March 3, 2024
“Red, Red, Wine" Homily by Rev. Trip Porch
March 3, 2024 Based on Mark 14:12-26
Every summer my spouse Brittany pulls out a handwritten family recipe that comes from her grandma, it’s for Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. It’s a crowd favorite in the early summer when Rhubarb is fresh and at its peak. Perfectly balanced between tart and sweet, it’s amazingly refreshing as the days are getting hotter. But while the pie is great, there is a deeper meaning to her making it every summer.
The recipe is in her grandma’s handwriting, this artifact of who she was, and it even includes little pieces of her in it, like step number 3 in the recipe, after you cut the strawberries and mix it with sugar and tapioca, where her instructions are to quote “Let the strawberries rest for a while on the counter, long enough so they have time to consider what is about to happen to them.”
Every time we read that part of the recipe, we laugh. Every year, when Brittany and her family pull out this recipe, read through it and then make this pie and we eat it, it’s a communion of sorts, a ritual to remember, a way to reconnect with a person that was so important to them who is no longer with us. We eat this pie and as we do, all of the memories come back and we spend time sharing stories and remembering the love she shared…
There is something to this, I think. Our senses of smell, taste, and sight are closely linked in our brain with memory. Food sometimes is much more to us than just sustenance for our bodies. There are some foods that are almost like a time capsule. We smell them, we taste them, and are immediately transported, the memories flood back, and almost for a moment become real again and allow us to remain connected to the love we share through time and space.
We've been doing this series on divine love through popular love songs but y’all, I have had the hardest time finding a love song for today. It turns out its quite nearly impossible to find a love song that threads the needle of our connection to food and memory, a love song that reflects Jesus creating the sacrament of communion, a symbolic meal to remind us of the love he came to share.
So I had to settle a bit, when I landed on our love song, “Red, Red, Wine.” It is about an old love that someone just can’t forget. Despite trying in desperation to move on from a love that’s over, the lead singer just can’t, the feelings of love, the memories just won’t leave him…
“Red, red wine,” he sings
Goes to my head
Helps me forget that I
Still need her so
Red, red wine
It's up to you
All I can do, I've done
Memories won't go
Memories won't go
I'd have sworn, that with time
Thoughts of you would leave my head
I was wrong, now I find
Just one thing makes me forget
Red, red wine
Ironically its a song about turning to wine in an effort to try to drink that love away, to try to forget, and still finding it impossible to let go.
It’s ironic of course, because of what we are doing today in the church. Sharing communion. This sacrament, this holy ritual of eating together. sharing bread and wine. This thing that we do in the church not to forget but to remember.
To transport us back to that table in the upper room, in order to remember Jesus.
This bread is my body, Jesus says, Whenever you break bread together, remember me.
This wine is my blood, Whenever you drink wine, do it remembering me.
We eat this bread and drink this cup and we remember. We taste and it’s like Christ is here among us at this table. We share this meal and somehow through the mystery of God, the love that Christ shared so long ago remains real and still lives on through us.
So, friends, drink this red red wine,
Eat this bread, not to forget, but to remember.
Amen.
WE GATHER IN AWE AND PRAISE
PRELUDE “Red, Red Wine” Neil Diamond
WELCOME Rev. Trip Porch
One: This is the day that the Lord has made
All: Let us rejoice and be glad in it
*CALL TO WORSHIP by Thom Shuman
One: Welcome to this place:
All: where children and seasoned citizens sit side by side,
where heaven and earth embrace in peace,
where God has been, is, and always will be.
One: Welcome to this place, where we gather with all of God's children:
All: where we find God's love,
where we hear the tender voice of Jesus,
where the Spirit teaches us new songs.
One: Welcome to this place, where all is made ready by our God:
All: where we bring our hunger, and find food;
where we bring our brokenness, and find healing;
where we bring our very selves, and find acceptance.
One: Let us worship God
GATHERING SONG sung by the choir “Kyrie” Robert Ray
*PRAYER OF CONFESSION Rev. Rick Nutt
Gracious God, We recognize in ourselves the strengths and weaknesses of Jesus’ disciples: although they loved him, they disappointed and failed him. And yet, gathering with these imperfect friends at their last meal Jesus washed their feet in service, before extending the bread and cup to each of them, calling them to remember him whenever they break bread together and to love one another. Forgive us when we disappoint and fail you. Grant us the same welcome to your table and the vision to see the world as you see it, with abundant love and compassion for each creature and all of your creation. In the silence hear our prayer…
*ASSURANCE OF PARDON
*CONGREGATIONAL RESPONSE 551 “Lord, Have Mercy” LAND OF REST
*PASSING OF THE PEACE
One: The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,
All: And also with you.
WE LISTEN FOR GOD’S WORD
PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION
SCRIPTURE Mark 14:12-26 Common English Bible
On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was sacrificed, the disciples said to Jesus, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover meal?”
He sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city. A man carrying a water jar will meet you. Follow him. Wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, ‘The teacher asks, “Where is my guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?”’ He will show you a large room upstairs already furnished. Prepare for us there.” The disciples left, came into the city, found everything just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover meal.
That evening, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. During the meal, Jesus said, “I assure you that one of you will betray me—someone eating with me.”
Deeply saddened, they asked him, one by one, “It’s not me, is it?”
Jesus answered, “It’s one of the Twelve, one who is dipping bread with me into this bowl. The Human One goes to his death just as it is written about him. But how terrible it is for that person who betrays the Human One! It would have been better for him if he had never been born.”
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” He took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. I assure you that I won’t drink wine again until that day when I drink it in a new way in God’s kingdom. ” After singing songs of praise, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE Sharon Renkes
SERMON Rev. Trip Porch
WE RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD
*HYMN 537 “When at This Table” FEASTDAY
CREED “Credo” Robert Ray
TIME OF OFFERING online giving is available at indianolapres.org/give
OFFERTORY “We Gather Together” Netherlands folk song, arr. Jenifer Cook
COMMUNION
INVITATION TO THE TABLE
GREAT PRAYER
SHARING THE BREAD AND CUP “Agnus Dei” Robert Ray
PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
Gracious God, we thank you for feeding us at your table. May we, who share in his body, live his risen life; we, who drink his cup, bring life to others; we, whom the Spirit lights, give light to the world. Keep us firm in the hope you have set before us, so that we and all your children shall be free, and the whole earth live to praise your name; through Christ our Lord. Amen
*HYMN 521 “In Remembrance of Me” RED
TIME OF COMMUNITY SHARING
CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE “Love at Home” J.H. McNaughton, arr. Sally DeFord
Acknowledgments: Unless otherwise indicated, all texts and music are printed and broadcast under OneLicense.net license #A-702452