Reflections...

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 4th November 2007 by Rev. Kwok Nai Wang. The scripture readings that day were Isaiah 65:17-25 and John 6:1-14.


To-day is Holy Communion Sunday. Our Church celebrates Holy Communion every first Sunday of the month and on the two most important Christian festivals: Christmas and Easter.

The celebration of the Holy Communion is the most weighty and solemn act of all Christian churches. The bread and the wine (or grape juice) represent the body and the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ who sacrificed his own life for all humanity. These are the visible signs pointing to the Saving Grace of our Lord. This Grace is never cheap. The incarnate God: God became flesh through Jesus Christ died on the cross for us so that we can live a more meaningful and wholesome life.

In a way, this precious Grace is free. But Christians must come to receive it reverently. Free Churches do not have the act of confession in their public worship. But invariably they would include the confessing of their sins before they partake the Holy Communion. This is their way to express their utter seriousness in celebrating “the Lord’s Supper”.

What’s so holy about the Holy Communion? Holy means different or special. It is different or special because it is extra-ordinary. God became a human being. He suffered and died for us so that we may understand the ultimate reality of life.

“Communion” literally means “sharing”. God shares his love to us unconditionally. This is what Jesus said, “No one can have greater love than to lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13).

Sharing is the most important activity in this world. Life is only possible if and only if people have the volition to share.

October 17 was the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. We remember a tenth of the world’s population do not have enough food to sustain their bodies; have no clean water or a safe shelter. Their children are under-nourished. They receive no school education. Many died a violent or premature death. The fundamental problem is that the rich nations do not want to share their wealth with the underdeveloped countries. Hundreds and thousands die of AIDS or HIV related diseases because the big drug manufacturers want to maintain their high profit margins. We can go on and on in listing tragic human stories resulting from people not wanting to share.

On Sunday, October 14, a woman who had a history of mental illness tied her 12-year daughter and 9-year old boy and pushed them from the window of their home on the 24th floor of a public housing block in Tin Shui Wai, New Territories before she plunged herself to death. It was later discovered that her husband is being hospitalized suffering from terminal cancer.

This family tragedy highlighted once again the many sad family stories in that district over the past decade. Many poor residents in Tin Shui Wai are new comers from the mainland. Support and social services provided by the government and volunteer agencies are highly inadequate. Many Christian churches flocked in the district doing little except to start their own “churches”. For long, the district has been labeled as the “City of Sorrow”. Why is this so? How many more times do people have to cry before we can hear? Has Hong Kong abandoned the people living far away from the city-centre?

Hong Kong is an affluent city by any world-standards. It has the capacities to the care of the unfortunate and the poor. Yet, in the policy address a month ago, the chief executive went the other way. His government proposes to spend HK$ 25 billion for ten large-scale infrastructure projects; decrease the salary tax and profits tax each by one per-cent… but refuses to do a little bit more to solve the inherent poverty problem in the territory.

Oftentimes tragedies occur because human beings do not want to help each other. We do not want to share, not because we are incapable, but because we do not want to.

Between August and September 1997, 2 women died within two weeks. Their deaths shook the whole world. Princess Diana died a tragic death as the result of her boy friend’s car crashed in Paris. Mother Teresa, a Nobel Peace Laureate, cited as the Saint in the ditches, died of cancer in Calcutta. Both women touched the lives of millions all over the world. Diana shared her life and embraced the lives of thousands who were HIV carriers or were suffering from AIDS. She brought to the world’s attention of the plight of the victims of land-mines. Mother Teresa unselfishly helped the dejected, the dying and the destitute over the span of half-a-century. Because of their willingness to share their lives, this world became a little bit brighter and more hopeful.

In the 1960s, there was an acute shortage of hospital beds in Hong Kong. In many public hospitals canvas beds placed on corridors were the order of day.

