My Communion Thoughts from Yesterday

Communion is my favorite part of church. When I was young, I was lost by the ritual of it and distracted by the shiny trays. Back home in Kentucky the lights would reflect off of the heavy silver plates and cast reverse shadows that would dance all over the ceiling. And I was distracted.

And I would be distracted by the sound of breaking bread, like raindrops landing in shallow pans all over the church.

And I would be distracted by the personal stories the man at the microphone would tell.

I didn't understand any of this for years until I learned that Communion is sharing. The very word comes from what we share, what we have in common. Common = communion. Communion is sharing. We share food while a brother gets up and shares what the death of Christ means to him.

And the death of Christ is so significant, so beautiful, so powerful that people have been sharing their joy for 2000 years, re-telling the story daily in their lives. We come together to celebrate as a family because we share the joy that Christ's death freed us from sin, and the joy that Christ's resurrection freed us from fear.

The angel at Jesus' tomb met the women there and told them, "Jesus is not here! Go back and tell the apostles!" I prefer to read this as "Share this news with them!"

And so we share this good news. Just as we do not light a lamp and hide it under a bowl, so we cannot help but share the good news of Christ.

At this point, I asked the church to turn to each other and share what the death of Christ means to them. An old, beautiful man leaned over to me and told me, "Hope. Joy."

Oh, how much we all share in Christ.