6/26/60

Scripture: Hebrews 13: 1-10

Text: Hebrews 13: 10a; “We have an altar .....”

“We have a new parish hall;” such is the satisfied boast of many a church congregation. That is to say that we are equipped to take care of the many gatherings of people in varying capacity -- from children to mature adults in the church school; scouting activities; women’s fellowship; laymen’s fellowship; youth fellowship; the committees and boards of the church; office space for the staff; accommodations for wedding parties; even hospitality for certain community groups. We give attention to, and make provision for, the gregarious, social expression of Christian fellowship, when we have a parish hall.

Other churches emphasize a particular kind of recreational provision, in the announcement that “we have a gymnasium.” We give opportunity for active bodily expression. Our people may play as well as pray. We give attention to the building up of the body, the temple of the Holy Spirit. We believe that Christianity can be shared on the basketball court, or at volley ball, as well as in the church school class room. And we do not leave recreation to the avarice of any commercial profiteer.

Still other churches take pride in the assertion: “We have a kitchen.” Our women’s group is famed for good church suppers. We could feed the hungry in days of want or of community emergency; but in the main our kitchen is a means of promoting good fellowship. People get particularly close to each other as they put their feet under the same table and take food together. And did not our Lord commend the breaking of bread as a particular means of remembrance of himself? Meetings of the first Christians were for a common meal, filling the whole man.

Some churches will proclaim an aesthetic slogan such as: “We have a organ.” This has wide appeal to those who appreciate the beauty of sound. Our organ has many pipes, a set of chimes, a great variety of possible combinations from its three-manual console; and organist who knows how to arouse deep emotion. We have a choir of particular training and ability so that there are many who would attend our church for the music alone.

There have been churches which boast: “We have a pulpit.” Not alone the skillfully carved oak, or the painted pine which adorns the platform or chancel, but the voice that resounds from it. People come from far and near to hear our Harry Emerson Fosdick, or our Phillips Brooks, or our George A. Gordon. We have sermons that are clever, or entertaining! We have messages that are abreast of modern affairs and familiar with new books. Our pulpit boasts a might voice; carefully chose words; closely-knit arguments.

Well, perhaps enough has been said so that no one need suppose that I belittle any of these emphases -- especially the last one. But let us remind ourselves that in none of these lies the distinctive contribution of the church to our age and to the ages. Every athletic club, each YMCA, most of our schools provide a gymnasium with athletic facilities and trained supervision that surpasses what any church can offer. And there have been church basketball leagues that raise a question as to the Christian value of much that goes on in the gymnasium.

Every lodge and society has a place for meetings and usually boasts a kitchen and dining facilities for social affairs. And some church kitchens become, in practice, not contributors to democratic social fellowship, but money-raising institutions to take the place of real direct Christian giving.

With careful choosing, you can hear more finished music with your modern record-player or on some radio program than most churches can provide. And those churches which do have a paid choir, or star soloists, may succeed only in turning the worship of God into a concert.

We shall never share enough good preaching. But we have a sort of persuasion hurled at us from many sources -- newspaper, stage, magazine, forum -- endeavoring to shape the thinking of the masses. There is very little in any of these spheres that is a unique contribution of the churches.

There is, however, another slogan of which that can not be said. “We have an altar!” We have a sanctuary dedicated to the worship of God. We have symbols to remind us of His abiding presence. We have a sacred table to which we may draw near with faith.

Some churches want a furnishing that is a physical reminder of the altar, a place upon which to focus attention upon a sacrifice. Upon it may appear a cross, or chalice or housing for the host. Over some altars may hang a crucifix. Not a few churches have been re-arranged in recent years to include an altar with the interior fittings. But let us remind ourselves in all earnestness, “No architect can put an altar in any church.” Only a worshipping people can erect an altar in the heart, or in the house of God.

We read in the Old Testament that men built altars wherever they were impelled to worship. And there they sacrificed a burnt offering in evidence of their consecration. In some circles, it may be customary to refer to the kneeling rail at the front of the church as the altar where the worshipper brings the spiritual sacrifice or offering of himself -- soul and mind and body -- in dedication to the Lord.

To us here, the communion table may be regarded as a visible expression of a central act of worship on our part. But we build our altar in our own hearts! And there we dedicate, and often re-dedicate, our whole lives to the finest and best that God has revealed to us.

The phrase: “We have an altar” is found in Paul’s epistle to the Hebrews, the 13th chapter, first part of the 10th verse.

Clarence Tucker Craig points out that in the entire letter, author and readers appear to suffer under the appalling contrast between their simple Christian rites of worship and the elaborate ceremonies prescribed for the Jewish tabernacle. It may not be clear that Paul refers to the Lord’s Supper when he affirms: “We have an altar.” But in any case he does not refer to a stone upon which a victim was slaughtered or the finest, first-fruits burnt in sacrifice. The sacrifices pleasing to God are those of praise and thanksgiving from a spirit broken of its haughty pride and humbled in its dedication.

The communion table does not become an altar for us by associating it with the sacrifice of a victim. It symbolizes to us our altar because at this table we find fellowship with God and with His people, present and beyond. We gather about our altar bringing the sacrifice -- the complete offering -- of ourselves. Here we partake of the symbols of the sacrifice -- the complete giving --- of our Christ, who brought God nearest to people.

We have an altar where, in the breaking of bread, and the sharing of the cup, God’s never-failing presence is manifest unto us.

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Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, June 26, 1960 (communion Sunday)