Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” – John 6:35

I’d like to offer a short post about communion. This will fit in nicely as a supplement to Sunday morning’s “Not a monument to religion but a testament to the Living God.”

In church this weekend, Betty Connette’s excellent message focused on the encouragement we receive from the knowledge that there is a “cloud of witnesses” cheering us on in our “race” as followers of Jesus. But this knowing is more than just an intellectual understanding, we are in fact deeply connected as people of faith and – despite the challenges all of us face from time to time – we are absolutely not alone.

After the sermon, and as if to underline the scriptures with a practical demonstration, one hundred or so people made their way forward to receive communion, publicly demonstrating the beauty of our unity in faith and purpose. Receiving the bread and the wine is always a powerful and emotional moment.

And then, as if to add more depth and resonance to the spiritual truth of the principle of community, our daughter Naomi attended church for the first time in a very long time. And, in a very real sense, even though our daughter was physically in Orlando, Naomi and Rebekah and I sat at The Lord’s Table together.

This is how Naomi put it in a FaceBook post:

Went to church for the first time in a long time this morning. It felt like Uncle Jesse was preaching just for me: Good for my heart… also glad a sweet lady at this church brought me a box of tissues because I cried for the whole service… – Naomi Maul Campbell

There is nothing so real, or so compelling, as the love of God and the way that love and unity is experienced in the Body of Christ, the church. And for that I am so very grateful.

This is what Jesus told us, he said that the world is hungry for the self-giving kind of love, the kind of love that tells the truth about who we follow – DEREK