3 Easter Yr A

Risen Lord, be known to us in the breaking of the bread. From the moment I stepped into an Episcopal church this is the scripture, the prayer, the action, that made the presence of Jesus Christ real for me. There is nothing about church, about community, about family, about faith, about social justice, about baptismal promises, about a passion for the gospel of Jesus Christ, that is not contained in this little collection of words. Risen Lord, be known to us in the breaking of the bread.

As a child, I lived in a community of people. I am five of eight. There were most always people around, and the liveliest times of the day were our dinner meal. We would scrunch around our kitchen table, someone would have to sit on a stool at the counter in order to get us all in. I remember those times with all the commotion and chaos quite fondly.

When we would gather for holidays there were 23 of us grandchildren. We would enjoy a meal together, but not much quiet. Often many of us little one’s would end up staying the night wherever we were. I remember those times and savor the innocence of those relationships.

As we grew older, all of us cousins with all of our children stopped gathering for the Christmas, Easter or Thanksgiving holiday, but many times we gathered the evening before Thanksgiving, as many as could, for a game dinner, venison, duck, sometimes even salmon caught in Alaska. Those were nostalgic times.

The Norwegian relatives on my fathers’ side have gathered every other year for as long as I can remember for a family reunion. We spend a couple of days together, eating mostly, and telling lots of stories. Many have died now, including my father. These are precious times.

As one of our sons is already off on his own, and the second one will be gone in the blink of an eye, I savor the meals we are able to share together, even with such busy schedules we often sit down to dinner together, and sometimes even breakfast. While we were at seminary, my classmates and I ate lunch together each day. And many Friday nights would find all of us, our spouses and children, gathered around the pool for a potluck meal. Since most of us were away from family, holidays were spent together, because we had become family. Those are meals that will never be forgotten.

Risen Lord, be known to us in the breaking of the bread. Telling stories, eating, breaking bread, feasting, remembering, reconstituting, recreating; these are all ways that we know our Risen Lord.

It makes so much sense that breaking bread together is the central activity for us. The most radical activity that Jesus engaged in was to invite people to a meal. And not just anyone got that invitation. Not only were there religious leaders, there were tax collectors, there were women, single women at that, women who were protected by no one. At table Jesus taught about the kingdom of God. At table Jesus disrupted the social order. At table, Jesus nourished not only the body, but the spirit and the soul as well.

When we gather together at this table we come from home and work and school; we come from far away and down the street, we come and we tell our story, and we tell the story of God’s activity in our lives; we tell the story of creation, blessing, turning away, God loving us back into relationship, repentance, reconciliation and restoration. We tell the story of life, death, and resurrection. We tell the truth.

It is important however that we know the story, that we know how God saved the people from the flood waters, that we know that God freed the people from slavery in Egypt. It is important that we know that God brought the people out of exile back into their land. And it is important that we know that God came to live and die as one of us, that Jesus is in our midst.

The way we know those stories is to read them and to study them. The way we know those stories is to gather together in bible study, to listen and to talk about what God did and continues to do in this world. The way we know these stories is to tell them to our children, to tell them to our children at home, to tell them to all of our children here in Sunday school.

We must know these stories because they help us remember who we are. We remember who we are and we recognize one another and we are recognized in the breaking of the bread and the prayers. We give thanks for our blessings; we ask for healing for ourselves and others, we eat together.

That is what happened with the two in our story today, who were walking away from Jerusalem, dejected, alone, afraid. Wondering what it was all about, wondering how it all went so very wrong. And the one who told the story of Moses and all the prophets, who told them the story of Jesus, joined them. They invited him to stay, he did, they ate together, and they recognized him.

We recognize Jesus in the people with whom we gather to share and tell our stories, and the stories of our faith; we recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread, we see Jesus in the hands, and in the eyes, and in the faces of the people at our sides as we come to this table to eat.

But we also recognize Jesus in the stranger, we see and hear Jesus in those who are out there, those who continue to live in isolation, in loneliness, in hurt, in this broken world. We recognize the freedom, the peace, the community, that can be theirs as well.

Risen Lord, be known to us in the breaking of the bread. Help us to recognize you in word and sacrament, in story and in food, help us to see you in the midst of this community, and help us to see you in those we greet each day. Help us to be agents of your new creation, standing on the ground that you have already won in your resurrection.

Alleluia! The Lord is risen. Come let us adore him. Alleluia!