journeys-page

I first served communion here at Trinity on the first Sunday of July 2016; 9 o’clock contemporary service, and 11 o’clock traditional service. It was my first Sunday here. I didn’t know where the pastors sat, so I just sat in the front pew. I’d already been doing communion as a pastor for 32 years. So the service was familiar. The people were not. And the line down the center aisle seemed never ending as people came forward for the intinction of the bread into the juice. Would we run out of bread? Was there an extra loaf under a cloth on the altar? As pastor at Doniphan and Rosedale for six years, I pretty much knew every person who’d come forward for communion. I’d say their name and look them in the eye as I tore off a piece of bread and placed it in their hand. It’s something only communion servers get to do. With communion, I talk about bringing forth those parts of your lives that you need to give over to God; leaving them at the altar. Then walking away from communion as a new person; freed from the burden you’d been carrying around for at least a month. As a pastor, I’d also have the privilege of knowing many of the burdens folks were carrying as folks shared their lives with me over time. So that tiny moment of placing that little chunk of bread in their hand; saying those ancient words, “The bread of life . . . The body of Christ broken for you,” meant more than handing out a little something to eat. There was a connection with Christ, the person, and me as we got to be present in a small redemptive moment. It’s a spiritual thing. A soul thing that’s bigger than all of us. So here we are, eight years later; 96 communions later, (not counting Christmas Eves and Maundy Thursdays). It’s my last communion with this congregation. We’ve been through a lot together in these eight years; funerals, weddings, baptisms, confirmations . . . You name it. I tell people that the positive things are fun, but I will get closest to those who have major tragedies. It’s an intensity thing. It’s just the way it works. As you come forward today to share this sacramental meal with me, I know you and you know me. We’ve been through COVID and are back together! And I will be forever grateful for the privilege of sharing the best and the worst of our lives together as we’ve monthly asked God into our lives for nurture and forgiveness through this simple sacramental act of eating bread and juice. Grace & Peace,