S4 Episode 21: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Translation: NRSVue

3 Questions:

What word, phrase or image strikes you in this text?

Toward what is God calling you in this text?

How do you do this in remembrance of Jesus?

Additional texts:

Exodus 12:1-14

Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19

John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Transcript

00:03.42
Kevin Shock
Nathan, I'm, I'm very tired this morning.

00:07.22
Nathan Pile
Oh yeah, you're tired.

00:07.90
Kevin Shock
and I am. I am.

00:09.17
Nathan Pile
Well, you've had a lot going on.

00:09.62
Kevin Shock
I, I, apparently...

00:12.90
Kevin Shock
ah um I just came back from Conference of Bishops ah like 36 hours ago and got home in the middle of the night because of some weather delays and things like that.

00:26.56
Kevin Shock
But I do want to say... that the thing I'm always up for is reading and talking about scripture.

00:33.94
Nathan Pile
Yeah. Yeah.

00:34.90
Kevin Shock
I, I, even this morning, earlier this morning, I slept through my first alarm. I gave myself permission to do that, waited for my second alarm, which comes significantly later.

00:49.27
Kevin Shock
and, And I took the dogs downstairs and put them outside. And then I, um, I sat down to read some scripture and and pray a little bit because I thought I have a ton of stuff to do, but this is the best way for me to start my day.

01:05.90
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

01:06.33
Kevin Shock
So... Now I've gotten some more stuff done, and now I'm going to sit down and read and talk about scripture with you. and i'm um Although I'm tired, I'm happy to be doing this.

01:17.85
Nathan Pile
Well, it's a, you know, it's a busy lifestyle, a jet setter like you are now, know?

01:22.60
Kevin Shock
Oh my gosh, I don't want to become a jet setter. I would be happy to not have. I mean, I don't have to go to these meetings all the time in Chicago and things like that, but I have to do it more now than I ever had to before. so

01:38.07
Nathan Pile
Sure, sure. Well, but it's a part of your, your new role too, right? and It's a part of

01:43.35
Kevin Shock
It is. And it was, and it was a good, it was a good gathering to be a part of. um

01:48.83
Nathan Pile
relating relating to the the bigger, broader church.

01:53.08
Kevin Shock
Yeah. And, you know, the interesting thing I find is that we, um we make a lot of assumptions about one another, but we have so much in common, both our challenges and our joys as a church.

02:03.92
Nathan Pile
Hmm.

02:06.43
Kevin Shock
And it was really good for me to hear that. um And I can remember going to, uh,

02:09.01
Nathan Pile
Hmm.

02:14.62
Kevin Shock
churchwide assembly back in the fall and back in last summer, last August, and reconnecting there with one of my good friends from seminary who's in Pacifica synod and serves as a part-time assistant to the bishop there.

02:30.90
Kevin Shock
And as he and I had conversation, he was telling me about some of their struggles.

02:32.59
Nathan Pile
Hmm.

02:34.94
Kevin Shock
And I said, we have the exact same struggles in Allegheny. And you couldn't be, I mean, Pacifica is part of Los Angeles County, ah Orange County, California, down to San Diego, and then Hawaii.

02:44.31
Nathan Pile
Yeah,

02:49.23
Kevin Shock
So culturally and geographically, you couldn't be far further removed from Allegheny than Pacifica.

02:51.44
Nathan Pile
right. yeah right

02:56.93
Kevin Shock
But, but we, yeah, it's the same kind of stuff. And, um and then at this one, i connected with several bishops that I was meeting for the first time and uh who really are just great people all around um but had a very similar conversation with uh Bishop Jeff Johnson who is the Bishop of Sierra Pacific Synod which is San Francisco and Northern California um and um

03:16.29
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

03:33.02
Kevin Shock
yeah uh it but the the struggles and the joys that they have in in sierra pacific are even closer to Allegheny than what what i discussed with pastor Daryl about Pacifica so yeah um yeah so it it was it was really good and it was you know sometimes you go to meetings where you have these people from all over the country and you feel like what did i really accomplish boy i came back with all kinds of just ideas and and thoughts and it really helped to shape me um as to what my ministry and our ministry can be here in Allegheny.

04:08.18
Kevin Shock
So it was really a really great event.

04:10.71
Nathan Pile
Well, it's exciting how you'll lead us in these partnerships nationally and regionally, locally.

04:17.72
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm.

04:17.88
Nathan Pile
you know as you As you move into this role, it is ah you know you have you have some time to kind of get your... get your legs underneath you and and do that, but to be also to be able to go to these kinds of things.

04:28.78
Nathan Pile
And as you come back with new ah you know, you already have new ideas, you have some, you've had some good conversations. And so, uh, it'll be interesting to see how you lead us in all of these partnerships because they are, they're partnerships with our, you know, uh, other Lutheran, uh, synods across the country to be able to kind of say, Hey, we have some, some similar things that we're, um,

04:34.21
Kevin Shock
Sure.

04:50.34
Nathan Pile
experiencing in in trying to accomplish ministry. And so being able to kind of share best practices, things like that, you know, we have that in Lutheran Outdoor Ministries. That's our network for, for camps it is the kind of the same group of people. And so I'm, I'm glad to hear your first ah foray in this direction is was good.

05:11.10
Kevin Shock
Yeah, for and for a lot of bishops, they go to their first um conference of bishops gathering ah about three months or three to four months after they've been elected. And maybe some of them have...

05:26.36
Kevin Shock
already started and they've been through orientation, things like that. I um i was there in my fifth week and with no orientation. it's so ah But the thing that I found was everyone was great about orienting me.

05:43.86
Kevin Shock
You know, I had tons of tons of other bishops coming up to me and saying, how are you finding this?

05:44.79
Nathan Pile
Good.

05:50.07
Kevin Shock
What do you need? You know, I mean, things like that. it that Like, they're really, they're really great people.

05:53.31
Nathan Pile
Sure.

05:55.70
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

05:56.21
Nathan Pile
Good.

05:56.86
Kevin Shock
And I'm, I'm glad to be among them.

05:59.75
Nathan Pile
Good. Good.

06:01.05
Kevin Shock
Anyway, that that turned into a lot about me and my ministry. And here we are six minutes in. Let's talk about some scripture.

06:07.42
Nathan Pile
Yeah, scripture.

