Call me Back

Hoyt Hickman, in his book Worshiping with United Methodists, wrote about Jesus’s words, “Do this, as often as your drink it, in remembrance of me.”

He wrote, “The word remembrance has a meaning stronger than we ordinarily mean by the word ‘remember.’ We might better use the word ‘recall’ in the sense of to ‘call back’ — ‘Do this to call me back.’”

This is part of the holy mystery, isn’t it? That we can worship in a way that doesn’t just remember Jesus, but that calls him back to be with us, in that moment.  Communion isn’t a scrapbook event, where we think about Jesus.  It’s a meal WITH Jesus and all the saints.  It’s a family dinner. 

Use any of the words you want.  It is holy ground.  Thin place. Encounter.

I remember going to the funeral of the father of a pastor in our Annual Conference.  He led those gathered in communion, and he talked about it as worship where we gather with those who have gone before - a meal with his father. And his Father.

Recall.  Calling Jesus back.  Remembrance.