just a snack.
I gave out communion for the first time ever this Sunday. Well, let me qualify that. I have done communion with groups of people before, I lead them in the whole, "and Jesus broke the bread, saying..." thing. This Sunday was different. I actually broke off the bread from the loaf and gave it to each person.
It went something like this:
I tore off a piece, raised it to their eye level... almost in a taunting way; emphasizing each word with the movement of my hand I said to each person (using their name if I knew it) -
"Bo Sho, this is the body of Christ broken for you."
I'm pretty big into tangibles, and breaking off bread and pronouncing the brokenness of Christ's body for our sins is pretty tangible in my book. I've been on the receiving end of many communions, but never have I gotten to administer it.
After about the 20th person it got kind of frustrating, because it felt like they weren't getting it, me included. What I was tearing with my hands and passing out was no longer bread. It was the most beautiful representation of Jesus' body, and we were feasting upon it. We sat at the table of grace and were asked to have our fill.
I remember as a little kid I looked forward to communion more than anything else . One, because I got to move around the church and look at everyone's faces rather than the back of their heads; and Two, because it was a nice snack to tide me over until lunch.
Sunday lunch was an event at my house.
Some might say that I was missing the point. And to that I will say... "I was 8, what did you want me to think?" I had just mastered the art of subtraction, what I am supposed to do with grace?
I wonder if any of the people this Sunday looked at communion the same way that I did when I was 8?
just a snack.
But I wonder... How far off are they? Communion is an experience of spiritual nourishment. We come as a community to feast upon the grace of God. And to be honest, sometimes grace is all that gets me through the day. Maybe communion is that which gets us through life. It eases the pangs of our hunger until we come in full to the kingdom.
My friends, communion is a snack, a taste of the divine, an experience of the grace of God, and that which will most assuredly tide us over.
EAT HEARTILY.
jared.
I like the comment about grace getting us through the day, but how is it that, its communion or the Lord's Supper that gets us through life? I'm not really following- I cannot be so naive to believe that by eating the bread there is something so much more powerful than I can ever imagine, but how is that tying us over?
Does our hunger ever go away? No, does the communion subside our appetite? I dont know. Am I way off here?
Posted by
christie |
8:09 PM
whu?
im not presenting a formula for what communion is or is not. im not equating participation in communion as THE thing which gets a person through life.
im not even sure im stating anything black or white. im simply saying maybe this could be a way to look at it.
it's really just a story, and to analyze the details kind of detracts from it. im sure i could find holes everywhere when im "just writing", but that's not why i do this.
Posted by
jared slack |
8:35 PM
got it. thanks. i have to agree, the more and more i wrote the more comforting to know there is spiritual power we still have no clue about...check out Acts 2:42-47
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
[im not arguing...just conversation]
Posted by
christie |
8:47 PM
yo...we have a blog now!
Posted by
Anonymous |
11:37 AM