Communion
A reflection on love, community, calling, and the New Creation
Just a few short weeks ago, I had the opportunity to spend some precious time at Mepkin Abbey, a Monastery near Charleston, SC., with some dear friends of mine. It was a truly meaningful time in a truly beautiful and Holy place. There’s so much I could say about the days I spent there and the many ways God spoke to me in that place, but one of the big reflections that arose from the longing, silence, prayer, and conversations we shared, and my own deep and anxious heart, was the true meaning… and I would even say calling, of communion.
During my time at Mepkin Abbey, we often joined the monks for their daily prayer services. From 4am to 7:30pm without fail, the Monks of Mepkin Abbey gather together five times to mark the passing of each day in prayer. Each morning, they break bread and share in Communion, and I was both honored and humbled to take part in this sacred act. It became a rhythm of daily remembrance for me: Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again. Together we confessed: we are broken, but You, oh God, are coming to make us whole. We remember, we proclaim.
In this world, with these hearts, it can be so easy to forget Whose we are, but here, at this table, we reminded each other. We gathered in love to share in the beautiful mystery that is our faith, and experience the love of our God. Jesus laid down His life for you and me, and though the world can seem so dark, Wholeness is coming (quickly, Lord Jesus!).
That week I spent a lot of my quiet time thinking about Communion. For many of us, what comes to mind when we hear this word is the very thing of which I’ve just described - the bread and the cup, and the promise that this is not the end. Our God died so that death would not have the final word. Taste and see.
Yes. So deeply yes. But there’s more to this invitation.
This image of communion just wouldn’t let me go.
And then fast forward to this Wednesday, when we marked the beginning of Lent, the 40 days leading us to the resurrection of Jesus, with a cross of ash and the reminder that we are so very human. A mark of both our frailty and our belovedness, the fleeting lives we live now and the Life that awaits us. A reminder that the world as we know it now will not last, and our bodies ache… but we are loved.
And called to love.
I wonder if communion is our calling.
Somehow, 2,000 years and a lot of churchy language later, I think we’ve all but forgotten the true meaning of communion. The calling of communion. The word behind the act. After all, communion shares a root with the word community.
So I asked Merriam-Webster to define the word :)
communion
noun
com·mu·nion
1 : an act or instance of sharing
2 a : a Christian sacrament in which consecrated bread and wine are consumed as memorials of Christ's death or as symbols for the realization of a spiritual union between Christ and communicant or as the body and blood of Christ
3 : intimate fellowship or rapport : communication
4 : a body of Christians having a common faith and discipline
Communion. The sacrament, the act, the encounter, the reminder of the Great Sacrifice, of the body and bread broken, the blood and wine poured out for us, and the New Creation that is coming.
AND
Our calling, as image bearers of the king: To mirror Christ’s mission, to love deeply and unconditionally, and open ourselves to be broken in front of each other. To pour out our hearts and remind each other who we are, and always have been - so dearly beloved. To await the resurrection of all things, together. To encounter the presence of God in one another. To long and dream and laugh and cry and wonder and taste and see and believe…together.
This is true communion, just as much as the bread and wine. Living our lives in a way that says “We are broken, but You are making us new” This is our calling: to love as we are loved, to prepare the way, and to await the day when we will feast at His heavenly table.
It’s simple, it’s honest, it’s together. Communion with God, each other, and all creation. It is real and it is messy and it is unconditional, just like the love of Jesus. It’s awaiting and reminding and celebrating and lamenting and praising and loving in communion - in community.
This is what I long for.
It only took about 5 minutes for the ash cross on my forehead to become smudged. In only 2 more minutes, I’d done it again. My cross was now just an ashy smudge on my forehead. Even dust doesn’t last. There’s some kind of poetic justice there. I got a double reminder that day: We are dust, and even dust doesn’t last in this world. We are scarred, chosen, marked, beloved. We are called. We await and we long and we worry and we hurt and our bodies break and hearts ache. But we are known. We are seen. We are loved. And called to love. This is not the end; it’s only the beginning. This is only a foretaste of the communion that awaits us.
Communion: body and blood broken for us - remember
Communion: the call to love and lift up each other, to share this life and this faith
Communion: Together, we await the day when all will be made right
Communion is our calling. To hold the hope of what’s to come alongside the hurt of now and know that God has already claimed victory.
Yes, we will all one day die, but the day is coming when we will be restored.
What a communion it will be.
Amen.
With Love,
Eliana
A beautiful reflection and reminder.