[Jesus] took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this to remember me as often as you drink it.” 1 Corinthians 11:25
Saturday evening I was in the kitchen, having served Rebekah a really great meal. She was in our home study (most people call it a dining room), preparing her message for Sunday morning, and I was busying myself with the post-supper clean up.
I honestly enjoy the process, so long as I’m not rushed. It’s relaxing to wash the dishes, clean the countertops, return the kitchen to order, brew a pot of coffee, and mull over ideas.
After a few minutes I noticed one of Rebekah’s angel biscuits, an escapee from the bread basket; so I took a small bite and set it down by my unfinished glass of cabernet. I glanced at the bread and the wine, and I couldn’t help but feel a sacramental tug at my heart.
I took a sip of the wine to go with the bread in my mouth; then I walked into the other room, and placed my hand on Rebekah’s shoulder.
“What?” she said.
“I was just thinking of communion,” I replied.
PEACE: This second week of Advent we light the candle of peace. Peace and hope are inextricably tied in with one-another, and we live in a world in desperate need of the kind of peace that’s only possible in the context of Jesus.
I’d love to see what might happen if we would just sit down and break bread with the people we think we can’t tolerate. What if we just took the initiative to learn and to listen? No quid pro quo, no expectation of reciprocation, no assumption that they must listen to us in return.
Break bread together, share a glass of wine, or a cup of tea, or coffee, and just listen.
We have so much to learn from one-another.
A listening world is a world where relationships can be healed…
I believe a listening world, a world where breaking bread with other children of God (and we are all God’s children) is sacramental, is a world where relationships can be healed; marriages, families, churches, communities, nations.
Jesus took the cup of wine after they’d finished eating together, and he told his friends something amazing: “This cup is the new covenant between God and God’s people— it’s an agreement that has been confirmed with my blood. When you drink this, remember me, and remember that I laid everything out on the table so that you could experience wholeness, and restoration, and healed relationships, and peace….” (author paraphrase).
Everything on the line so that we could enter into this covenant – both with God and with one another. How can we remain so intransigent? How can we hate with such disregard for Jesus?
Peace – DEREK