06:07.96
Kevin Shock
um Yeah.

06:08.47
Nathan Pile
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

06:09.20
Kevin Shock
ah So we're looking today. We're looking at 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verses 23 to 26. The translation we're using is the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, the NRSVUE.

06:21.62
Kevin Shock
Yeah. um And the three questions today, what word, phrase, or image strikes you in this text toward what is God calling you in this text? And how do you do this in remembrance of Jesus?

06:37.93
Nathan Pile
Hmm.

06:38.78
Kevin Shock
That's really vague.

06:40.25
Nathan Pile
Boom. Yeah, I saw the passage, so I know what's coming. um ah, ah, in That's right.

06:44.44
Kevin Shock
Yeah, you know what's coming, right? right Everyone else will soon, too.

06:48.81
Nathan Pile
You will soon. If you, if you're, if you don't have memorized what 1 Corinthians 11 is, you'll, you'll know very quickly. um Some information about your hosts. We're men married to women in financially stable households, white, firmly in middle age, college and seminary educated, We work in the Lutheran Church and were born and raised in Western Pennsylvania. All of this affects how we read in Scripture and discuss it, but none of this makes us better able to read and discuss Scripture than anyone else.

07:15.32
Nathan Pile
We believe that the wisdom of Scripture is the whole community's compiled interpretation for life with God and one another. So we want to know what you hear and think from your life experience.

07:31.66
Nathan Pile
1 Corinthians chapter 11. Verses 23 through 26.

07:38.46
Nathan Pile
For I received with the lor- from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took a loaf of bread. And we had when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body that is for you.

07:55.22
Nathan Pile
Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, he took the cup also after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

08:07.06
Nathan Pile
For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

08:16.82
Nathan Pile
If you're meeting with group, you can pause the podcast now and engage the questions on your own. If you're just sitting in your car listening, though, Kevin's going to answer what word, phrase, or image strikes you in this text.

08:30.71
Kevin Shock
Right at the beginning, I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you. That is, that is not true.

08:40.82
Kevin Shock
ah not in the way that we, Not in the way that Paul presents it or that we might think about it. um In the sense that Paul was not one of the 12 who were there on the night that Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper. Yeah.

08:57.82
Kevin Shock
However, he's he's right in saying that what what he does when he presides at the Lord's Supper, he has received that from the Lord. um And this the way that Paul talks about this and um the way that the way that we talk about it as contemporary Christians,

09:27.06
Kevin Shock
i in in a history in a historic tradition, um I think is good. That this is...

09:38.52
Kevin Shock
Someone taught Paul about the Lord's Supper, and it wasn't Jesus directly, but they got it from Jesus, probably, or they got it from someone who got it from Jesus.

09:51.06
Kevin Shock
And so that... that lineage is as good as just receiving it from Jesus. And almost, you know, 1900 years down the line, it's the same with us.

10:07.86
Kevin Shock
It's, but you know, all the generations have learned this from the generation before them, um how to how to institute and, and how to receive the Lord's Supper.

10:13.26
Nathan Pile
Sure.

10:18.26
Kevin Shock
and um

10:24.05
Kevin Shock
But even 1900 years removed, it's, it's the same as us just receiving it directly from Jesus. um I, Yeah, I don't, I don't know how to...

10:36.78
Kevin Shock
There's more I want to unpack, but don't know exactly how to unpack it.

10:40.47
Nathan Pile
Sure. Well, so here, um that phrase, as that your phrase is my phrase, but I went in a little different angle of it, um which was which was, we don't, Paul never sits and writes

10:40.98
Kevin Shock
that

10:47.86
Kevin Shock
Okay. Yeah, tell us.

10:58.58
Nathan Pile
um in a very focused way about what happens between he and Jesus when Paul loses his sight.

11:12.03
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm. here

11:14.04
Nathan Pile
Like we know he has this encounter with Christ. um But we don't have, ah there's never a play-by-play. There's not a movie. There's not an interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN that says, this is everything that happened in my experience with Christ.

11:37.21
Nathan Pile
And so I wondered if a part of that time that that Paul has with Christ if this instruction isn't a part of that.

11:50.53
Kevin Shock
Oh. Oh, you mean like when

11:56.22
Kevin Shock
when he had been struck blind on the road to Damascus?

11:59.35
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

12:00.38
Kevin Shock
Mm, mm, I mean, that certainly is a possibility, yeah.

12:03.99
Nathan Pile
right So that that's what, one because I saw the words and I was like, where where did he get this from? And then that was, my mind went there first, right? For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you. um

12:14.39
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm.

12:15.22
Nathan Pile
It could absolutely be what you've also said, which is he received it. He received it from God, though it was through other people's hands and voices coming to the table.

12:27.78
Kevin Shock
Sure.

12:28.50
Nathan Pile
And then he handed it on to others. Or could it have also have been there?

12:30.58
Kevin Shock
here

12:32.34
Nathan Pile
So again, there's a part of, and I like both explanations, to be honest with you because it it ah it allows for the mystery of God to be bigger then than one avenue, right?

12:48.02
Nathan Pile
I always like that God is bigger in scripture at times because of the mystery of who God is. And so Even this teaching that Paul is handing on feels with both explanations, which I think, think are both rich, right?

13:09.62
Nathan Pile
Rich explanations of how this tradition is started and is passed on.

13:15.26
Nathan Pile
And, and this is evidence that that communion was happening early in the community of disciples. The followers of Jesus were ta- were sharing in communion early after Jesus' death.

13:30.10
Kevin Shock
Yes, absolutely.

13:30.68
Nathan Pile
Like this isn't hundreds of years later that we decide, oh, we're going to do communion. Because Paul is writing probably 10 to 15 years death. after Jesus' death It might be a little longer, might be 20, depending on which letter we're talking about. But, but by the 40s, Paul's writing.

13:50.97
Nathan Pile
um We have sense of that.

13:54.39
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm.

13:54.42
Nathan Pile
so we have So Paul's had his conversion experience with Christ and, and is writing about that. And so the, were pretty early on, we find out that the tradition of having communion and, not communion. Well, it doesn't seem, ah it doesn't seem as if it's communion only on certain times of the day or certain Sundays. It's all every Sunday you're having communion or when the community is gathering. It seems that that's the tradition here early.

