God be with us.

We say that, “god be with us,” without much thinking about it,

but perhaps we mean it as a declaration of defiance, our most sincere cry to God, our thumbed noses at an oppressive world,

and perhaps also as our instinctive recognition that we are really out of our league here against the forces of our world.

We gather today, on a weekend our nation is celebrating war or nationalism or exceptionalism or something, something we are told to believe is righteous and good — the most righteous, the most good.

But we gather to do what we’ve done so many times before – to be in the company of Jesus, to be infused again with the spirit of Jesus,

who lived a life of defiance, outside the patriotic mainstream, outside worship of empire, a life in the service of a higher allegiance… a reign of goodness, of equity, of a wellbeing called shalom.

This is the way the we gather, this is the meal we share.

The charge was insurrection, a crime against the state, and Jesus was about to get first-century lynched for inciting it — lynching, crucifixion, being a tool of the state to deter behavior outside the norms (that is, behavior steeped in human dignity and autonomy, behavior counter to the falling-in-line requirement of occupation, behavior that claims there is something more life-giving than “the system”).

Before all that, though, he had a meal with his friends. One last time, one last supper, so they would remember what he taught them, remember who he called them to be.

He took bread, bless it, broke it and passed it around to each of them:

“this is my body, about to be broken also.”

Then, he took the wine, blessed and poured it, and passed it around:

“this cup is a new covenant, poured just as my blood is about to be poured.”

He told them to eat, drink and remember. So they did.

And so do we. Let’s pray:

By this meal, O God, pour your spirit of grace and energy and defiance and creativity into each of us. Make of us a powerful community utterly devoted to your reign of love. To this alone let us pledge our allegiance. Amen.

Now, let’s eat. These are gifts of God for a passionate and not-particularly-patriotic people of God.

Post communion prayer:

God of might and imagination: As we observe this day in our nation’s proud catalog, remind us by this meal to whose empire we truly belong. Hold us close; make us strong. Amen.