Day 24, Tuesday, Book of Faith – Lenten Journey
I’ve been told that the worship service I’ll be leading for three months in Tanzania will only occasionally include Holy Communion. Obviously I’m concerned about this and part of my concern is echoed in our reading for today. Just as we need the sustenance provided by ordinary bread, the material things of this life, so too do we need the sustenance provided by the bread of Christ’s presence in Holy Communion. Since I began seriously contemplating this in seminary, I’ve always wondered about the mindset that believes this is an optional piece in our primary weekly worship experience. Why fast from the experience of being connected with Christ and to one another through this holy meal? Fasting from material things, as we often do during the season of Lent, is meant to increase our hunger for Christ. Refraining from Holy Communion is then anticlimactic. The object our hunger is increasing for is also being taken away. Weekly worship without Holy Communion, especially in light of our Lenten fast, is like inviting a starving person to a meal but not feeding that person. It is an unnecessary tease.
Obviously, “when in Rome . . .” so I will not be out to make big changes, especially ones that cannot be sustained after I leave. However, if I am not able to celebrate Holy Communion on a weekly basis I WILL REALLY miss it. We will be celebrating four of the seven Sundays of Easter and Pentecost Sunday while I am there. It will be like celebrating Thanksgiving without the meal if these celebrations do not include Holy Communion.
Another reason I’d REALLY miss not celebrating Holy Communion was also expressed in today’s reading, that being the timeless connection we experience with one another in this meal. Holy Communion links us together in ways that are physically impossible. Namely, in Holy Communion we are linked to those celebrating this meal all over the world, now, in the past, and in the future. We experience being connected together in Christ. Holy Communion will be a way of feeling connected with those here in my home so many miles away, even as I now feel connected with those who worship in Tanzania.
I must admit when I’ve prayed the Lord’s Prayer in the past I’ve never thought of “give us today our daily bread” as including Holy Communion. I’ve always focused on the material necessities of life. Most probably because the prayer is “daily bread” and so my mind goes there automatically.
When I came to Zion we didn’t have Holy Communion every Sunday. I thought that odd but certainly never questioned it. I’m wondering now how I and the congregation would react if we were to change our weekly communing policy and go back to one Sunday a month. For me, it would feel as if I were being punished much like a child being deprived of something that he or she truly enjoyed because they’ve made the wrong choice.
Worship and Holy Communion are essential to my well being. It wasn’t always that way but it certainly is now. My tank needs to be refueled – I need to get myself focused once again on the word of God and what he wants me to be about – I need to feel the love of God around me and that happens when I’m at worship with God’s children.
I’m so thankful that we have Holy Communion every Sunday. I can’t imagine it being otherwise.