Corpus Christi 2007
Corpus Christi: 9th June, 2007
Preached at the parish of Christ the King, Maryborough,
by Fr John Davis, Vicar of St Peter's, Eastern Hill
We celebrate today God with us in a most particular and wonderful way. Today is Corpus Christi, the thanksgiving for the Holy Communion, that sacrament which is at the centre of our worshipping life.
Advent and Christmas really started it all off. Christmas has come and gone. The God who is with us in Jesus Christ, born of Mary, has been joyfully acknowledged. His teachings have been presented. His way of following, his way of discipleship has been taught and encouraged. We try to follow where he leads. His suffering and redeeming sacrifice has been declared. Holy Week and Easter ceremonies have culminated in the triumph of the resurrection. The celebration of the Lord, risen ascended and glorified, as the line of the well-known hymn puts it, has been well and truly undertaken. And in the power and continuing presence of the living God we attempt to live out the implications of that. The Pentecost experiences of both the first and the succeeding generations of Christians have been celebrated, and similar gifts and graces requested. This is the pattern of the Church Year as it unfolds.
Last Sunday was Trinity Sunday: the Red Letter Day that honours God the Most Holy Trinity. It is a day that praises God's holiness, to use the phrase from the 150th psalm. We honoured God in all the fullness and diversity of God's revelation. Creator, redeemer and sanctifier. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Over-arching, beside, within. Awesome, accessible, empowering. It was intended to invoke awe and acceptance, and yet also gratitude and thankfulness — because that God of all things is also our God and we are a part of that people called into relationship.
Christians believe and understand that this relationship is particularly expressed in God as made known in Jesus the Christ. We find focus and nurture in the sacraments of connection, as commanded and taught by the Lord, especially baptism and communion. Christians welcome the presence and renewing power of the Spirit of this God. We try to allow this presence and power make a difference in our lives: in the way we live, the way we love, the way we die. But all this flows from, points towards that one God.
It is precisely at this point that we have this celebration of Corpus Christi. The first available time out of the Easter season; after Pentecost, after Trinity Sunday, when we are given the opportunity to give thanks for the institution of the Blessed Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ. It is a day for devotion and ceremony; it is a day to say thank you for the relationship that is sealed in the actions of this special meal shared across time and place with all our brothers and sisters in Christ. The action may be intimate, it may be grand; it may be very simple or it may be very formal. The foundation is in that Passover meal that the Lord shared with his closest followers on the night that he was betrayed. This is my body he said. This is my blood. It will be shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of me. Good Friday stands grim yet triumphant. Easter Day means that the body and blood that we receive is of one who is risen. The power of the Spirit of Pentecost is gifted to the community of faith the follows the Lord's command. This is what constitutes our Christian community and gives us strength and grace. From this we are called to love and to serve. But for those of us who would wish to be true to the traditions of Catholic Christianity through these many centuries, the practical, worshipping centre of it all is to be found here, week-by-week, day-by-day. So we give thanks, particularly, for that today.
It is often very hard to explain to others who might ask: what do you believe? A short list of acceptable doctrines probably would not be that helpful. It is even more difficult to attempt to explain how we believe. And maybe even more difficult still to explain why. The simple fact is that for some of us in this world — and one would guess and hope for many of us here in this church — somehow, somewhere we have bumped into God and God has bumped into us. Our lives and our perspective on living are therefore potentially different. There is a completely different context. Perhaps for many of us, this has been in the context of the Eucharist and of worship.
That of course does not mean that those who have this insight or perspective on things are therefore totally wonderful, or totally integrated, or in every (or indeed in any) way much nicer people. We do indeed hold these treasures in earthen vessels. But treasures they are. And worthy of celebration, on a festival day such as today.
We hear the message that we are the children of God. We then begin to try to explore just what that might mean. It means also exploring our manner of living and our manner of interacting; with each other and with the world and the whole creation around us.
First and foremost that starts with the relationship that each one of us has with God. That can be expressed in a whole range of ways, but relationship it is. We can understand the language of relationship because it is well within our human experience. Exploration of the implications of relationship can move easily into concepts of commitment and mutuality; into care and concern, support, encouragement, responsibility, outreaching self-giving.
Individuals who have started on this search find themselves as part of communities of faith. They might be very small, they can be quite large. And groups can do things that individuals cannot. We try to discern who we are being called to be, what we are being called to do, in relationship with God. This will, in various ways, be lived out in worship, devotion and service. It will be found in the fulfillment of tasks great and small. It will be an expression of and a witness to the relationship with God of our small part of the whole people of God.
Above all, it will be expressed in the joyful sharing of that which we have received as gift. It really is true that Christians have been known now and again to be creative and full of a sense of joy in life. That can be contagious. In our tradition, we find this most wonderfully centred in our experience of the sacrament which we give thanks for today: the outward and visible sign of the inward and spiritual grace, so freely offered and given.
The Lord be with you.
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