Scripture can be found here, and below.
Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" Jesus answered, "You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand." Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" Jesus said to him, "One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean.
“So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.
“Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, "Where I am going, you cannot come.' I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." ~John 13:1, 3-10a, 14-15, 33-35
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Having loved his own who were in the world, Jesus loved them to the end…
Jesus was always gathering around the table with friends.
He enjoyed a wedding feast as much as the next disciple, and didn’t hesitate to make sure the assembly had fine wine to drink.
He hurried to the home of Martha and Mary and Lazarus whenever he was in town, enjoying both their friendship and their hospitality.
He gathered on gently rolling hillsides with large groups of newly made friends—people he’d been teaching or healing—and managed, with very few resources, to feed up to ten thousand at a time—because we do count the women and children, thank you miller.
Jesus even gathered at table with people who weren’t such close friends, people who had questions about him, people who challenged him and chided him.
Jesus loved a good supper. So it’s no wonder that, on the night before he died, he gathered with his friends, once again, to share a Passover dinner—not the Seder some of us are familiar with; that developed later. But they did share a meal to celebrate what God had done: Leading God’s people out of slavery, on a long journey to a new land. And even in the wilderness, feeding them with bread from heaven and living water.
People all around the world are in a wilderness time right now. In many, many places people are doing as we are, staying home.
And even now, we are connected with one another—we are connected as a worshiping community, we are connected with people all around the world as members of the body of Christ, and we are connected—we are one—with every other human living on this earth.
So tonight, we weave our own particular corners of the wilderness together here, in this space. We join together for something unusual, to be sure. We take communion together— communion, a word that means “coming together as one.”
Since when did “coming together” have to mean we were in the same room?
We come together when our intentions send us in the same direction.
We come together when our hearts are aligned.
We come together when our spirits join as one.
So now, I invite you to join me in communion as we remember, not only that meal that Jesus shared, but all the meals he shared, with all kinds of people.
I invite you to remember, not only the meals we find in scripture, but the meals you have known in your own life… meals taken on the fly, and meals planned for weeks, and everything in between.
And as we remember, we come together, our hearts and minds joined as one, even through time and distance.
We come together to partake from a table that has been set for us by one who loved to be at table with those he loved.
We come together knowing that we are among those beloved followers, the ones beloved by God to the end.