14:26.81
Nathan Pile
Hence the reason that we, at least in the Lutheran Christian Church, have gone back to weekly communion. And, and as Kevin and I were coming out of seminary, and even before that there was a major push liturgically to make communion a weekly thing.

14:43.77
Nathan Pile
um

14:45.14
Kevin Shock
yeah

14:45.24
Nathan Pile
And so... um And there may still be congregations that don't do communion weekly. And some of that is because maybe they don't have pastors and, and aren't, aren't able to do that. And some may still be doing it out of other choice. But here we, we're seeing a tradition early on um of communion.

15:05.98
Nathan Pile
get being passed on? And again, it's being passed is it passed through someone one else, a faithful community giving Paul the sacrament for the first time? Or is it is it through this conversion experience with Jesus that Paul has, that Paul has handed it from Jesus?

15:25.98
Nathan Pile
Either way, at least as ah as ah for me as a Lutheran Christian, I believe that God is in the, the body and blood. And so Paul's words of, I received from the Lord, communion is from God, even though it's handed out by human beings every week.

15:45.32
Nathan Pile
It's God's gift to us.

15:49.14
Nathan Pile
ah So that's where I went, where you you're seem to be holding your face and in thoughtful reflection.

15:49.27
Kevin Shock
Hmm, yeah

15:56.39
Nathan Pile
What do you got?

15:58.39
Kevin Shock
I'm just thinking about a lot of stuff, just about the, um, the, um, weekly communion tradition. And also cause, cause now the, the pendulum starting to go back the other way because of the,

16:14.04
Kevin Shock
the situation we're in with clergy in our denomination and such.

16:16.42
Nathan Pile
shortage ah for Shortage of pastors. Yeah.

16:18.74
Kevin Shock
And, um, and actually I had some robust conversations this past week with some other bishops about how to, um

16:32.25
Kevin Shock
how to, how to uphold the, the priority and the nature of the Eucharist of Holy Communion even when people aren't able to receive it.

16:45.85
Kevin Shock
um So anyway, um but the other thing I was thinking about is, can you can you unpack a little bit about, um I don't know if I know enough about this, but what did communion look like in the early church? Was it, was it that, um, was it a just a, a bite of a wafer and a sip of wine? Do

17:07.70
Kevin Shock
do, do you have a sense of what it it looked like?

17:10.58
Nathan Pile
Well, it would have been in connection to the meal. So if, if you're looking at Paul's letters, um Paul yells at the people of Corinth because the rich have gathered for a meal and then they invite everyone else in the congregation to show up later.

17:27.54
Nathan Pile
Right. And so there's a separation that begins to happen between the wealthy of the.

17:28.02
Kevin Shock
Oh.

17:31.41
Kevin Shock
Oh.

17:33.52
Nathan Pile
And so that's one of Paul's letters is that he is, um trying to correct what is happening, a division within their community. So I'm not sure if it's in the first letter or the second letter.

17:49.56
Nathan Pile
And I'd have to look into that a little bit, but that's a part of what's happening here is, and so it was in connection to the meal.

17:51.59
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm.

17:56.16
Nathan Pile
There was a meal that was had. They gathered in the whatever the, the community's gathering space was, usually somebody's home, um and a meal was had. and, And originally it was intended that everybody would come.

18:11.67
Nathan Pile
But what ends up happening in this, in the corinth- in Corinth is that they the wealthy come for the meal and then everybody else is invited to show up for the communion aspect of it. So the haves,

18:24.70
Kevin Shock
Oh, OK.

18:24.76
Nathan Pile
it's

18:25.64
Kevin Shock
Yep.

18:26.01
Nathan Pile
so the, the halves have a nice meal together and fellowship, then they welcome everybody else to come in and be a part of it.

18:38.20
Nathan Pile
and so But again, it creates two levels, right? So you're welcome to come for the service, but you're not really welcome to come to the before meal kind of a thing.

18:41.40
Kevin Shock
Yeah. Yeah.

18:47.34
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

18:47.65
Nathan Pile
so

18:48.08
Kevin Shock
Yep.

18:49.66
Nathan Pile
So, um, so that becomes a part of Paul's teaching. So, so it is in connection to a meal. Um, if you're, if you read Paul's letters a little bit more, and when they're talking about this, sometimes there's confusion about how many chalices were given of wine.

19:03.80
Nathan Pile
Um, and I think that's probably out of some of the Jewish tradition, um, as well, because if we go back to the, um, uh, Seder, there's the wine shows up a couple of different times in the Seder meal. Um,

19:18.94
Nathan Pile
And so there's also so in Paul's writing, it the chalice shows up twice. And so then we might call into question, well, what does this, you know, are we supposed to do mean the wine twice?

19:30.97
Nathan Pile
What's going on here? So, so.

19:32.45
Kevin Shock
right.

19:34.90
Nathan Pile
There's some, you know, we don't have all of the details. Again, this isn't written out by a true historian sitting there just documenting exactly what happens. It's that we're taking the writings that we do have and trying to understand some of that history piece. um Does it, is it a whole loaf of bread, pieces of bread?

19:55.64
Nathan Pile
um ah Again, we don't have the, like, did they actually slice the bread? Again, the tradition of the time would have been silverware would have been a luxury um and so pulling a hunk of bread ah would have been the normal way to eat bread anyway um so that's most most um you know was it wafers probably, no, probably not it was probably a loaf of bread um that that was used and wine was the wine uh and so

20:06.87
Kevin Shock
Yeah, sure. Mm-hmm.

20:29.72
Nathan Pile
Those pieces are what, that you know that's what we have. the, the, To get uber specific, I don't think we have the details to be able to track that back far enough.

20:39.32
Kevin Shock
No, no, no.

20:40.46
Nathan Pile
But that gives us, I hope that gives at least a little bit more of, of what you were asking for there, history kind of wise.

20:46.07
Kevin Shock
Yeah, it does. It does. And it mostly I was wondering about the connection to an actual meal that that we take in for sustenance.

20:53.36
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

20:56.08
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

20:56.38
Kevin Shock
um Because I think that that is in our contemporary era or modern era. And and now we that That notion that there was ever a connection between ah us eating for sustenance and what we do during the liturgy,

21:16.47
Kevin Shock
that there' that there's eve that there was ever a connection there is lost, I think, on on a lot of people.

