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Communion Legacy

By: Pastor Dave | February 1, 2025 | ,

Dear Minooka UMC Found Family,
85 years ago, Thomas Wolfe famously wrote, “You can’t go home again.”
Something like 1850 years ago, the author of the Gospel According to Luke even more famously wrote, “No prophet is accepted in his hometown.” 

Have you found that to be true? At the risk of arguing with two literary giants, I’m not so sure that I have.
Yet, in a way, 30 years ago I lived that idea. I’ll recount that story for you this Sunday as we’re talking about legacy.

What gift or idea have you received from your past that you strive to maintain and continue? 

It is our tradition here at Minooka UMC to serve communion once per month on the first Sunday of the month. That makes this Sunday, February 2nd, a communion Sunday.

That means, among myriad other things, we get to speak aloud one of the very best parts of United Methodist legacy: open communion. Open communion means all are welcome at the communion table. There are no age requirements, no membership requirements, no theological tests one must pass in order to prove one “understands” communion. Open communion means the table is available and the elements are offered to all who wish to receive them. 

[Spoiler alert: None of us truly understands communion. It is a means of God’s abundant grace—and grace is always ultimately a mystery. So wrestle with it, that’s healthy. But fully understand it? Well, this is another case in which the journey is more important than the destination.] Still, no one is forced to partake, either. Jesus is the host of this meal, not me, not the congregation, not the denomination, nor anyone nor anything else. If you wish to receive, you may. If you prefer not to receive, that’s fine too.

I encourage those of you who will be participating in worship online to have some bread and juice (or whatever elements you have available) out and ready so that you may partake with us. Full disclosure: not all of my clergy colleagues believe that communion from afar is proper. But I am convinced that it is. If we mean it when we say that being online is still being part of the worshipping community, that God’s Holy Spirit can reach us through our screens–and we do mean it!–then I don’t see how it makes any sense to say that connection goes away when it is time for communion. I don’t see how it makes any sense to say the Spirit goes away when it is time for communion.

However, as with many things in life, your milage may vary. But as far as I’m concerned, I invite you to participate in communion from home. 

Considering legacy from one of its other uses, what have you received from your past that you need to set aside, retire, let go? How might this story from early in Jesus’ ministry help us today? I’ll consider those questions and more in my sermon, “Defining Legacy.” 

Plotting Goodness,
Pastor Dave

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