Can you think of “eye opening” experiences that changed the understanding of your world. For my generation, the shooting of JFK shook people to the core for they thought the President of the USA was infallible. Again men landing on the moon was remarkable. Tonight astronauts return from the international space station and the trip includes an American and two Russians! Money can go from the USA to Kenya in minutes with the proper app. I spoke with my daughter in Canada as if she were next door. We live in a world where the miraculous happens daily. The miraculous has become ordinary. Perhaps we do not realize what a revolutionary event it was for Cleopas and friend to encounter the risen Christ. As they neared their hometown of Emmaus and invited this stranger who had joined them walking on the road and who was explaining scripture to them, Jesus unrecognized, in to spend the night. They were still on an intellectual journey trying to understand.
“When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him and he disappeared from their sight. (Luke 24:20, 21)” Christians call the breaking of bread and the sharing of drink “communion.” We believe that as we confess sin, are forgiven and then eat the elements, relationship, communion is restored. We are reminded that even as bread builds our body, Christ died to build us. Even as wine flows into our blood to build our blood, that close is Christ to us, strengthening us for our journeys.
Today you may be struggling with broken relationships because of what and what. Arguments? Distance? Language? Disease? Death? Communion somehow crosses those barriers. When I was a chaplain in a memory care unit, communion was given to people who could not talk and were a shadow of themselves and yet, as they received the bread and drink, they suddenly could say the Lord’s Prayer and their faces beamed as the elements entered their bodies. Many could sing Amazing Grace but not talk. Those are sacred moments.
Is there someone you need to restore relationship with today? Christ in the bread and the drink is able to cross barriers and restore: our hearts, our faith, our minds, and our relationships. He still meets us today in communion experiences. He meets us in ways technology cannot duplicate. He walks with you, strengthening and seeking to encourage you. Spend time communing with him today!
On the Way to Wonder 