"Real Presence" and Communion | Shut down the Terryville “Swingers” Club | A Pro-Tariff Pastor? | National Day of Prayer | Bible Study | Adult Education Resumes | Welcome New Members
Pastor's Notes for April 16, 2025
“Real Presence” and Communion
Last week, I had breakfast with Pastor Joe Chabot. Many of you will remember him when his church, Litchfield Hills Church, used our meeting house for worship.
He asked me to explain my views on the “real presence” and Holy Communion question. He liked it and asked me to write it down for him, so here it is.
The Greek word anamnesis means to recall or remember, but it goes deeper than just calling some past event to mind. It means to bring the past into the present, to re-member it, to reconstruct it in the moment.
When we participate in the Lord’s supper, we “do this” in “remembrance” of Jesus.
The New Testament uses this Greek word, anamnēsin, in both Luke 22:19 and 1 Corinthians 11:25 when narrating the institution of the Lord’s Supper:
And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19).
Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me (1 Corinthians 11:25).
This means that we bring this moment from the past into the present at every Communion service, and, since Jesus Himself was pointing to what would happen the next day on Calvary, we also bring the crucifixion into the present moment as well.
But there is another dimension to this.
The rabbis say that each Passover should be celebrated by the children of Israel as if they were the Exodus generation, as if they were about to be led out of Egypt.
This is also the meaning of anamnesis. Every time the church assembles for Holy Communion, we are to participate as if we were really present in that upper room with Jesus and the disciples, as if we were really present with Mary and John and the Roman centurion at the foot of the cross.
When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe, and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:54).
There is a lot more that can be said, including the way in which this “real presence” is associated in different Christian traditions with the elements of the bread and wine used in the Communion service.
You have, no doubt, heard of the word transubstantiation. That is a difficult and debated concept and doesn’t mean what most people think. For instance, it doesn’t mean that the chemical make up of the bread and wine somehow changes into that of human flesh and blood.
The chemical make up of the elements is part and parcel of their accidents, not their essence. Transubstantiation only posits a change to the essence of the bread and wine, not their accidental appearance or their molecular makeup.
As far as I know, only the Roman Catholic Church has ever taught transubstantiation.
Shut down the Terryville “Swingers” Club
Lately, my preaching has focused on practical, political applications local Christians can undertake. Last week, I focused on the situation in Colorado, but here’s a “Pastor’s Action Alert” I posted to social media yesterday about something closer to home.
Background: Wicked Fun, a swingers club in Terryville (Plymouth), Connecticut has been ordered by the Town of Plymouth to close. See: Town orders Terryville ‘swingers club' to close. The club is in violation of local zoning rules by operating within 1000’ of Riverside Baptist Church and two residences.
Response: Pastor Jake spoke with Pastor David Townsley by phone today. Townsley said that club’s operator, Steve Gagne, lied about the purposes of his business when he leased the space, which shares a parking lot with his church.
Policy Implications: While the case against Gagne and Wicked Fun seems to be an “open and shut” one, Townsley expects Gagne to appeal the town’s cease-and-desist order. Townsley says Connecticut towns “don’t have the tools” to stop Gagne from moving his operation anywhere, including Woodbury, and sees an opportunity for a broader effort to enact statewide legislation.
What’s Next: There is a Planning & Zoning Commission meeting on April 29, at 7 PM, 80 Main St., Terryville, CT 06786. Townsley expects it to be a bit of a show. He says Gagne and his wife are savvy and legally astute.
Call to Action: (1) Pray for the Planning & Zoning Commission meeting on April 29, at 7 PM, 80 Main St, Terryville, CT 06786. (2) Identify residents or tax payers of Terryville / Plymouth who can attend the meeting to testify. (3) Attend the meeting as a show of support to Pastor Townsley and Riverside Baptist Church.
Contacts:
Pastor David Townsley (860) 378-4218
Town of Plymouth, 80 Main Street, Terryville, CT 06786, (860) 585-4000
After sending this alert to Woodbury’s First Selectman, Barbara Perkinson, I received this response:
Dear Rev. Dell,
It almost did happen in Woodbury a couple of years ago but luckily it never materialized. I have forwarded your email to our Land Use department to notify them that this issue may be surfacing again.
Thank you for the heads up on this issue.
I also posted it to X asking:
I do wonder what church hierarchies are for sometimes.
A Pro-Tariff Pastor?
An X post I wrote in frustration over all the griping I was hearing and seeing online about declining 401(k) valuations went viral, and American Reformer asked me to expand my thoughts into an article. What I wrote is not so much about Trump and Tariffs, or even 401(k)s, but of the sacrifices required by the individual to make the whole, whole.
Pensions used to be a collective, company-wide effort. Then came the individual retirement account. That was a subtle and important shift in focus.
Read the article here.
National Day of Prayer
First Congregational Church is hosting the Woodbury observance of the National Day of Prayer on Thursday, May 1, 2025, from 6 to 6:30 PM at the Gazebo on the North Green. Please plan to join us.
Wednesday Evening Bible Study
I will lead a Bible study keyed to the biblical texts for each question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism.
Our friends at Sharon Congregational Church in Sharon, Connecticut, have graciously donated several copies of The Westminster Shorter Catechism: For Study Classes for us to use.
I have a limited supply of ESV Study Bibles to give away, first come, first served. Wednesday evenings at 6:30 in the parsonage, beginning April 23.
N.B., there are 107 questions in the Shorter Catechism, so this Bible Study should last about two years, with periodic breaks. Families with children are welcome. Drop-ins also welcome.
Sunday Christian Education Resumes April 27
I will teach through J. Gresham Machen’s landmark book Christianity & Liberalism. (Order your copy from Westminster Bookstore here. Download for free here.)
We’ll review the fundamentalist-modernist debate that split many mainline Protestant churches in the United States in the 1920s, leaving both impoverished. This is the next step in understanding the Reconquista I preached about earlier this year. Sundays after coffee hour during Eastertide, beginning Sunday, April 27.
Assigned reading for the class is recommended but not required. Drop-ins are encouraged and welcome.
Welcome New Members
First Congregational Church received 10 new members on Palm Sunday, with a few more still to be received who couldn’t make it. My wife and I officially became members of First Church as well.
Praise God for this new growth!
Wow, what a good news. I am a regular church goer little bit more than half century and regular reader of Experimental Sermons on every Sunday and I’ve been attended from small membership church to one of largest church but not often seen quite number of new members.
As i am a christian, in a church where all sermons are based on bible, every each sermon, and focus on real god’s word that creates and spreads around community, may even further, to ringing to all spiritually hungry people. Thanks to be god.
In LA, currently visiting NY.