Beauty from Nothing by Richard Wurmbrand

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Years of prison passed. We were very hungry for food, for love. Nobody ever smiled, helped us or spoke nice words. We were hungry for the printed page, we were hungry for the face of a human, and we were hungry for one more thing -- Holy Communion.

But how were we to take Holy Communion? We were alone in our cells, so we could not gather in fellowship. We did not have even one slice of bread a week, and where would we get wine in a subterranean, Communist prison cell? We had no Bible and no hymnbook. We had nothing.

At once, we realized that we had something after all, something called "nothing." Now what is the value of this "nothing"? The Communists had taken our families, houses, furniture, libraries and churches. They had taken our clothing. They had even taken away our names and given us a number.

We had nothing, so in this half-dark prison cell we began to think about the value of "nothing."

We all loved this world, with its beautiful multicolored butterflies, chirping birds, scented flowers and laughing children. Then we recalled what God had used to make this beautiful world: He created it out of nothing.

In churches, Holy Communion is taken with bread. Bread is made with flour, and flour is made from wheat. Out of what is wheat made? God made it out of nothing. In Holy Communion, churches use wine or grape juice. Wine is made form grape juice, grape juice is made from grapes, and grapes grow on vines. God has made the vines out of nothing. So "nothing" is a very valuable material.

On a Sunday morning, we decided to take Holy Communion with nothing. At a certain moment, we gave a signal through the wall from one end of the corridor to the other. And at the same moment, we took nothing in our hands, and we thanked God for it.

We ate nothing and remembered the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was broken for us.

Now I would commend no church to partake in Holy Communion like this. I believe things in the church should be done exactly as written in the Word of God. The best practices to follow in the church are those of the first Christians, so take Holy Communion as it was taken by the first Christians.

Still, we can learn from persecuted Christians who must do otherwise in special circumstances. We should learn from them the value of "nothing." I believe that persecuted Christians can help us much more than we can help them. We can help them with a few coins or big checks. They can help us realize the value of "nothing," the detachment from things of this world and attachment to our heavenly bridegroom.

Link to Original Full Sermon: https://www.sermonindex.net/sermons/N8xBadI5xTLRqWVI