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LOW CARB COMMUNION
I've been on the low carb thing for a long time now. This means that I basically stay away from bread, potato, rice and the like.
One of the unexpected benefits of such a lifestyle is the impact it's had on communion. In our church, we have communion on a weekly basis. Every Sunday we gather around the Lord's Table to remember His loving sacrifice and His gift of grace.
One of the things that has often struck me about communion is how a common thing like bread is given such a powerful, symbolic value. I mean bread is as basic as it gets, and yet, in the context of the Lord's Supper, it symbolizes that Jesus gave His body as a sacrifice for our sins. The basic became supreme. The life-sustaining became life-giving. The common became incomparable.
I have always felt that something as basic and as humble as bread made sense as a symbol of Jesus' giving of Himself. After all, He " being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant" (Phil 2:6-7a) Jesus' humbleness followed Him from the manger to the cross. His practical wisdom and faithful witness permeated every aspect of day-to-day life, so I get the bread thing. It makes sense.
But, now that eating bread is no longer a common experience for me, communion has a changed to a certain extent. What was common has become special. The symbol itself now points to the preciousness of what it symbolizes. Kind of neat, eh? Maybe I have too much time on my hands to think of such things!
The crux (or is that the crust?) of what I am trying to cut to here is simply this: Christ wants us to focus on the common so that He can transform it into something uncommon. To put it another way, Jesus is most honored and best displayed when we pay attention to the common tasks of life.
I don't believe the giants of faith are those who exercise their faith in grandly sacrificial efforts that grab everyone's attention. What really shines the reality of Christ to the world around us is how we treat the guy in the check out line and how we deal with our neighbor and the paperboy and our office workers and schoolmates. It's about how we live with our families and how we view God's presence and guidance in the daily routine of life. It is about being just as much aware of God when we're driving to work Wednesday morning as we are in our worship services on Sunday morning. I guess what I am really trying to say is that when God is Lord of our daily routine, He is Lord of everything and if He is Lord of everything then even the simple, common, daily actions of life can have an incredible significance and impact. Kind of neat, eh?
If you have any thoughts or comments, please e-mail me by click no my name at the bottom of this page.
