Photo by Rodger and Bgrace
It was family Sunday. Which meant Grace sat in the "grown up" service with us. It was also communion. I hadn't ever taken communion with Grace before. The band was playing Redman's version of "Nothing But the Blood" and we took our place in line to get our bread and cup. I looked down at Grace and told her to take one of each, but to wait until we were seated to do anything.
As Grace reached for the elements I was thinking about how to explain communion to her and suddenly I got all choked up. My eyes filled with tears and I could barely see where I was walking. I knew I needed to pull it together so I could be helpful to her, so I did my best and talked with her about it. Then following the Pastor's lead we all took communion together.
I wasn't crying because I was being sentimental about Grace taking her "first" communion.
I wasn't crying because in that moment I was overwhelmed by the sacrifice of Christ on her behalf.
It's a bit more complicated than that.
A couple weeks ago during my weekend in the mountains with some friends, we sat in a circle and had a blessed time of prayer together and at the end we shared communion. I read out of John, but one of my friends began to talk about the Corinthians passage. Her words still echo in my ears, "Each time you drink this cup you show forth my love."
Technically, the passage says covenant, not love. But if it's not a covenant of love than I don't know what is.
Technically the passage is referring to the sacrament of taking the cup in remembrance of Jesus' sacrifice. But we are called to remember so that we can become like Him.
Christ calls us to drink the cup of sacrifice. It is when we do this that we most clearly show forth the love of Christ.
How many times, Lord?
Each time.
What will you ask of me next Lord?
Drink this cup.
Remind me why?
You show forth my love.Then it is worth it. At this point in my journey, that's what I think about when I take communion. Am I willing to be like you Jesus? Will I be willing to be a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable, and pleasing to you?
Will I continue to show forth your covenant of love every time you ask me to drink the cup?
Its a heavy thing to consider.
Then when I saw Grace take her little cup of purple juice everything in me just went off the charts.
What does it mean for me to teach her to love like Jesus loves? To go beyond the pseudo-christian "I love the feeling that you love me so I'm gonna say I love you back" love? To love with the love of Christ, a love vaster far than any ocean.
I KNOW what this kind of love means, and almost everything in me wants to protect her from it.
And yet, there's this little whisper in the corner of my heart that says, "No matter what you wouldn't trade who you are now for who you were before you walked this path." And I know that is true.
So I know that I will teach Grace to take the cup.
In remembrance and in likeness of the One I pray she will come to reflect more and more.
It will pain me to see her go through it.
I can only imagine what Mary went through at the foot of the cross.
But I won't keep it from her.
The love of God, an ocean of love, fits perfectly inside the cup of sacrifice.
To drink it, is to know what love is.
To drink it, is to show what love is.
