Communion

Communion

The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come.

YEARS AGO I HEARD the story of a young woman whose fiancé called off their wedding at the last minute. She was with her mother when she got the news and immediately fell to the floor in her grief. What has stuck with me was her mother’s response. When asked what she did, her mother replied, “I got down on the floor with her.” My eyes immediately welled with tears. This mother didn’t ignore her daughter, or try to get her up off of the floor too quickly. She saw her child’s pain and entered in. She got down on the floor and sat with her.

I remembered this the day we got the call that my daughter’s birth mother had passed away. I immediately got down with my daughter and wept with her. She would not cry alone. I sat with her in her pain, unwilling to push past the moment too quickly.

And this is one of the reasons I love Jesus and the act of Communion so much. To me, Communion is the remembering that Jesus came, that he got down on the floor with us. That he carried every pain this world can afford, took it upon himself and offered his comfort and peace to us in the middle of our pain. He wept. He lamented. And we can move past this part too quickly. But Communion is one way we remember his sacrifice. His becoming one of us. His death. Resurrection and life. That offered hope. Good news to the poor. Release of captives. Freedom for the oppressed. And he still offers these today.

Lord, thank you that you came to earth to be with us. Thank you for entering into our pain and suffering and for offering us hope. Amen.

-Kendra

One Good Step: Read Matthew 26:26-29 and then spend some time with Jesus, remembering the ways that he has entered into your pain and communed with you.