Sunday, July 26, 1998
Sunday, July 26, 1998
"Take, eat; this is my body." (Matthew 26:26
NRSV)
Annie Dillard was in the ninth grade. Like most people her age she was suspicious of the values
and traditions of her parents. Her parents had been taking her to church ever since she could
remember. Annie wasn't too sure she really wanted to be in church, but she went to church
nonetheless because it was important to her parents. On a typical Sunday morning she was sitting
in her usual place, the first row of the balcony in a large stone carved church in Pittsburgh. She
enjoyed the balcony because she could watch the people below, the women in their fancy dresses,
and the men in their stiff shirts and neck ties.
In Annie's opinion the people had gathered to remind God how hard they had worked and how
few pleasures they took for themselves since the flood. The people were always looking around
for an entrance to another life or at least an exit from this one.
Annie Dillard was at that age where she was quite sure of herself. She thought she knew better
than anyone. On that Sunday she realized it was Communion Sunday. Annie always did her best
to avoid Communion. To be honest the whole thing seemed absurd to her. Communion was
something people did that had no real meaning. Annie wondered what Christ must have thought
of the whole charade. She watched as the silver trays were passed out, with the cubes of bread
and the Welch's grape juice. Then as she was looking around a strange feeling came over her. She
saw her friends praying, even the boys she had seen at the ninth grade dance the night before.
They were praying. It seemed almost unbelievable that they could take communion so seriously.
Then she watched as the adults prayed. Every head was bowed in the sanctuary; no one was
moving. As she watched she was alerted to a new feeling, something she had never experienced
before. "I didn't know what to make of this," she thought to herself. As the ushers made their way
to the altar Annie Dillard realized that she knew most of the people present and, more
importantly, she knew what they loved and she wasn't so sure it was God.
There in that old church she experienced the broken body and shed blood of our Lord and Savior.
The people that she doubted came together as sinners in need of the bread and juice. That
morning Annie Dillard realized why we celebrate communion. It's not because we deserve it. It's
not because we have been so good. Rather we come to the Lord's table in need of something we
cannot do for ourselves. We are offering ourselves to be part of the body of Christ--so that we
can go out into the world that seems God-forsaken. Annie Dillard slowly realized this is not a
God-forsaken world because God is present through His people.
Prayer: Loving God, thank you for loving this broken soul. Amen.
Ronald Newhouse, Texas, USA