HAVE SOME BREAD [T, 9-4-18]

Christ in Winter: Reflections on Faith and Life for the Years of Winter… 

I’ve told you about this before, but Helen and I were one of the stations for communion at our church Sunday, and it reminded me of Kathryn.

We have a big sanctuary, so there are five couples stationed with bread and juice around the room, plus a roving couple--that goes to people who need to take the elements at their seats--and a solitary woman who stands hopefully by herself with gluten-free bread. Helen and I were one of the stationary couples.

It reminded me of a time that we served communion in Iron Mountain. A new family had joined our church, partly because of us. They had been long-time members of another church, but when the Director of Christian Ed there told the children that Jesus had named the animals on the ark, they decided they’d better go to a church with a less fanciful approach. Our pastor decided it would make them feel included if he had them help serve communion one Sunday.

It is a smaller church than our current one, so there were only two serving stations, on opposite sides of the chancel. Helen and I served on one side and Bruce and Kathryn on the other. Helen was mumbling the appropriate words as people took the bread from her, and I noticed with appreciation that Kathryn was doing the same on the other side.

It was only afterward that we learned that no one had told her what to say. She had seen Helen but could not hear her, so she realized she was supposed to say something, so as each person stepped up to the loaf she extended, she said, “I don’t know what I’m doing; have some bread.” 

Are not those the perfect words to serve the Eucharist? It’s true for us all. We have no idea what we’re doing in this life, so let’s just share our daily bread.

JRMcF

John Robert McFarland