One day in early spring of 1968, during a case conference, the Director of Yang Social Service Centre and I were concerned about this problem. We discovered that a great many elderly patients had to convalesce in hospitals because they were single and had no one to take care at home. So we decided to run an experiment of home nursing. My job is to recruit 7 women from my church in Shek Kip Mei and his job is to liaise with Kwong Wah Hospital and send a missionary nurse to train the seven women with a bit of practical knowledge in “nursing”. The stage was set. A 67-year old heart patient Mr. Leung was discharged from Kwong Wah Hospital to go back to his home which was half of a 10 by 12 square feet cubicle in Block 11 of Shek Kip Mei Resettlement Estate. The seven women were to take turns to go visit Mr. Leung and spent up to an-hour and a-half daily. They gave him medicine, cleaned his small space, helped him to get up and moved around a bit, got water from the public area and boiled it, helped him to wash his body, and so on.

When I visited Mr. Leung in the beginning, he had a stone face. I had a feeling he was waiting to die. But weeks later when I visited Mr. Leung again, he smiled at me. He became a lot better physically and spiritually, thanks to the love and care of the seven women. Mr. Leung’s neighbours also were touched by these “Christian” women and they began to care for him too.

After 2 years and 7 months, Mr. Leung passed away peacefully. The story did not end there. The 7 elderly women, with little or no formal school education have helped launched the very much needed home nursing program in full-scale in Hong Kong. In 1973, this program was started to be subvented by the government. The 7 women had worked wonders simply because they decided to share a little of their life with the person in need.

Contrary to the Synoptic Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke, the Gospel of John did not include Jesus’ institution of the Holy Communion or the eucharist. But to many Biblical scholars, John’s account of Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000 carried the equivalent meaning of the institution of the Holy Communion. As in the institution recorded in Mk, Mt and Lk, central to the feeding story in John was Jesus’ acts of taking the bread and giving thanks to God. After that he distributed the bread to people. Jesus had used this miracle to symbolize that He is the Bread of life (Jn 5:35 and 48). Jesus shared his life with all of us. In sacrificing his life, he was able to restore our life from brokenness to wholesome – from life reduced to oneself to the life in communion with God. Hence Jesus was able to declare: “I have come so that you may have life (or eternal life) and have it to the full.” (Jn 10:10).

Indeed, John’s Feeding miracle has the redemptive overtone. It took place during the Passover Festival (vs 6:4) – the festival to commemorate God’s deliverance of the Jews from the bondage in Egypt.

The Old Testament lesson we read this morning, viz Is 65:17-25, is about a vivid description of the New Creation. God said, “I am going to create new heavens and a new earth.” (vs. 17). Human beings have destroyed the heaven and earth God has created as recorded in Genesis 1 and 2 through self-deceit and more importantly disobedience to God. In God’s new creation, everyone is happy because they or rather we all have a part in it. We are able to share and enjoy the fruits of our work.

Now, let me say a few words about our eucharist liturgy or the order of our communion service proper. It basically follows the Trinitarian formula: our faith in God the Creator, the Redeemer and the Sustainer, (or traditionally the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit).

The first part is the Great Prayer of Thanksgiving (or the Eucharistic Prayer). We are summoned to thank God for His mighty acts and what He has done for all humanity.

The second part concerns Jesus’ Institution of the sacrament. We rehearse Jesus’ institution of this holy Eucharist to commemorate His act of redemption. Jesus himself is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. We conclude this part by praying the Lord’s Prayer, the prayer which Jesus himself taught his disciples.

The third part concerns the invocation of the Holy spirit. We ask for the presence of the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us so that we can feel the meaning and power of this Holy communion.

Then the bread and the wine, which symbolize the body of Jesus Christ broken for us and the blood of the same shed for us, are distributed to all as a symbol of all those who decide to share or to participate in the redemptive act of Jesus Christ.

Our order of service for the Holy Communion begins with a sign of peace and reconciliation. This is in line with what Jesus taught his followers, “If you are bringing your offering to the altar and there remember that your brother/ sister has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, go and be reconciled with your brother/sister first, and then come back and present your offering.” (Mt. 5:23). It ends with a prayer of thanksgiving. We thank God for nourishing our life through His Incarnate Word. Jesus Christ our Lord has bequeathed us with the life in full through his sacrifice. We too can live that abundant and fulfilled life through following Jesus by adopting His sacrificial life style.

With a spirit of humility, gratitude and dedication, let us come to the table and celebrate once again the Holy Communion.