21:16.48
Nathan Pile
yeah.

21:21.98
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

21:22.17
Kevin Shock
um Because, because a wafer and ah and a little sip of wine or grape juice does not fill you up. I mean, physically it doesn't.

21:28.71
Nathan Pile
No, right.

21:30.17
Kevin Shock
Um, but that, and, and certainly also remembering that, and I'm not advocating for, um the idea of like, quote unquote, Christian seders or anything like that.

21:42.65
Kevin Shock
I'm not advocating for that, but that this was the Passover meal that Jesus was celebrating, um, at the, at the first last supper, Lord's lord's supper.

21:48.74
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

21:55.35
Kevin Shock
Um, and, uh, So there would have been more of a sense of like you're you're you're also you're you're it's a ritual that involves food, but you are also eating like your your dinner for that night. Yeah.

22:13.40
Kevin Shock
So that's mainly what I was wondering about, if you could share a little bit more.

22:17.69
Nathan Pile
Yeah, no. And what your thoughts make me think about, because I'm starting to think about planning for Tend, for our festival in this in June. And I'm thinking maybe we should do a dinner church for one of those nights.

22:31.26
Nathan Pile
We would do dinner and, and communion um kind of a thing in the middle of that event and be a way to kind of do that connection one evening.

22:31.29
Kevin Shock
yep

22:41.74
Nathan Pile
So, so I'll have to brew on that a little bit. But I like that. I like the thought. Yeah.

22:47.64
Nathan Pile
all right i'll do this a second time

22:48.25
Kevin Shock
All right. Yeah, let's look at it. From 1 Corinthians 11. For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body that is for you.

23:06.52
Kevin Shock
Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way he took the cup also after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

23:18.07
Kevin Shock
For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

23:26.52
Kevin Shock
Nathan, what toward what is God calling you in this text?

23:31.39
Nathan Pile
Um, uh,

23:35.00
Nathan Pile
ah something, um, something between remembrance and proclamation.

23:36.09
Kevin Shock
Mmm. Mmm.

23:43.02
Kevin Shock
Mmm.

23:45.27
Nathan Pile
So, um as I just hear the words, I'm, I'm trying to stay away from our, our, um, seminary responses around communion, but just hearing the words as you read them, um,

24:01.34
Nathan Pile
There's something, ah part of this meal helps me to remember the Christ, to remember the the Savior of the world. and And then I'm, then I'm, as I'm, as I'm doing and living out that meal, my response then is to proclaim this person that I'm, I'm remembering, that I've remembered.

24:27.29
Nathan Pile
So, um, I guess that would be the simple, that'd be my simplest answer, um, to this. And so, um, that, that in the, in the gathering of this meal, we are, we are nourished by the memory of, of who Christ is remembering, um, the ministry, the words, um,

24:58.07
Nathan Pile
the care and love that's been poured upon us. And then because of that nourishment, and and and I guess in my head, remembering

25:15.68
Nathan Pile
isn't goes back to, It goes back to what you and i have been doing with our Lenten study with the by heart piece. The remembering is, is, is about changing our heart, helping our heart to live more fully as disciples of Christ.

25:31.71
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm.

25:33.38
Nathan Pile
And so this remembering isn't about, oh, just remembering Jesus. It's about, it's about, it's about the Jesus's words and actions, what Jesus has taught us about God's ways. Um, and then that that, that, that, that nourishment marches us forward to, to tell others about what that is, to proclaim that, to celebrate it, um, to celebrate who Jesus is, but to also in that proclamation, I guess, in my mind, proclamation isn't just, I'm doing it loudly.

26:13.66
Nathan Pile
um And so others are going to hear it. Maybe it's not the reason that I'm proclaiming. My proclamation is giving thanks and praise to God. But in my proclamation being loud, other people hear it. And so therefore, therefore in some ways, I become a, you know, a witness, but not, that's not my purpose.

26:33.69
Nathan Pile
My purpose is to just simply give gratitude. um So oh what about you, my friend? toward What is God calling you in this passage?

26:44.54
Kevin Shock
Well, I don't know. I liked your answer a lot better than what I was thinking of originally. So maybe we just stick with that. ah ah there's, There's a lot of, um I don't know, there's a lot of do this, do this, do this in the, in the reading.

26:57.89
Nathan Pile
Mm-hmm.

26:59.50
Kevin Shock
and so but the, But the question is kind of, what is this exactly? Like, what's the this that Paul's unpacking? And this is... This is probably behind are but the third question, too. When I originally put together this prep sheet, that's probably what I was thinking about.

27:16.86
Kevin Shock
um For me, though, it is this, I think, an important part of this reading that isn't evident to us for as we read it in English is something I'm assuming, but I know to be true. I mean, I'm assuming it to be true, is that that you...

27:36.44
Kevin Shock
in verse 23, what I also handed on to you is plural. And we don't have that distinction in, in English, like so many other languages, including Koine Greek. um For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you all, your, your community.

27:55.20
Nathan Pile
Yeah, all y'all.

27:58.36
Kevin Shock
um And so I think that this is... um

28:08.25
Kevin Shock
this reading is encouragement for me to make sure I'm gathering in community around holy things that God has given us this this this isn't about this isn't about personal prayer this isn't this certainly is not

28:17.96
Nathan Pile
Hmm. Hmm.

28:25.56
Kevin Shock
ah I mean, you know, taken entirely out of context and reading it reading it in English, you could say that, you know, this this someone could, if this is all they're reading, someone could make the assumption that, oh, so I'm, when I eat bread and drink wine, I'm receiving communion. No, no, this is a, this is communal.

28:44.82
Kevin Shock
And back to what you said before about the issue in, in Corinth that, the, the rich people were eating the big meal and then inviting everyone else to come along for the kind of the scraps afterwards.

28:57.73
Nathan Pile
Mm-hmm.

28:57.80
Kevin Shock
That's yeah, that's not, Paul is talking about something different here. Paul's talking about everyone gathering together, um eating together, drinking together, remembering together, proclaiming together. And, um,

29:15.48
Kevin Shock
Yeah, so I, I, that's what I feel like this calls me into, to to be sure to be a part of a community that does that, whether it's communion or whether it's other gathering around other holy things on a regular basis. That's, that's an important thing to do.

