that’ll preach

Last Sunday I heard the best sermon of all time on baptism and communion. Well, okay, I don’t actually know about “all time”—it’s possible an even better one was preached at some point, somewhere—but if so, I haven’t heard it.

Jeff Cary, Assistant Professor of Theology at Lubbock Christian University, is a good friend of our senior minister, Dean Barham, and he shared the message at Dean’s invitation. Here are some key points from my notes, but if you work in a church, belong to a church, or care about the future of the church you owe it to yourself to listen to the whole thing. You can do so by clicking below, or by downloading the podcast here. Then let me know if you think it’s the best of all time.

We talk a lot about the next generation leaving the church; ironically, despite our adverseness to preaching and talking about these sacraments, an understanding of their theology and purpose can keep people in church.

They aren’t about my personal relationship with Jesus, primarily, with others there just to encourage me; they’re about mutual giving and being part of the body of Christ. Keys: they’re about a lifestyle of giving out to others, not receiving, and they’re places where Jesus meets us in this world.

Asked church members at his home church, many of them mature Christians: “I could go weeks or months without communion and not miss it.” “We never teach on these things.” “I’ve never really understood communion.”

Kids are leaving church because we haven’t challenged enough the individualism and consumerism of our culture; even the practices of baptism and communion have become about what I get from it, my relationship with God. But Corinthians–we are baptized into one body. Baptism should be a teaching moment for the church–we’re not just united with Christ but with all the people sitting there staring at us getting wet!

We also need to be consistently teaching that Jesus is present in the Lord’s Supper. Again, not about a generic feeling of togetherness; the main thing is the kind of togetherness, which takes its shape from the life and resurrection of Jesus. “The Peace of Jesus be with you”—not just about my personal remembrance, but about my willingness to make and to be peace in the body of Christ.

Kids aren’t buying the importance of sacramental communion because they haven’t seen that it matters.

Relevance is a consequence of kingdom living, not its cause.–Rick McKinley. Great quote. Authentic living out of the church as God intended it will always be “relevant” and compelling.

We need to make it hard for kids to leave, and they need to understand what they’re walking away from: a community of sacrificial gift, where Jesus shows up.