[Started the sermon by showing several different traffic signs on the big screen and asking people to identify what they mean.]

How did we learn these? Have you ever violated one of these—like, especially, the “Stop” sign? Hopefully, no one was hurt. And maybe you didn’t even get caught. You were driving on one of the back streets and suddenly realized you had driven right through a stop sign.

What caused that? I’ve done that, and realized I saw the stop sign, but I didn’t heed it. Maybe my mind was on where I was going. Maybe something further up the street caught my eye. Maybe someone pulled to a stop right in front of the last house on the block and, as I went around them, that was when I saw the stop sign. Too late. Maybe I was visiting with someone in the car.

Whatever the specific cause at the moment, the general cause usually falls into one of two categories: I was distracted, or I was complacent. In either case, I was not putting my full attention where it was supposed to be.

And then … have you ever missed a stop sign and thought to yourself, “It should have been bigger!” Or, “They should have mounted it higher on the pole!” The reality is that we missed it through our own negligence, but we like to kid ourselves and blame someone else. Especially some nameless person who puts up traffic signs.

Still, symbols are very important. Sometimes it’s because they convey a message in a very short and easily-recognized fashion. Sometimes it’s because they just stand out. We’ll notice something visually that we wouldn’t if it were just confined to some other sense. I’ve heard mechanics tell me that certain smells may indicate something is wrong with my car engine; but a SURE way to get my attention is to have a light come on.
We all use symbols. This wedding ring? It’s a symbol for me and everyone who sees me that I am married.

The Rainbow
Genesis 9:8-17
God said to Noah and his sons, "I am now making my covenant with you and with your descendants, and with all living beings—all birds and all animals—everything that came out of the boat with you. With these words I make my covenant with you: I promise that never again will all living beings be destroyed by a flood; never again will a flood destroy the earth. As a sign of this everlasting covenant which I am making with you and with all living beings, I am putting my bow in the clouds. It will be the sign of my covenant with the world. Whenever I cover the sky with clouds and the rainbow appears, I will remember my promise to you and to all the animals that a flood will never again destroy all living beings. When the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between me and all living beings on earth. That is the sign of the promise which I am making to all living beings." (GNB)

I have often wondered why there weren’t rainbows before Noah. Did got change the molecular configuration of water? Was there—as some have speculated—a layer of clouds around the earth before the flood and it was only afterwards that full sunlight broke through (can’t have rainbows without light)?

I don’t know. But I do know the purpose of rainbows: to remind us of God’s promise and that he keeps his promises.

And every time we see that symbol, we think of the promise, right?

The Fiery Serpent
Number 21:6-9
Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live." So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. (GNB)

You’ve seen this symbol before: the snake wrapped around the pole. We know it as the symbol of the medical profession.

God was preparing the people for something that would happen later. One day, a man would be attacked to the pole and the serpent would be defeated. Both were acts of God and easily recognized symbols.

The Cross
Philippians 2:8
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (ESV)

Galatians 6:14
But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (ESV)

God know how we work/think, because he created us. He knew, long before any advertising agency ever existed, that symbols are powerful. They can serve as reminders, as educational tools, and as artwork. It’s why we’re drawn to artwork to begin with. Those splotches of paint on canvas or that carved piece of marble speaks to us in a way that written or spoken word doesn’t.

I’ve been reading—along with our worship team—about the use of symbols in worship. In some churches, you will find many crosses. In others, you might find statues of martyrs or saints. In others you will find beautiful stained glass windows. All of these are symbols whose original design was to remind people of God and drawn them closer to him.

But what can go wrong with a symbol?

In 2 Kings 18, King Hezekiah had the bronze serpent destroyed because the people had been worshiping it, rather than the God who gave it. In some cases today, people are worshiping crosses, rather than the man who was crucified. Or they’re worshiping a bronze statue of a saint instead of the God he served. As a result of these abuses, the Christian church has—historically—swung completely the other way and tried to get rid of almost all symbols. Maybe a cross at the front of the room, or a stained glass window, or two, but otherwise we’re pretty limited on symbols.

In the book we’ve been reading by Robert Webber (“Worship is a Verb”), Webber advocates for the use of symbols in worship. At first, my protestant/Restoration Movement background balked. Then I read further and realized he wasn’t just talking about crosses or things I might think of as “graven images”. (And he certainly wasn’t talking about worshiping them, just using them as tools.) He referred to other things as symbols. Paintings. Drama. Even liturgical dance.

Essentially, what he was referring to as symbols were those things that speak to us visually, or in ways other than just hearing Scripture read. Note: he’s not and I’m not advocating for less Scripture reading. But God speaks to us in so many ways—through the beauty and complexity of nature, through music, through art—how can we proclaim God with all these wonderful tools?

Now, one of the most powerful uses of symbols is to act something out. Did you ever have to do this in school? Maybe you had to put on a play about the founding of Jamestown, or the Continental Congress. And maybe your role was relatively minor. But you still remember you role to this day and you remember the overall point of the story, because you acted it out.

That’s symbolism! You weren’t really George Washington or John Hancock or a pilgrim, but for a little while you identified with that person because you became them for just a moment—even in pretend.

One More Symbol!
Matthew 26:26-29
Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." (ESV)

Jesus, as a human like us, knew that we react to symbols. So he gave us the bread and the juice to symbolize his body and blood.

More than that, he knew that we remember better what we participate in than what we just hear. He could have just told us to remember his sacrifice, but he laid out this simple ceremony and called on us to act it out.

What do I DO with this?

Today, we’re going to encourage you to look differently at the Lord’s Supper, this powerful symbol of Christ’s love and sacrifice that we enact every week. See, it’s easy to fall into the trap of just taking communion because it’s passed by.

This morning, though, we’re not going to pass the communion. We’re going to sing two hymns here in a moment and we invite you—at whatever point during those songs you feel led—that you come to the table nearest you (they are set up in the front and back) and take communion.

Why are we doing it this way? Because sometimes we need to break up our routine so that we can refocus on why we do the routine in the first place!