29:36.54
Kevin Shock
And also me

29:40.66
Kevin Shock
that, um it also reminds me that When you and I were ordained, Nathan, we one of the vows that we promised to uphold is that we, as pastors of the church, would make regular use of the means of grace.

30:02.34
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

30:02.42
Kevin Shock
which which is church speak for, that we would receive communion on a regular basis, that we would remember our baptisms and be in communities that remember their baptisms on a regular basis, and that um that we would we would hear the word proclaimed on a regular basis, and not just when we're in charge of it, but also on the receiving end of it.

30:30.55
Kevin Shock
And, um, and I think that that's something that is important for us to lift up here that, um, you know, I, I shared something on my, on my professional social media page, uh, while I was in Chicago that, um, we, the bishops do the same thing that all the other Christians do because we have to do it.

30:51.83
Kevin Shock
Um,

30:51.88
Nathan Pile
Yeah. okay

30:52.95
Kevin Shock
That we, we remember our baptisms, we hear sermons, we receive communion. all, All of those things are important things for us to do because it keeps us rooted and grounded in our identity. In, in the Lutheran tradition, a bishop is no good bishop unless they remember that they were first. Their first their first and primary call is as a baptized child of God.

31:20.17
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

31:23.16
Kevin Shock
So yeah, I, um, to gather and to gather often and to gather around these holy things and to do them with one another. That's, that's what this is calling me toward. Yep.

31:41.16
Nathan Pile
Yeah. I like, um, your, as you were talking about it, you you kind of got a, you had a little bit of a a sermon vibe going in the middle there. And you were like, together gathered, together remember, together fed, together proclaim. I was like, I could see that being in a little... ah A little branding, a little something, I don't know.

32:05.23
Kevin Shock
Sure.

32:05.43
Nathan Pile
But it is, right? Because it's not, as you said, it's not about being alone in that.

32:07.61
Kevin Shock
okay

32:11.59
Nathan Pile
It's about doing it together. All y'all do this together. Do it as in your communities of faith, whatever that community of faith.

32:22.43
Nathan Pile
it's 12, if it's 2,700, um, whatever your community of faith is

32:28.31
Nathan Pile
do it together so um and be and be raised and nurtured by it you know and and I, I appreciate, this is the time of year where I'm starting to put together like thinking about all of the different pieces of our summer right and

32:33.31
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm.

32:49.78
Nathan Pile
one of the things I started to think about is, is our worships on Sunday mornings with our summer staff when we're just together. Like what, what is it that I want to talk about, preach about? Sometimes I just use the lectionary of what's going on that summer, but this year I think I'm going to be a little bit more, um, intentional and specific about specific things. I want them to hear. We have, I have them for 10 weeks.

33:12.89
Nathan Pile
And so for those 10 Sunday mornings, what is it that, um, What is it that we'll hear together about, about God and about God's um call to us, God's love for us? Yeah.

33:31.03
Nathan Pile
yeah So it's been interesting to be in the catechism. ah Also, this again, it's just funny how the Holy Spirit works, but that, that, that piece is there as we've been doing this here on Tuesday nights.

33:42.04
Nathan Pile
um of what that feels like, um, moving forward.

33:46.30
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm.

33:47.06
Nathan Pile
so, um, so yeah, that, that idea of together is one of those pieces now for me. And so, um, one of those nine themes, 10 themes that we'll, I'll use over the summer.

33:59.53
Nathan Pile
And so how do I, how do we talk about that? Um, and, and hearing again, Luther's core kind of foundational theology pieces, um, coming out of that catechism, um,

34:13.72
Nathan Pile
has been help has been another one of those inspirational streams of the Holy Spirit to kind of help think about, well, what is it that we want to, that I, as ah the pastor of the staff, want to help them know about God?

34:30.39
Nathan Pile
so, So it's been good. So thanks for the sermon mantra. Together, together, together, together, together.

34:37.24
Kevin Shock
Sure. oh

34:41.22
Nathan Pile
So, all right, you ready to do a third time?

34:43.69
Kevin Shock
Yep, I am.

34:46.62
Nathan Pile
All right. For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took a loaf of bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body that is for you.

35:03.61
Nathan Pile
Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, he took the cup also after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

35:17.08
Nathan Pile
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

35:27.06
Nathan Pile
Kevin, how do you do this in remembrance of Jesus?

35:35.83
Kevin Shock
but um, I'm, I'm, Nathan, I hate to say it, but I'm going to give into the thing I often give into. This question is the wrong question.

35:46.78
Kevin Shock
ah

35:49.17
Nathan Pile
Okay, so what's the right question?

35:50.94
Kevin Shock
I did this, I did this prep sheet two weeks ago, and this is the wrong question. um no it's not not that No, not that it's the right question.

35:55.26
Nathan Pile
So what's the right question?

35:58.70
Nathan Pile
What's the better question?

35:58.90
Kevin Shock
um I think, I think what maybe a better question is what What happens when we do this in remembrance of Jesus? um Because...

36:11.48
Nathan Pile
So what happens when we do this in remembrance of Jesus?

36:14.87
Kevin Shock
Yeah, yeah, yeah. and and And I think the problem is, that the what struck me as... ah not Not quite on base in this question is the...

36:28.34
Kevin Shock
how do you do this in remembrance of Jesus? And certainly, but you know, like we covered, we covered that in the, in the second question, I think we gather together, we celebrate the meal with someone who is, who is whom the church has trained to preside at the meal.

36:31.25
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

36:49.05
Kevin Shock
And, um,

36:52.31
Kevin Shock
And then, you know, and like, then what happens to us after that is something entirely different. Like, I think, I think part of it is we, we go in the, the, the other part we didn't talk about Holy communion here is that we go in prepared.

37:09.08
Kevin Shock
And I think that's something that our, in the modern era our church has not lifted up well that um you do things like you know the sharing of the peace is a remnant of uh being reconciled to everyone that you had issues with going into this if you have a problem with someone else in the community you you have to figure that out before you go and receive communion um And that's what that's what the sharing of the peace is about. It's about being reconciled to the people who have hurt you and the people whom you have hurt.

37:40.02
Kevin Shock
and, And I won't go, that's not, the way that I said that is not trauma informed. I'm not talking about, I'm not talking about making right with your abuser before you receive communion. that's

37:49.70
Nathan Pile
Right, no.

