sundays are typically hard days. i miss imago dei, i miss being with people i know. we try to adjust to a new church and most sundays i feel like we go and pretend we fit in. pretend we belong there.
but today i'm afraid, we might have turned a corner. we might have crossed the threshold from attending, to belonging... a couple things happened today. alaythia got moved to a new class that she loves (no tears), and we served the body.
as a group of believers, sojourn takes communion every sunday. we have come to love and crave this and it was one of the things that attracted us to sojourn initially. they do it differently than we have been used to. they have people standing at different spots throughout the auditorium, one holding bread and the other holding juice and wine. you file past the people and take.
we were asked to help serve communion this morning. and it will be a morning i will never forget and will try to put words to it.
it was my privilege to hold the bread, matt stood beside me with the juice and wine. as each person approached and ripped a piece of bread off the loaf i looked into their eyes and said, 'this is the body of Christ, broken for you.' i'll admit when i first started attending it caught me off guard, but over the weeks i have come to appreciate this. the proclamation, the reminder, as i partake.
but this morning, as i looked people in the eye, proclaimed the truth of what was being offered, felt them rip and tug...again and again and again... the reality of it, the enormity of it. the people of God, Christ followers, looking in their eyes, understanding their joy, feeling the weight...
i held back a well of tears. i praised Jesus, the Savior of the world for his mighty work. i spoke louder, i proclaimed the gospel to my brothers and sisters. yes, take... it cost so much, it's all we have. this is the body of Christ, broken for you.
and when they were all served, i turned and took for myself. went back to my seat and disintegrated.
what a mighty, loving, faithful, powerful God i serve. i pray that you also understand what a mighty deed he did for us on the cross.
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8 comments:
You really captured it for me, Nat. Thanks for sharing.
these words are speaking to me. i'm grateful you wrote them. a similar experience is coming my way and i'll need all the reminding i can get. thanks, natalie.
praise the LORD!!!
beautiful, nat.
something about saying those words...
Thanks, Natalie, for reminding me of the impact of something I take for granted way too often.
Aunt Sandi :)
Nat,
Beautiful for so many reasons.
Grateful for the reminder.
Can't wait to talk about it in PERSON :-)
Love,
Bev
That sounds amazing. I wish our church did it that way. You really do have a great talent with words too Nat!
I want you to know that this really spoke to us, and we took communion with a different attitude that next Sunday. Thank you for sharing!
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