This past Sunday I took my turn as chalice bearer at the church. I stood next to the priest during the eucharistic prayer and, after receiving the bread and wine myself, carried the cup of wine to the altar rail. I followed the priest around the arc of my church family, offering the chalice to each one saying, "the blood of Christ, the cup of salvation."
As I passed from person to person, I began to notice the variety of ways each one participated in the ritual of the sacrament. Some stood and some knelt. The bread was placed in open palms, raised to accept the body of Christ. Some brought their open palms to their mouths to eat the bread while others lifted the bread from one hand with the other and some held the bread, waiting for the cup I carried. As I offered the cup, some dipped the bread into the wine (intinction), some guided the chalice to their lips and drank deeply or with a sip. Some made eye contact with me, some gazed into the chalice.
We come with reverence to receive communion. And we approach God as the individuals that God created us to be. We accept the gift of Christ's body and blood and we offer our God-given gifts back to God... "all things come of Thee, o Lord; and of Thine own have we given Thee."
I am thankful that God loves me, individually, with all my quirks and failings and all my gifts.
Amen and amen.
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