37:51.26
Kevin Shock
that's, That's something entirely different. And don't, don't hear me say that if you've been abused by someone in your community that you can't receive communion. Go and receive communion. You need grace.

38:02.07
Kevin Shock
You need grace maybe even more than other people do. So anyway, ah, ah, um, I'm talking about if you had an argument over the color of the carpet, figure that crap out before you receive the Lord's Supper. Or, it, you know, pray, ask for forgiveness, confess your sins to God if you can't confess them to somebody else.

38:22.26
Kevin Shock
You know, all that kind of stuff is because, because you are not just you're not just eating a wafer and drinking some wine.

38:24.31
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

38:28.97
Kevin Shock
Jesus is giving you his real body and blood in this meal. And, and, you, you are ingesting our Lord and Savior. And this is um this is something that is, I hope that everyone takes it as seriously as it as it begs to be taken. Yeah.

38:46.94
Kevin Shock
um And that when we do it, we remember that Jesus did this for us and does this for us. That's a Lutheran concept there, that the, the for you, that's, um well, okay. So before I go too down, too far down a hole as to what you have to do before you come to communion, because again, that's not Lutheran.

39:06.52
Kevin Shock
um Martin Luther says that the one who believes the words for you in the Eucharistic of liturgy is rightly prepared for communion, to receive communion.

39:20.31
Kevin Shock
if, if, If you know that this...

39:21.58
Nathan Pile
It's a, that's a pretty powerful statement though, isn't it?

39:23.90
Kevin Shock
It is, yeah, yeah. Yeah, this is something that Jesus does for you. And we could even go as far as to say what brings all the other stuff into it about um making right with the people, you know, the people that you have issues with or whatever.

39:40.89
Kevin Shock
um because the you is not singular.

39:45.30
Nathan Pile
For you all.

39:46.16
Kevin Shock
it's, It's for you all. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This, um I remember one time, and I can't remember who it was, that um a pastor who said to me that, you know, a lot of people like it when the pastor says their name, you know, Nathan, this is the body of Christ given for you.

40:01.17
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

40:02.66
Kevin Shock
I remember one time a pastor saying to me, maybe it was even in seminary, I never say someone's name at the Eucharist because this is not for them singularly. This is for the whole community.

40:18.17
Kevin Shock
Yeah, this is my body given for you all. And it's important that we hear that, that this isn't just about what Nathan receives in communion. This is about what Nathan and all of Nathan's kindred in Christ receive in communion as well.

40:33.65
Nathan Pile
I love that for, for what this is, right? This is...

40:41.24
Nathan Pile
Mrs. Maundy. Is this Maundy Thursday, this reading?

40:43.22
Kevin Shock
This, yeah, this reading is, yeah, this is for.

40:44.60
Nathan Pile
I love this for Maundy Thursday, and I happen to be someplace Maundy Thursday, so they're getting it.

40:49.50
Kevin Shock
Okay.

40:49.66
Nathan Pile
I mean, I'm going to give them communion that way. I'm giving them communion for you all.

40:56.89
Kevin Shock
Oh, for you all.

40:58.23
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

40:58.62
Kevin Shock
m That's yeah. That's a, that's something there.

41:03.15
Nathan Pile
I love that image. And that'd probably be my sermon now too.

41:04.70
Kevin Shock
had something.

41:05.76
Nathan Pile
Thanks. That's almost, I'm already halfway there.

41:08.06
Kevin Shock
Okay.

41:08.18
Nathan Pile
Thanks, buddy.

41:09.65
Kevin Shock
You're welcome. Um,

41:11.97
Nathan Pile
No, but I love that image because it's, because we here in our, in and our society, it feels, ah it want we want it to be about us. Right. And yet we talk about our sinful, selfish,

41:23.45
Nathan Pile
um individual, you know, kind of stuff that we, that we have that side to us. And so, I want to, you know, I always like to, when you do something, and sometimes not to every time to be jarring, but to get them to think a little bit, um, to get us to think about communion.

41:42.46
Nathan Pile
And, and so this is the body of Christ given for you all.

41:48.68
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

41:49.64
Nathan Pile
Boom. Um, cause it would sound different, right?

41:51.06
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

41:53.42
Nathan Pile
It sound different.

41:53.75
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

41:54.26
Nathan Pile
And then this is the body of Christ given for you.

41:54.30
Kevin Shock
Right. Right.

41:58.52
Nathan Pile
And so,

41:58.58
Kevin Shock
Right. Yeah.

41:59.73
Nathan Pile
um

42:04.05
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

42:06.33
Nathan Pile
And knowing where I'm going for Maundy Thursday, it, it also ties a nice community piece to it.

42:15.63
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm. Good. Good.

42:17.08
Nathan Pile
So, so um yeah. So, no, I love, I love that idea of for you all. And, you know, we have a tradition um and And I don't, I don't, I don't know if it was a practice I did very often when I was a pastor week, week in and week out, um, about talking about who's welcome to our table, like welcome to the table.

42:43.12
Nathan Pile
Sometimes it's in our bulletin.

42:43.48
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. here

42:46.07
Nathan Pile
Um, and, And I know in you know in the last 20 years, again, we've talked about the years before that we were working towards weekly communion.

42:58.01
Nathan Pile
and, And since then, we've talk we've tried to work on our first communion kind of stuff. and some And kids have gotten a little bit younger to be able to receive. receive Used to be when I came through as ah as a young person, it was like second grade. You had to be able to understand

43:18.00
Nathan Pile
communion before you could take communion right you know and then that idea of how many of us really understand communion even as as a seminary uh graduate and and pastor now for um how many ever years, I guess, I guess I'm coming up on 20.

43:19.99
Kevin Shock
ha ha Yeah.

43:25.72
Kevin Shock
I certainly don't.

43:37.37
Nathan Pile
ah that you know Do I fully understand it? No, I don't fully understand it yet. It doesn't mean I don't seek to.

43:44.14
Kevin Shock
Sure.

43:47.29
Nathan Pile
but So this idea of, I'm not exactly sure how you said it as you were explaining it, but this idea of all you need to understand is for you.

43:59.42
Nathan Pile
This gift is for you.

44:01.43
Kevin Shock
that That the one Luther, and I'm not quoting him exactly, I'm paraphrasing, but Luther says that the one who understands this is for you is rightly prepared to receive communion.

