Dr. William P. Barker once told a beautiful story about the isle of Iona. Iona is off the west coast of Scotland. It seems that in the sixth century A.D. St. Columba sailed from Ireland to the Isle of Iona. Ever since then Iona has been considered a holy place by many Christians.
The focal point of Iona, says Barker, is the magnificent Abbey Church. The foundation of this gem of early Christian architecture is over 1,400 years old. The church has been lovingly rebuilt, stone by stone. Once the exterior was restored, volunteers refurbished the interior and installed a new pulpit, lectern, and altar. Now worshipers fill the ancient Abbey Church once again.
“In the refurbishment project, it came time to prepare the bread plates to be used for Communion. There were to be eight bread plates in all, made of wood. The artisans intended to carve a verse from Scripture into the rim of each plate.
“Seven verses were quickly selected. Only one verse remained. The committee in charge asked the supervising architect to make the final selection. His choice was from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 26. He used the words of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible in which Jesus says to Judas, ‘Friend, why are you here?’” (vs. 50). (1)
You remember the setting for this question. Jesus was with his disciples at a place called Gethsemane. He had gone there to pray. Afterward he had a word with his disciples. While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Judas had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.” Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him. And Jesus replied, “Friend, why are you here?” Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. It is a very dramatic scene and the question is a dramatic question: “Friend, why are you here?”
Tonight we have come to this place as part of our Holy Week remembrance. We certainly have not come because we are planning to betray Christ. Indeed, we have come to declare that Jesus is our Lord. Still, we might look into our hearts and hear the Lord ask us this night that same dramatic question, “Friend, why are you here?”
This night is intended as a night of reflection, repentance and renewal. As we examine our hearts in these next few moments, let me explain why we have come to Christ’s holy table.
WE ARE HERE, FIRST OF ALL, BECAUSE THE MASTER TOLD US TO BE HERE. St. Paul writes, “For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
We are here this night because the Lord instructed us to be here.
For the next few moments I would like to take you back a few years to that day when Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong first landed on the moon. It was July of 1969. Buzz Aldrin had decided that as soon as the module set down on the moon, he would celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Listen as he describes that event: “We awoke at 5:30 a.m. Houston time. Neil and I separated from Mike Collins in the command module. Our powered descent was right on schedule. With only seconds worth of fuel left, we touched down at 3:30 p.m. Now was the moment for Communion. So I un‑stowed the elements in their flight packets. I put them and the Scripture reading on the little table in front of the abort-guidance-system computer. Then I called back to Houston. ‘Houston, this is Eagle. This is LM Pilot speaking. I would like to request a few moments of silence. I would like to invite each person listening in, wherever and whoever he may be, to contemplate for a moment the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his own individual way.’”
For Aldrin, his way of giving thanks was to observe the sacrament of Holy Communion. He describes the moment like this, “In the blackout I opened the little plastic packages, which contained bread and wine. I poured wine into the chalice my parish had given me. In the one‑sixth gravity of the moon, the wine curled slowly and gracefully up the cup. It was interesting to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the first food eaten there, were (communion) elements. Just before I partook of the elements I read the words, which I had chosen to indicate our trust that as (human beings) probe into space, we are in fact acting in Christ. I sensed especially strongly my unity with our church back home, and with the Church everywhere. I read: ‘I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him, will bear much fruit; for without me you do nothing.’” (2)
I’m sure there were those who protested Aldrin’s actions. That’s the kind of world we live in. But the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is at the very heart of life in the Christian community. Why are we here? We are here because the Master told us to be here.
WE ARE ALSO HERE BECAUSE WE KNOW THE LORD IS HERE WITH US. Jesus says to us in Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Especially is that true in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. Christ is here in a very real way seeking to make himself known to each of us.
There is a most unusual website on the Internet at www.johnspirko.com. The heading on the site is “Free John Spirko.” For more than twenty years there has been a most controversial case in the state of Ohio. It is the case of John Spirko. Spirko has spent twenty-seven years in prison, twenty-three of them on death row, for a crime he allegedly never committed. Spirko is not a sympathetic figure. He has committed other crimes, but there are many knowledgeable people who believe he did not commit this particular crime. Just before he was to be executed, the Governor of Ohio commuted Spirko’s sentence to life without parole lest an innocent man be executed.
