Sharing in communion reminds me of God's real presence with me no matter what I may be experiencing in my journey of life or faith. Receiving the gift of the bread of life and drinking of the cup of salvation is a priviledge which also carries with it a responsiblity. I am changed and transformed in my experience of God which requires that I faithfully do what I can to make a difference in transforming the world I live in and the people I meet. This vocation and ministry is one we share as followers of Jesus Christ. It is a humbling vocation. At the holy table, sharing in the holy banquet, we don't simply receive passively, we're called to actively participate.
Too often in the world we live we feel we have to understand and explain all things. The Eucharist is a mystery and therefore can't easily be explained our understood with our finite human minds. What exactly happens and how it happens is something that we trust in through the working of the Holy Spirit. The bread and wine are presented, blessed, broken and shared; in that act of celebration and thanksgiving something profound happens.
On Maundy Thursday we celebrate the Last Supper Jesus had with his disciples in the upper room. As they celebrated Passover, this simple meal of bread and wine took on such significance for we who have become the church. Jesus broke bread and said, "This is my body broken for you"; He took the cup of wine and said, "This is my blood shed for you." What a gift to not only remember that sacred moment of Holy Week, but to bring it into the present. We're called like the disciples to take our place at the banquet table; what a privilege; what an honor; what a responsiblity too!
I have written the words to this hymn to reflect the profound gift I receive at the eucharistic table, and that I hope you receive too. It is set to the lenten hymn tune "Song 13".
"Holy Banquet, Sacred Feast"
Meter: 7777
Tune: Song 13
Holy banquet, sacred feast
meant for greatest and for least.
Christ presides at breaking bread
for the hungry to be fed.
Sacred mystery so divine
as he passes cup of wine.
Body broken, blood outpoured
our slavation is assured.
This my body given for you
bread of heaven to renew
and for you my blood is shed
our redemption as he bled.
May we take our honored place
invitation by God's grace
and receive beyond compare
God's great blessing to declare.
Now may we his body share
live his risen life in prayer;
bring to life a hope made new
as we drink with thanks to you.
Text: copyright, The Rev. Mark Kinghan, 2010. Not to be reproduced or redistributed in any form without the express written permission of the author.