44:14.07
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

44:14.81
Kevin Shock
Like, like that's that's the only thing you need to know. and and And I love that statement because of what just what you said, that... That does not exclude people with intellectual disabilities.

44:27.02
Kevin Shock
That does not exclude um, even, even little kids.

44:27.70
Nathan Pile
All

44:30.66
Kevin Shock
if, if, If a little kid comes, even an infant, comes up and reaches out to you and sees you giving someone, giving everyone else something, and they reach out to you, they're ready.

44:31.80
Nathan Pile
right.

44:39.12
Nathan Pile
Yeah. Yeah. Something. you know

44:45.55
Kevin Shock
They're ready for it.

44:46.70
Nathan Pile
Yeah. Yeah.

44:48.47
Kevin Shock
Because this is about this is about Jesus, but this isn't about knowing all of the, the right doctrine and all that. I mean, that stuff is all good to learn at some point for the people who are capable of learning it.

45:02.84
Kevin Shock
But what Jesus wants you to know is that he, you're, you're his child, and he welcomes you into this community and into this meal.

45:11.11
Nathan Pile
No.

45:11.51
Kevin Shock
And that's all you need to know.

45:13.67
Nathan Pile
Yeah. Yeah.

45:14.55
Kevin Shock
Yeah, yeah.

45:15.86
Nathan Pile
Well, and I think, again, that's so powerful to me, that image of, ah again, a kid knows when everybody else is getting something, right?

45:23.38
Kevin Shock
Right, yeah.

45:24.25
Nathan Pile
Like everybody else are around the table is putting their hand out and they get it. So if I put my hand out, do I get it?

45:28.92
Kevin Shock
Yep.

45:29.05
Nathan Pile
Um, and for that explanation to be there for us, um, and, and it challenges us, I think, as, as older mature Christians to say,

45:31.04
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

45:34.34
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm.

45:43.93
Nathan Pile
um Oh, well, we wanted them to know. you know We wanted them to know, the have right understanding. We have first community classes, the right thing to believe.

45:51.00
Kevin Shock
The right thing to believe, yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

45:55.16
Nathan Pile
And yet, again, I just appreciate you giving us Luther's stuff. and, and And probably I was in the parish, I probably

46:09.85
Nathan Pile
I probably put it in the bulletin that way. I'd find that that understanding of Luther's. and, And if you understand that this gift is for you, you're welcome to the gift.

46:18.63
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm.

46:24.89
Kevin Shock
Right, right, yeah. Yeah, we I mean, we do say in the church, and, and I'm not advocating against this, that that people are... um Baptism is the initiation right into the meal.

46:38.28
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

46:38.97
Kevin Shock
So we, we, we, we uphold that we only... we only um commune people who are baptized in the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit.

46:49.94
Kevin Shock
um But in our tradition also... Like, that's an easy conversation to have. Do you want to, and I'm not saying this happens during, this doesn't happen during the church service.

47:02.42
Kevin Shock
Do you want to have, do you want to have Holy Communion?

47:04.43
Nathan Pile
You're correct. Sure,

47:06.36
Kevin Shock
Are you baptized? if I mean, if, you know, for most people, we know whether they are, but are are you baptized?

47:10.97
Nathan Pile
sure.

47:12.38
Kevin Shock
And if the answer is no, then, then we get, go back to Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. Well, here's water. What's to prevent us from doing it right now?

47:21.23
Nathan Pile
Right.

47:22.52
Kevin Shock
you don' you You don't need to go through the big class before you do it. I mean, again, education is vitally important. Like, you should go through the big class at some point.

47:33.81
Nathan Pile
Right.

47:34.14
Kevin Shock
But, but if it's about, if it's about welcoming someone into the community, there's nothing in in Scripture or in the doctrine of the church that says you can't just take a bowl of water and drink.

47:34.39
Nathan Pile
Right.

47:47.19
Kevin Shock
put it over someone's head and in the name of the father and of the son of the Holy spirit. And they're, they're baptized. They're welcomed in and, and they're able to receive communion. mean, there's nothing, nothing that prevents us from doing that.

48:01.18
Kevin Shock
um So anyway, I, yeah. um Did, did you have an answer for the question beyond what we've talked about?

48:12.34
Nathan Pile
um you mean the new question that you rewrote um

48:15.99
Kevin Shock
but Or the original question that's on this sheet. Either one. Either one.

48:22.62
Nathan Pile
Um, uh, I appreciate the new question because my response to the old question was going to be, I don't do a whole lot to be like, ah there's, there's, I agree with the preparation piece, um, only after we also recognize that it's gift.

48:42.74
Nathan Pile
Um, and we did that everything that we just talked about, I'm in full, ah like this is a gift.

48:44.56
Kevin Shock
Right. Yeah.

48:48.70
Nathan Pile
And so again, you walk, we're in the middle of the service and, and you know, the, the, this example of the Ethiopian eunuch, absolutely.

48:49.37
Kevin Shock
This is gift. Yeah.

48:57.62
Nathan Pile
Boom. You know um this is God's gift, both baptism and both sacraments are gifts from God and God does all of the work in both of them. There's nothing I can do to earn it.

49:08.41
Nathan Pile
There's nothing I can do to merit it. yeah, so um So with that foundation, then the preparation piece. And, and I've been trying to think of, of a because it's so it's not about me, right? The the remembrance happens because of the some of the mystery of God.

49:26.20
Nathan Pile
How does God do it? How does how does God come into the, the, the wafer and the wine, the bread and the wine?

49:33.59
Nathan Pile
um I don't know. That's not, God says he's going to do it. How does God do bring life out of death. I don't know. Um, but God does. And so God does these miraculous things, uh, on a daily, weekly basis, uh, in our world. And so being able to, um, to celebrate that, um, but also then like a, like an athlete, you know, I want to do some preparation as I come to the place where I'm going to be nourished.

50:10.33
Nathan Pile
Um, as well. And so whatever that looks like for the person, you know, worship is obviously a part of it for me as ah as ah ah as a pastor, is is being able to gather in community and to and to build a ah a liturgy that has and that carries with it a theme.

50:33.30
Nathan Pile
All of that for me is a part of that preparation. And and I find that in those spaces and places, when I've done some preparation, um corporately for the whole of the community or for myself individually,

50:50.55
Nathan Pile
um that that ah I grow from that. Like I'm stronger because of it. um If I don't do it, is it still God's gift to me?

