Break!


Karen gave us a lot of images about communion today. In being the "eucharist", it is a sign of thanksgiving. In being "communion", it is something in which we are bound together (particularly wonderful to think about on World Communion Sunday). In the "breaking of the bread", we are reminded of the words Jesus spoke to those closest to him. In "mass", we think about mission - how we are sent out to be the presence of Christ in the world.

It is this last one that resonated most clearly with me today. As Karen pointed out, we are bombarded these days with consumerism, with feelings of inadequacy, with prioritizing the things we buy/wear/drive as the most important things that define us. By being obsessed with these things, we are, like the church in Corinth, showing contempt for the body of Christ.

Communion serves to remind us of what is important, to ground us, to remind us of where our lives should be centred. In the midst of so much greed and selfishness, we are brought back to the communion table to be reminded of love, kindness, and generosity. We are reminded that that is the way we should be living.

In our younger (and more irreverent!) days, my brothers and I would joke from the pews that the elders being sent out to distribute the communion elements were like a football team at the end of a pep talk. It is like the minister says "Ready? Break!" and the elders disperse amongst the congregation. I thought of that again this morning, but not just in terms of the elders. All of us who shared in that bread and wine today - at St. Andrew's and around God's earth. We have received our pep talk, we have been reminded of our mission in this world. Now it is up to us to go out and be the body of Christ. Ready? Break!

Laura S.