Rest Left Out
Exodus 20:1-20

October 6, 2002

Last fall I went to a conference at the University of Toronto where a choir of 20 young adults from the Assyrian Church of the East sang a hymn in their native liturgical language of Syriac, an Aramaic dialect. The hymn was entitled “In Praise of Learning” by Ephrem the Syrian (d. 373), who may be the greatest hymn writer of the early Christian Church. An English translation was provided for the audience to be able to follow along.

The imagery of one couplet hooked into my memory. “Let your books be your dining table so that they may fill you with delight/Let them be your bed, so that you may enjoy a restful sleep.”

Books as your dining table may seem a little odd for the Lord’s Supper, but for Christians world-wide books have been our menu and diet.

We are a People of the Book, and no matter where or when, Christians have dined with the Book. Reading and hearing the Scriptures is an essential part of any worship service, especially when we gather around the Lord’s Table. The Ten Commandments were, after all, written in stone for us to read again and again, so that we will be able to write them on our hearts.

The Lectionary selectors have unique pressures. They must rotate the Old Testament, Epistle, and New Testament readings through the three-year cycle so that congregations hear the length and breadth and depth of Scripture; and they must arrange these Scriptures so that they may be read and preached before the Riders kickoff.

Consequently, one frequently catches the selectors cutting corners, omitting irrelevant and boring verses whenever they believe the opportunity allows. They do not omit any of the Ten Commandments proper, but they do figure a handful of verses are superfluous. Yet in our table talk these do come up in the conversation.

“You shall not make for yourself an idol” is the commandment which is to be read. The prohibition to not bow down and worship such idols, lest God the jealous one punishes generations of idolaters and their descendants, is not usually included. Bad taste for a God to be jealous by our liberal standards; we don’t want a God who acts that way.

Worshiping golden calves has been considered bad taste for a long time. Our idols are less imposing and presumptuous, but hardly less potent, for we use our idols to illustrate who we think we are.

There are no idols around the table except the dinnerware and the food. Every church I have ministered in has had some kind of silver communion plates, trays, and cups. The zealous might pronounce the silver to be the evidence of our wealth and prosperity. When Jesus celebrated the Last Supper or Seder meal with his disciples, they all went to a prearranged upper room. Do you think that the utensils were broken and dirty cups and plates? Remember that some disciples complained to Jesus that the expensive ointments used by the woman to anoint Jesus’ feet with her hair should have been more properly used to give to the poor. We have to keep our spiritual eyes upon the potential idols in the physical trappings of our church, as well as make sure our pride and self-righteousness does not become idolatrous - that is, falsely believe you are the one who decides what God believes.

In Corinth, when those earliest Christians gathered for the love feast and communion meal, the rich members would bring a lavish banquet, while the poor often did not have a butter sandwich. A collective wisdom throughout the millennia has guarded communion or the eucharist from conspicuous consumption. Simple bread and a wee sip of the fruit of the vine, and nothing else, has prevailed no matter where or when you have lived. No caviar or filet mignon, no rare potations to serve as idols of our sophistication and superiority. So when you gather around the table today, you know that what you are eating and drinking is what the poorest of Christianity will also eat today. We are one in the spirit, one in the Lord, and one around the table. Such is the beginning of humility, and idols have never been humble.

The other short-changed commandment is “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.” Left out for the moment is the purpose for the sabbath - so that on one day you shall not work, nor should anyone else under your care. This non-labouring is grounded in the creation of the world itself. God intends that rest is not simply the absence of work, but that rest is holy. It is holy because rest is part of the essential nature of God.

Fast-food restaurants, and in particular drive-ins and drive-throughs, have undermined the primary purpose for our meals. Our resources are physically replenished by food, but when do we rest? When one sits down to eat or reclines at table as they did in Jesus’ time, a prime benefit of the meal is the rest and rejuvenation it supplies.

Eating the same simple food and resting along with the poor and the disreputable renders us brothers and sisters, for no human being regardless of wealth cannot survive without rest. The more humble you are, the bigger the table becomes and the more time you have to eat and spend time with your brothers and sisters in Christ. May the Word today be our dining table and our rest and resurrection.

Preached by Robert Kitchen
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan