Special Occasion

Years and years ago, a gentleman in our church, who I think is a wonderful man, came up to me and told me that he thought we served communion too often. I'm not sure how often that it was served then, but now we have communion once every two months. It may have been the same then; I'm not sure. He was telling me because he thought the committee that I was chairing at the time might be able to reduce the frequency of the sacrament in worship.

Contrast that to a story told in class tonight about a pair of twin boys in our church. They were at the grocery story with their grandmother, and wanted to know if she would get some of that fizzy grape drink that they had on New Year's Eve. She told them that that was only for special occasions, and one of the twins responded, "Oh, you mean like communion."

I love that he thought communion was a "special occasion." He's so right, and we could all learn from him.

How do we look at communion. Do we see it as a slow moving, depressing church obligation that takes time away from lunch? Or do we welcome this means of grace into our faith experience?

Perhaps it was (and is) the Emmaus experience that has given me an appreciation for the sacrament of communion. We're going to have to miss our monthly Emmaus gathering this week to go to a band concert that G is playing in, and I already regret that we will not be able to celebrate communion with our Emmaus community. I will miss it.

An invitation to join God at his table. It is certainly a "special occasion."