The miracle of feeding

"There's a hunger beyond food that's expressed in food, and that's why feeding is always a kind of miracle.  It speaks to a bigger desire.  The feeding of the five thousand....the miracle wasn't that Jesus multiplied the loaves.  It's that the disciples took the bread and did what they were told, got up and started feeding, and something happened." *

What is that bigger desire that is addressed in bread and fish?  Could it be a desire to be connected to one another?  Could it be the recognition of our shared humanity in the sharing of food?  Does the passing of the bread invite us to open up to one another, to give the other a second glance?

In Paul's first letter to the church at Corinth he writes, "For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves."  (11.29)  Many denominations have used this passage to insist on examining all who step up to the Lord's table, and therefore, refusing the bread and wine to any who are unable to pass the examination.  What is this bread?  The body of Christ.  What is this wine?  The blood of Christ.

I believe Paul was speaking of an entirely different body.  I believe Paul is speaking about the body of Christ formed by the sharing of the meal; the body of Christ which is formed by those who gather at this time and in this place to become once again a part of the great mystery of God's love for us in Jesus.

Paul warns us not to step up to the Lord's table while rejecting another who the Lord has invited.  When you look across the table to those who are gathered for the meal, you need to be able to see the body of Christ and every single person gathered there as a part of that body.  You don't get to choose who is worthy and who is not.  If you cannot look with love on all the others, then step back and save yourself.  Come back when you are ready to open yourself to those whom God loved before time and who through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus are offered new life.

But is the communion table the only table of the Lord?  Are not all our tables filled with the bounty that comes from God's hand?  Are we ever to step up to a table and not see Christ's body poured out for all humankind?  Are we to take of any bread while judging others unworthy?

Those canned peas you brought to the food drive.....they too are the body and blood of Jesus, a love poured out for all whom God created.  Are you able to see it now?  The body of Christ, formed and re-formed again and again in diner and dining room and rescue mission.  The body of Christ feeding our deepest, biggest desires.


*thanks once again to Sara Miles for her book "take this bread".  The quote comes from page 175.

The body of Christ...........

"I still can't explain my first communion.  It made no sense.  I was in tears and physically unbalanced: I felt as if I had just stepped off a curb or been knocked over, painlessly, from behind.  The disconnect between what I thought was happening - I was eating a piece of bread; what I heard someone else say was happening - the piece of bread was the 'body' of  'Christ,' ....and what I knew was happening - God, named 'Christ' or 'Jesus' was real, and in my mouth - utterly short-circuited my ability to do anything but cry."  

"And so I kept taking communion, unprepared and unreformed.  I figured communion would take me, too - wherever I was going." 

Yes.  That's it.  God's holy supper will take you - your life - wherever you are going.
Where is God taking you?

Thank you Sara Miles for sharing this wonderful description of your experience of  Christ in the meal.  How powerful it is to be invited into that place, around that table,  with Christ as host week after week after week. Quotes are from Sara Miles' book, "take this bread", pages 59 and 83.