I Missed Communion Today

The closest I came to communion today was with fellow travelers around the self-serve waffle iron at LQ this morning. It was fun making waffles with strangers, but I couldn't exactly claim that we formed enough community in the nine minutes it took to cook three waffles. It was a rare treat to spend the weekend in OKC with family, prematurely celebrating my birthday, especially today with my grandkids.

To answer last week's question about communion in the United Church of Christ, I chose to attend Mayflower Congregational Church (UCC) in North OKC. The sermon was excellent and closed with a Fred Craddock story, after all Dr. Robin Meyers told me after church he was a graduate of Phillips Theological Seminary when it was still located in Enid. His topic today followed the lectionary reading from Romans 14 and he talked about all those things we tend to fight over in churches. He challenged the congregation to consider if the church existed for "gratification or transformation?" He asked us to consider that in the end, Jesus would ask us, "Did you love? Did you forgive? Did you encourage?" Too bad he's in OKC, Robin would make a great addition to our weekly lectionary study.

But still, I missed communion. You can find a great sermon most anywhere. You can occasionally find communion around the table with your coffee group. But you can only find Communion when welcomed to Christ's table. It is Christ who fed the 5,000 and who feeds us with the kind of nourishment it takes to make it through each day.

Grace and Peace,
SongWriter