On the “Free John Spirko” website is a message from David Van Dyke, pastor of Broad St. Presbyterian Church, in Columbus, Ohio. Van Dyke reached out to Spirko and ministered to him in the time before he thought Spirko was going to be executed. He was with him when Spirko’s final appeal was rejected by the U. S. Supreme Court and it appeared certain that he was be executed the next day. Van Dyke describes his experience with Spirko. He says that each time he visited Spirko, the institution’s rules seemed to change. Sometimes they wouldn’t allow him to take his wallet inside, other times they would. At first he took Spirko communion, but then one day they wouldn’t let him take his little baggie of bread and small bottle of juice inside. So the last few times he visited John, he didn’t even attempt to bring the communion elements.
When Van Dyke visited Spirko on the day after the Supreme Court refused to hear his final appeal, a guard asked him, “Where’s your communion stuff at?” Van Dyke said he didn’t have it with him because in the past they wouldn’t let him take it inside. Another guard said, “If you don’t got the communion stuff, you ain’t goin’ back!”
“Listen,” Van Dyke said, “I’ve driven up here from Columbus and if I have to, I’ll go get some communion stuff.” This was agreeable to the prison staff, so he headed out in search of some stuff that could serve as an impromptu holy meal. The first place he came to was a BP gas station and convenience store. No grape juice, but he did find something called “Goofy Grape Soda” in the pop section of the store, but when he couldn’t find anything that resembled bread just peanuts, chips, and doughnuts with his theological mind racing, he noticed the service station also housed a Subway Sandwich shop. So, he negotiated for a plain bun and headed back to the prison.
Once back on death row, he took out the plain bun, placed it on the table between Spirko and himself, and then he poured some Goofy Grape into two coffee cups. Van Dyke notes that Presbyterians aren’t big on winging things, especially things like communion liturgy, but the bread at least smelled good fresh. Sitting across the table from each other, he reminded Spirko that it was called the Last Supper because it would be the last time Jesus and his friends would break bread together. Then the two of them held hands, bowed their heads and prayed together. They prayed, says Van Dyke, for peace in the world, for an end to corrupt systems, for the powers that be one of Spirko’s favorite expressions and for justice. And then Pastor David Van Dyke prayed this prayer, “Pour out your Holy Spirit, O God, upon us and upon these gifts of bread and cup” these gifts of plain bun and Goofy Grape soda, Van Dyke thought to himself “that they may be to us the communion of the body and blood of Christ.”
When the prayer was over, Van Dyke picked up the bread and before tearing it in half, heard himself saying words both familiar and yet alive with poignant new meaning, “On the night of his arrest before he would be unfairly tried and executed by the state, whose chief legal officer admittedly found no fault in him Jesus took bread and broke it.” In a small room on Ohio’s death row, and with his clock about to start ticking, John Spirko and Pastor David Van Dyke “sat together silently, and took their time chewing on large pieces of the bread of life,” and then they “drank salvation out of Styrofoam cups.” Van Dyke closes his testimony with these words, “It was quiet, we were alone just the three of us.” (3)
I like the way he ended that little narrative, “we were alone just the three of us.” In a very real way Christians believe that anytime we eat the loaf which is his body and drink from the cup which is his blood, Christ is present.
Why are we here? We are here because the Master told us to be here, and we are here because we know the Lord is here with us.
FINALLY WE ARE HERE SO WE WILL NOT FORGET WHAT CHRIST HAS DONE FOR US. “Do this,” said the Master, “in remembrance of me.” And so we are here remembering the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
There is a time-honored story about the novelist Somerset Maugham. We’re told that Maugham kept a cracked earthenware cup on the mantel of his plush London home. When someone asked him about that ugly, broken centerpiece among all of the beautiful objects of art there in his home, he explained that during the First World War he had been on a troop ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean. During that crossing the soldiers’
rations of water were reduced to just one cup a day. He said it was that very cup now gracing his mantel from which he drank that daily ration of water. He said, “I keep [the cup] on the mantel as a reminder that I can never take my blessings for granted.”
We come here this night to ensure that we never take for granted what the Lord has done for us. Why are we here? We are here because the Master told us to be here, because we know the Lord is here with us and so we will never, never forget.
1. Tarbell’s Teacher’s Guide, Sept. 1997-Aug. 1998 (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook. Publishing Co., 1997).
2. From an internet preaching listserv. Cited by Beth W. Johnston, http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Styx/4291/purple0401.html.
3. http://www.johnspirko.com/links/communionstuff.html.