In the breaking of the bread......

"I broke the bread, big chunks from Tom's round wheat loaf, and put a piece in the hand of the person standing in front of me, and looked at her.  Something happened......again."

There is power in the words "in the breaking of the bread," power beyond the simple meaning of the words.  Two travelers heading to Emmaus discovered that their dinner guest was the risen Lord Jesus himself in the 'breaking of the bread.'  Three of our younger members who come for bread lift their hands reverently, and even if only for 15 seconds they are centered, focused, ready to take and eat the bread that is broken for them.  Our older members who cannot come to worship with the fellowship will say, 'Be sure to bring communion when you visit."

There is power in the breaking of the bread because Christ is present. On the night in which he was betrayed (how often have we entered into those words and that story?) Jesus broke bread with his disciples - all 12.  Judas, the one we love to hate.  Peter, the one we love to redeem by overlooking his denial of Christ.  Some of the disciples fade away from the historic record, they become the anonymous ones sort of like you and me.  Together they broke bread.  Together....with Christ and with one another.

Thus they modeled the Christian life.  We do it together.  We do it with betrayers and deniers and behind-the-scenes workers.  We do it with strangers and disreputable folk.  We do it with enemies.  We live the Christian life in the midst of the life we know, yet breaking bread with all who come to the table.

When I traveled to Africa, I learned about a code of hospitality which welcomed, fed, and protected the guest.  Those with little shared their little with me.....and here's the real insight.....they rejoiced that they were able to give and to share.  We ate at the same table; we shared the same food.  We became family for that moment.

Just like the communion bread we share, we don't receive it because we are good or special.  We receive because Christ poured out himself into this meal of solidarity where all the hungry are fed.  The bread on the table of the Lord is meant to be shared with everyone.  It is not a private meal.  Jesus didn't choose only the holy, the deserving, the morally upright to invite to the table; he invited and ate with all.  He invited me.  He invited you.

Luther said, "We are beggars, all."  We are all hungry in a thousand different ways.  Jesus feeds all.  Jesus feeds all.

Thanks be to God.