My son recently had a chorus performance at a church in our neighborhood which does not observe communion as regularly as we do at University Lutheran. As we were waiting for it to begin my 5 year old look around "is this their sanctuary?". Yes. Noticing the lack of an altar and communion rails she asked "where do they do communion?". I replied we could ask a friend who went to that church. I said they may bring things on communion Sundays and said they probably didn't do communion every Sunday, maybe once a month. To the question of why I responded different churches do things differently. At this point, my 7 year old, who has been listening said "wow! They must be starving!"
That sentence has stayed with me. Wow. They must be starving! We often talk about feeding the hungry, but never had I thought of communion quite that bluntly. But she captured exactly how I feel without weekly communion: starving. Starving for forgiveness. Starving for the gift of unconditional love in the gift of body and blood. Staving to be feed with the holy spirit so that in the coming week I burn with justice peace and love (paraphrased from one ELW proper preface).
Psalm 34 invites us to taste and see that the lord is good. It reminds us that those who seek the lord lack no good thing. Perhaps remembering that without the gifts God gives us we are starving on a spiritual level will give us pause to examine our relationship with God. And then, perhaps we can share the experience of the God that feeds us with one person who is starving. . . For love, for peace, for justice. And extend the invitation to come taste and see!
Pastor Shealey
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