51:04.48
Nathan Pile
It is absolutely. And and there are going to be days that I just need to, there because the reality of of my stubborn, sinful self, there's going to be times I just need to come to the rail and and get the grace because I'm not yet,

51:18.91
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm.

51:21.51
Nathan Pile
I'm not yet able to, to, to forgive or or able to do the preparation for whatever. and Sometimes I just need to receive the gift. And that might be for some time. It might not be one week or two weeks. It might be months, um years that I need to to have that gift pour over me to help me grow in whatever way I know I need to grow, but I'm not quite able to do it yet.

51:53.94
Nathan Pile
so I, yeah, So in those ways, i don't even remember your new question completely. But that's a point.

52:03.38
Kevin Shock
What happens when we do this in remembrance of Jesus?

52:06.10
Nathan Pile
Yeah. And so like, because it's Jesus at work, um the things that I don't think I can handle or do I know god I trust that God's working on those on, on me, in me, um, helping me work on what that is. And so, um, so yes, there's a really good time. Things are going well and, and, and the the preparation stuff is there and, and, and I'm a part of it. And Jesus still does Jesus miraculous stuff and and nourishes me, but also, um,

52:38.10
Nathan Pile
there are other times that I might just be showing up and needing God's nourishment. As you said, the means of grace that you talked about earlier, that idea of just being reminded that we're claimed forever.

52:50.82
Nathan Pile
And in this meal, remember and proclaim, remember and proclaim who God is.

52:58.30
Kevin Shock
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

52:58.88
Nathan Pile
And in, in, in, in that simple um gift, God's going to, soften my heart, change my, my mind, guide me through the Holy Spirit so that I'm that I move forward with things.

53:14.47
Kevin Shock
Yep, yeah, yeah.

53:16.24
Nathan Pile
So, yeah, I think those are the...

53:18.74
Kevin Shock
And just, oh, sorry, go ahead.

53:19.03
Nathan Pile
Go ahead. No, I'm done.

53:21.59
Kevin Shock
Finish your thought.

53:21.98
Nathan Pile
Go ahead. No, no, I'm done. I'm done.

53:24.09
Kevin Shock
to To expand on your thought, one thing I was thinking about ah about another thing that happens, and I remember, ah I don't know if this thought was original to her necessarily, but one of my classmates in seminary, who's now a pastor out in Montana, synod of Pastor Miriam Schmidt, um I remember having a course with her on Luther, Luther's writings, and, and actually there was some French philosophy thrown in there, and, and the liturgy. And um she talked about both how we are remembered by Jesus in this meal.

54:05.02
Kevin Shock
That Jesus remembers us in this meal in the same way that we remember him. But then Jesus also re-members the body.

54:14.90
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

54:15.51
Kevin Shock
that um that what happens to the community gathered around this meal is that the community is transformed. The community changes in this meal. And, and it might be... um it might be like practically speaking, it might be something as small as someone comes to the knowledge that they need grace in this meal and someone else in the community comes to the knowledge that they need to extend a grace as a result of this meal. And so there, there's a new caregiving relationship that's, you know, that pops up because of this meal. Like that's, that's just one practical way of thinking it, thinking of it.

54:54.26
Kevin Shock
But, um, But ah somehow we're changed and not just us individually, but us as a corporate body. um We, we change it.

55:03.42
Nathan Pile
Yeah. Yeah.

55:05.15
Kevin Shock
We are changed in this meal. um And, and I, I continued, you know, 20, that class was, class was my senior year.

55:07.13
Nathan Pile
Well, and I love, I love that. I love that.

55:16.18
Kevin Shock
So probably 20, 20, 21 years later, I continue to carry that with me. um Yeah. Well, any, any other thoughts you have, Nathan, about this text or anything else?

55:27.56
Kevin Shock
Communion while we're talking about it.

55:29.50
Nathan Pile
no, no, I appreciate the conversation though.

55:33.05
Kevin Shock
Yeah, it's a rich conversation. and

55:34.78
Nathan Pile
It is. Yeah

55:35.96
Kevin Shock
and, And as always, friends, if if this conversation helps you to think of things in a new way or um or even affirms for you some things you've been thinking, please let us know about it um via email.

55:49.65
Kevin Shock
That's the best way. um We'd be happy to hear about it and yeah and to, to hear what's, how, how you are remembered um in this holy meal as well.

56:02.65
Kevin Shock
So as uh Pastor Nathan said, this reading is the...

56:08.76
Kevin Shock
the um for Maundy Thursday, so coming up for Holy Week. And the other readings, if you want some other things to reflect on around this reading, additional texts, Exodus chapter 12, verses 1 through 14, is an explanation of the Passover of the Lord, ah both the the actual event and the meal. um Actually, it's probably the actual event that we're talking about here. It's not the institution of the meal necessarily, although that's part of it.

56:39.10
Kevin Shock
Anyway, before I say anything more, it's about the Passover of the Lord, so just read it and find out what it is for yourself. ah so From Psalm 116, verses 1 to 2, and verses 12 to 19, which is where we hear, I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. That's scriptural language that we have instituted into our Eucharistic lit liturgy as Christian people.

57:05.18
Kevin Shock
And... um John 13 verses 1 through 17 and then verses 31b through 35, or you can read just 13 verses 1 through 35 if you want. ah The service of Christ is foot washing and meal.

57:23.32
Kevin Shock
So this is John's description of the institution of the Last Supper, but, but in John's gospel, foot washing takes on increased importance.

57:32.78
Nathan Pile
Mm-hmm.

57:33.86
Kevin Shock
So... So we ah yeah, we, we hope that as you're listening to this, you're probably in preparations for however that whatever that means for you for a Holy Week and Easter.

57:35.35
Nathan Pile
you

57:44.62
Kevin Shock
So um we hope that those preparations are going well, that you're feeling God's blessing in the midst of all of that, and that what you will continue to as, as this week unfolds.

57:56.54
Kevin Shock
um As I said before, we long to hear your reflections. and And Nathan, I'm grateful for this conversation like I am for so many. And friends, we hope to tend our faith with you again soon.

58:08.44
Kevin Shock
Grace to you.

58:10.10
Nathan Pile
And peace.