God be with you.
We gather, friends, over a meal, which has been the habit of people as long as there have been people. It is the most sociable thing that we do.
For people of faith, it is also the most sacred thing we do.
In the days of slavery in Egypt, the people were waiting to escape, waiting for Moses’ word from God that the coast was clear, and they made bread with no yeast because they didn’t know if they would have time for it to rise. Rising comes with the waiting.
If you are like millions of other folks around the world, you’ve been baking bread as therapy during this pandemic time. Working the dough takes time, I’ve learned. Rising comes from the waiting, but also from the labor. A sourdough starter becomes a relationship, a part of the family, a thing which keeps parents and children and friends involved in the work of the rising bread, a thing shared with friends and handed down through generations,
And so it goes with the stories of our faith, shared, handed down, and engaging us in the work.
Like the one we tell when we gather around this table, a story fresh in our minds because this is the season when it became our story. It went like this:
Jesus gathered with his friends the night he was about to be arrested. Most had no idea what the night would bring, so they relaxed, laughed and joked. Everybody just enjoying one another.
Night would fall and the hammer would fall, but first, there was dinner.
Just as they were finishing their meal, the story goes:
Jesus took a loaf of bread, blessed it, broke it and passed it around to them all.
Then, the wine. He poured it, blessed it and passed it around also.
My body will be broken, my blood will be poured out.
And through it all, I will be with you. Do this, to remember I am with you.
We eat and drink to remember, but also because it is where we find community and nourishment for the road ahead.
This bread becomes commitment, becomes relationship. The rising then is not only in the waiting, but in the labor.
Let us pray: Gracious God of new life: be with us in this bread and wine, that it may inspire us for the work of your reign of justice and peace. Teach us to rise. Amen.
And now, let’s eat. Bread and wine are the gifts of god for the people of god.
Post communion:
We give you thanks, Spirit of Life, that you find ways for us to be one people in a fractured time. Bless us with your breath, your vision, and let us rise to feed the world in your name and by your love. Amen.