Friday, August 22, 2008

Eucharist

I'm wondering today if Eucharist is the word that captures what Communion is all about. I'm not sure if we should call it Eucharist. Are we thankful for violence? Are we really having a "thanksgiving meal" because Christ died? That seems morbid and disturbing to me. It seems more mourning. We aren't happy that Christ died. We aren't celebrating his death. We are in mourning about his death. It isn't a good thing that when Love personified entered the world in human form he was killed. But it is a reality that we do kill love. We do stifle life. We do reject each other and in doing so reject God. I do it. I know I do it. More than I would like. Being present to that reality is what is happening during communion. But it doesn't end with me feeling crappy because I hurt someone and/or myself. Communion is calling us into God's reality that our Sin can not keep us from the Kingdom. That with the people I hurt, with those who hurt me, I enter into the presence of the Living God. I am called into community. I often think about how I don't know the stories of the people I'm communing with. It really isn't important that I do. I see it on their faces that they too are called to participate in this reality of being called to the Kingdom.
Sharing in the bread and wine is a reminder of our freedom. It is a reminder that what we do can not change who God is. I can live boldly. I can Sin Boldly. Because I am free. Sure what I do matters, but not in the sense that it can undo God. My power to undo love and stifle life can not change the one who is Love and Life. I do not have that kind of power.