"The Sermon According to Billy"

Pastor Nagle
03/24/2005

“The Sermon According to Billy” Maundy Thursday March 24, 2005
“Mommy. Mommy.”
“Billy, when you’re kneeling at the altar for Holy Communion, you shouldn’t be talking.”
“But Mommy, this is important. I need to know something.”
“What?”
“Who’s that?”
“Billy, that’s the pastor. You know that. Now be quiet.”
“Mommy, not the pastor. I know him. Who’s that? Who’s that person kneeling over there on the other side?”
“That’s Mrs. Shultz.”
“Why are her eyes closed?”
“Because she’s praying.”
“About what?”
“When they kneel here, people pray for lots of things. They pray that God will keep on loving them. They say they’re sorry for bad things they’ve done. They ask God to help sick people.”
“Is that why he’s here?”
“Who?”
“The man there who’s coughing. Is he sick?”
“Oh yes, Billy, he is. Mr. Kramer is very sick. Maybe you and I can ask God to help him get better.”
“Does coming to Holy Communion make you get better? Is eating and drinking it like taking medicine? I don’t like medicine.”
“Well, actually, Holy Communion is kind of like God’s medicine. It makes us feel better about what’s wrong with us, even if what’s wrong with us doesn’t disappear right away.”
“Is that why that lady there is crying—because something didn’t disappear right away?”
“Billy, Mrs. Myers has lots going on in her life. So much going on that it’s ok for her to cry.”
“But doesn’t she think God can take care of her?”
“Billy, God can take care of everyone.”
“Then why is she crying?”
“Maybe she just needs a reminder.”
“Like Holy Communion, right?”
“Well, yes. Holy Communion does remind us that God takes care of us. But, please. It’s important that you be quiet and stop asking so many questions.”
“But Mommy, this is important too. Why isn’t that person crying?”
“How do you know Mr. Gordon isn’t crying?”
“Because I’m looking at him.”
“Can you tell what’s going on inside him?”
“No.”
“But God can.”
“God can see inside us? Eew.”
“I mean that God can understand what’s going on inside us. He knows what bothers us and what makes us laugh. He knows what we try to do and if it’s something good, he helps us do it. He knows everything about us.”
“Does he know I think that man looks funny when he sings?”
“Billy!”
“Well, he does.”
“But isn’t it more important to know that he likes to sing? And that when he sings the songs, he’s praising God?”
“I don’t know all these songs.”
“No, you don’t. But some day maybe you will. The songs we sing remind us of Jesus and the way he lived and the day he died.”
“I don’t like to think about dying.”
“Nobody does, I guess. But with Jesus, it was different. He didn’t just die. He lived again. And that’s what Easter is about. At church and Holy Communion, we don’t think just about dying. We think more about living. But Billy, I’ll have to talk to you later. We can’t disturb the people next to us.”
“That man doesn’t have anybody next to him Does God know why that man’s kneeling all by himself?”
“He’s alone because he doesn’t have any family here.”
“I’ve got family. I’m glad I’ve got family. I’m sorry he doesn’t have family. Can we be his family?”
“Well we are his family, sort of. I mean, when we’re all here around the altar, we’re the family of God.”
“Johnny’s family fights. A lot.”
“Every family fights sometimes. But in Holy Communion, we don’t think about the fights we have with each other—except to say that we’re sorry.”
“Do you think everybody here is sorry?”
“I don’t know. Probably not. It took you a long time to apologize when you hit your sister.”
“But she wasn’t being nice.”
“Neither were you. But here you both are, you on this side of me and she on the other side. And I love you both—even when you didn’t say you were sorry.”
“Did God know about me and my sister?”
“God knows everything.”
“Everything?”
“Everything. But he loves you anyway. Just like I do. But being sorry isn’t the only reason we come to the altar. Lots of times, we come because we’re happy.”
“So that’s why that lady smiled at me.”
“Probably. When we think of all that God has given us, when we know that we’re loved, when we know that we’re surrounded by other people who know about God, we just have to smile.”
“So it’s ok to look around?”
“Well, you shouldn’t stare, but if you didn’t look around, you wouldn’t know who else is here, would you? And if you didn’t know who else is here, you wouldn’t be able to smile at them, would you?”
“I tried smiling at that other lady, but she didn’t smile back. She didn’t even look at me. Is she mad about something?”
“No, Billy, Mrs. Kraft’s not mad.”
“Then why didn’t she look at me?”
“I guess she’s looking at something else.”
“What?”
“I don’t know. When her eyes are closed like that, maybe she’s looking at a picture of Jesus or remembering a verse from the Bible, or maybe she’s thinking about people who brought her to communion.”
“Just like you bringing me, right?”
“That’s right. Holy Communion is so special to me that I want everybody to know.”
“There are a lot of people here, but I don’t think everybody’s here.”
“More people than you can count. Some of them you see. Some of them are far off. But they’re still here. But Billy, you’ve got be quiet. The pastor’s getting closer.”
“But why do we have to be quiet?”
“So we can hear what he says.”
“What does he say?”
“He says the most important thing you’ll ever hear. Listen.”
“The Body of Christ, given for you. The blood of Christ, shed for you. For you, and you, and you, and you too, Billy.”