Shall We Break Bread?

Sharing a memorial meal can give us a time to be aware of the continuing presence of loved ones who have transitioned into the after life. Remembrance is the key.


Today is an important day for me in many ways,
  on many levels.

I'm immensely grateful
  to be able to share it with you all,
    my dearly beloved spiritual community,
      even though we have to do so via the internet.

First of all, I have to mention
  that today is Palm Sunday
    on the Western Christian liturgical calendar,
      the first day of Holy Week.

Palm Sunday is so called
  because according to tradition
    on that day Rabbi Jesus rode into Jerusalem
      on a young donkey.

A large crowd of people cut branches from the trees,
  laying them as a carpet before him
    in order to welcome the one
      they hoped would rescue them
        from the Roman government.

The following week is called Holy Week
  because its remembrances
    comprise the High Holy Days of Christianity.

A very different crowd,
  not at all the same one as the Palm Sunday crowd,
    called for the death of Rabbi Jesus on Friday.

Those events, from the highs to the lows,
  constitute the central events
    of all four Gospels of the New Testament.

For most of my life,
  my career and personal devotions
    have been organized by the liturgical calendar,
      and that calendar centers
        on the events of this week.

There are also several deeply personal reasons
  why today is important to me.

April 5, 2020 is the 110th anniversary
  of my mother's birth.

Palm Sunday every year is for me
  the anniversary of my father's death,
    regardless of the calendar date.

He died on Palm Sunday, April 14, 1957.

I have shared thoughts before
  about how important anniversaries can be
    in all our lives.

Among the most important of those
  are anniversaries of births and deaths.

Those, after all, are the events
  that mark the limits of our lives in this world,
    beginnings and endings.

We remember these and other anniversaries
  in a wide variety of ways.

One of my personal favorite ways
  of remembering important anniversaries
    is a memorial meal.

The most common memorial meal as such
  is a gathering around food, shared
    by friends, family and loved ones
      immediately after a funeral or burial or both
        of the person being remembered.

In our difficult times of physical separation
  to protect ourselves and each other
    from contagion,
      one of the most painful experiences
        is our inability to gather
          for these deeply comforting memorial meals.

Religious Holy Days and worship services
  often center around memorial meals.

This year, the evening of April 8 marks the beginning
  of the eight days of Passover
    on the Jewish calendar.

The passover meal is a memorial meal
  for the remembrance
    of the liberation of the Jewish people
      from slavery in Egypt.

Moses was not only a law giver.

He was also a leader of the liberation movement
  that brought his people out of slavery
    into the freedom of a promised land.

Enslaved people of many times and places
  have been inspired to seek their own liberation
    by the example of Moses
     and the children of Israel.

A passover meal
  shared by Rabbi Jesus and his disciples
    is called by different names:
      the Last Supper or the Lord's Supper,
        Holy Communion or Holy Eucharist.

No matter the name we use for it,
  the memorial meal
    in which Rabbi Jesus said,
      "Do this for the remembrance of me,"
         has become the central worship obervance
            for most Christians.

We can say many things about the meal,
  and various Christian groups certainly do so,
    but a simple fact of experience and history
      is that it is a memorial meal.

Rabbi Jesus himself proclaimed it so
  when he spoke of bread and cup saying,
    "Do this for the remembrance of me."

As I've spoken of it before,
  the spiritual renewal movement known as Cursillo
    has been an important part of my life,
      especially the Lutheran expression,
        known as Via de Cristo, 
          and the non-denominational expression,
            sponsored by the Methodists
              and known as the Walk to Emmaus.

The bread and cup of Holy Communion
  are near the heart and center of every expression
    of the Cursillo movement.

Now before I say more,
  I don't want anyone to start worrying
    that I'm trying to introduce
      a specifically Christian practice
        into our shared worship experiences.

All of you who know me best will know
  that that is something I would never do.

At the same time,
  I do want to propose a simple ritual
    like the lighting of our chalice
      that can remind us of important memorial meals
        in all our lives.

You see,
  a spiritual director of an Emmaus walk
    tried to develop a simple, meaningful act
      that could make any meal,
        even one eaten in public,
          into a spiritual experience.

He would pick up a piece of bread and say,
  "Shall we break bread?"

He would then break the bread and say,
  "We remember."

The others at table can then pick up
  their own piece of bread,
    break it, and say, "We remember."

Then all who wish to participate
  can eat of the broken bread.

We can claim this simple act
  as a memorial meal
    for any person or event, time or place
      that we may wish to remember
        individually or together.

And so,
  I'm picking up my own piece of bread
    and saying, "Shall we break bread?"

We remember.

And you can respond, in your own place and time,
  breaking your own bread and saying,
    "We remember."

As we break bread together,
  we share a simple memorial meal,
    however each of us may choose to define it
      in our own hearts, minds and even words
        as we share the experience.

There are many people we miss
  from our own lives,
    some of whom are in remembrance
      because they have moved on
        to whatever form of life may be found
          after this life.

Some of the people we are holding in our hearts
  and not in our presence
    are not with us because of physical distancing.

What we are doing in staying apart
  is a profound act of love,
    hoping to protect each other
      from grave danger.

Still, it hurts.

So our memorial meal
  holds in remembrance
    the times we have been together in the past
      and the times we will come together again
        in the future.

Our shared worship online
  can be a meaningful reminder of each other.

It isn't the same as physical presence,
  but it is a meaningful adjunct
    to the spiritual experience of remembrance,
      and it can be profoundly comforting.

As we remember,
  I hope it may be so.

Amen.
So let it be.
Blessed be!