some time with some pastors in Asia. They face a very real form of persecution. They face the possibility of imprisonment for preaching this gospel. All you and I face is social rejection. That's the way we're persecuted here for our faith in this gospel. You'll be accused of being judgmental, unintellectual, narrow-minded, you'll be dismissed. Maybe that's what we fear most of all, that we'll just be dismissed and not taken seriously. But Ill tell you this, if you build your faith and we build the church on the god of anything goes, eventually we won't have a faith and we won't have a church. We'll have a dying institution and we'll have our opinions. Everyone will like us and everyone will commend our open-mindedness and Jesus will say, "I spit you lukewarm people out of my mouth."

We cling to a unique savior, and an exclusive gospel in a pluralistic world. We cling to an authoritative bible in a skeptical age. We cling to a sacrificial lifestyle in a consumer culture. We cling to a pure and chaste life in an era of permissiveness. We say the creeds without crossing our fingers. We trust in the reality of heaven. We trust in the reality of hell. We proclaim Jesus as the only hope of salvation. The work of God in Christ and the word of God in scripture are complete. We can add nothing else. We believe that the local church can be the hope of the world. We are plain, simple, mere Christians. That's what we are. Now, so I just want to ask you, are you willing to face 21st century persecution? It can be painful. But what really frightens me is that we might not face 21st century persecution! If we aren't meeting rejection, if we're not being dismissed, it shows we aren't being bold and we aren't sharing the gospel of Christ. We aren't engaging the culture; we're remaining silent because we don't want to offend anybody. Where is courage? Where is conviction? It's right here, I hope. Are we going to be like the Corinthians? Are we going to profane God's holy gift, downsizing Jesus to be hardly any better than Muhammad or Buddha? Are we going to boldly submit to Jesus as the Lord, the way, the truth, the life? That's the gift we celebrate in the sacrament. My dear friends, you have to decide this for yourselves. I can't decide it for you. In a moment or two, we're going to stand and say the creed. As we stand, don't be pressured to say it if you don't believe. But if you do believe it, or if you're struggling with it but you want to believe it, say it with all your heart, because in it is the truth, the way, the life.

Amen. [Applause.]

--The Rev. Dr. John Yates is rector of Falls Church, Virginia and one of two parishes that has recently left the Diocese of Virginia and the Episcopal Church USA.