My pastor recently asked me to supply weekly communion for our church. Being married to an inspiring bread baker, I was happy to do so (my husband got vol-un-told). Every Saturday evening, my husband dutifully bakes our communion bread. On Sunday mornings, we share as a community, in the body and blood of Christ. Each week, as our pastor tears the loaf of bread in half, and recites the sacred words… I feel a tinge of joy that the bread we are about to receive together came from my oven.
As Advent was approaching, my pastor asked if we would bake sweet bread for the season. The Saturday before Advent began, my car broke down and stranded me at work, so I did not stop at the store to buy the eggs we needed to make the egg bread for church. When my husband went to bake, I told him to make the same old regular loaf. However, my husband found one egg in our frig and set to his task. He called me into the kitchen asked me to braid the dough he created. Working together we formed the bread into a braid. As it rose, it tripled in size. From our oven emerged a gorgeous, bronze, egg bread (which we had never attempted to make before). It was lovely. And, it was huge!
When I got to church on Sunday AM, I proudly presented our bread creation to the pastor hoping for his approval. The loaf was BIG. My pastor decided to capitalize on the amount of bread. During communion, he addressed each of us by name and handed each of us a mouthful of succulent, sweet bread, which we dipped in wine (aka grape juice). When I put that bread in my mouth… the taste, texture, and sacredness filled me body and soul. A woman, who had not come to church in a long time, squealed with delight after receiving communion… saying that she was filled, transported, and deeply touched—a genuine and real experience she claimed. She was lifted, comforted, and changed.
Communion is my favorite part of the Sunday service. The elements represent a time and place long ago that is accessible through the imagination. Sacred spoken words transport us back to a great event that continues to affect and influence our world today. As believers in Jesus… we participate and partake in what is real for all time. The gestures of communion provide a structure and a safe place in a world of nonstop activity and chaos. Communion brings us back and takes us home. By partaking of the body of Christ, we are the body of Christ—His Church—not individuals, but a community bound together by God’s love and grace. Unified in a sacred and simple meal of bread and wine.
Recipe for the bread of life (or the body of Christ): one egg, two hands, and the gathering of a few friends…