Communion

How large is this table?  It is large enough to seat everyone, across time and space, who calls Jesus Lord.  But right now, at this table, only four are seated here.  In another sense, this particular table serves as many as can fit in this room, as many as there are filled cups of juice here.

We read Jesus saying "This is my body, given for you."  YOU.  Was he just talking to the Twelve?  In that immediate moment, perhaps.  But we believe He was also speaking to His followers through the centuries, that He was speaking to us.

Two weeks ago yesterday afternoon, a small levee broke several miles away from my mom's house.  She happened to be on the phone with my sister when the surge of water arrived.  In the span of 15 minutes, she went from watching a typical high-water situation, with waves lapping at the street's edge, to having more than a foot of water inside her house.  The phone went dead.  Within minutes, a county dump truck came around to evacuate her and her neighbors on that little cul-de-sac.  Neighbor friends let her stay at their house as she came to terms with this unprecedented event.

As Americans, we're used to winning.  We are accustomed to winning militarily, economically, culturally, even in many international sports competitions.  We're used to seeing ourselves as the victors, the ones who call the shots.  We may not enjoy seeing other nations grovel, or seeing foreigners be treated inhumanely.  But we can't stand having anyone else tell our country what to do.  We bow to no one.

Today’s meditation starts with a lesson in political correctness.  You may find that, at least in this case, God wants us to be politically correct.

Okay, let’s begin.  It is incorrect to say “Miriam is adopted” or “Evan is adopted,” using the word “adopted” as an adjective to describe the child today.  It is correct to say “Miriam was adopted,” or “Evan was adopted,” using the word to describe the one-time event by which they entered the family. 

The bat shattered.

The batter twisted his body with uncoiled power, and with all his strength, took aim at the advancing ball.  The ball and bat made contact, and the super-high-speed camera caught the dozen or so fragments of wood in mid-air, spinning and separating, floating and falling to the earth.

It was a foul ball, so he was given another chance.

For a fraction of a second, the ball and bat collided with some eight thousand pounds of pressure.  It’s no wonder the bat shattered.  Eight thousand pounds.  Four tons.

Change… and Stability.

I am beginning to accept it, that fact which so many of you have so smugly seen coming for so long.  My identity is changing.

Over the past fifteen or so years, you have watched me grow from a late-arriving college student, to a seminary student, to a self-employed computer guy, to a third-shift computer vampire.  I chased co-eds, created webpages, wrote songs, and cooked meals.

Do you ever get tired of breathing?  Have you ever just had it up to here with sleeping?  We do these things all the time, yet most people don't stop and say “Maybe I'd be better off if I breathed less often.”  If we ever think about it, we cherish each breath.  We might try and go without sleeping at times, in order to get more things done, but when we do get the chance to sleep, we usually see it as a precious commodity, a golden opportunity—something to be cherished.

Every privilege is connected to, and balanced by, a responsibility.  And each responsibility claims the benefit of a matching privilege.  Responsibilty without benefit becomes legalism, bondage to the static black-and-white of rule-keeping.  Benefit without the tethering force of responsibility and accountability becomes license, a bondage to the stormy winds of one's own whims.

If I don't have to seek meaning from things like winning, making more money, getting more things, hearing more praise from others, in other words things I have no direct control over; if I find a bedrock sense of meaning and order in my life from an eternal, unchanging source, namely, God, then I am free.  I am freed up to pursue other things as secondary goals, secondary aims in life.  I can try to be number one on the pop charts, break the 100-meter world record, write my first novel, or even pay off the mortgage, knowing that even if I fail at these pursuits, I am not a failure.