Serving Communion

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to help serve communion here at church. They have asked me to help several times, but it always happened to be on the Sunday when I had Children's Church. This time I was available. Passing out the bread and juice has always been the job of deacons at my church. It was a little strange sitting up front and realizing that there was only one man helping and only one deacon helping.

I should have felt more privileged. But to be honest, I was nervous the whole time. Nervous that Pastor Cheryl would ask me to pray. She usually randomly asks someone to bless the bread and someone to bless the juice. Although I've become more comfortable praying in public, blessing the symbols of Christ's body and blood seemed a bit intimidating. But I was lucky, and she didn’t call on me.

The one thing that did strike me happened just before I went to sit down after Communion was over. I looked down at the communion table and noticed how much bread was left after every one had been served. At that moment it occurred to me that there are lots of people who do no accept Christ's sacrifice. There are lots of people who don’t attend church for various reasons. The remaining bread was a symbol to me of all of the people who are missing out on a loving relationship with a loving God.

People should be fighting for the love God offers like they fight for jobs and parking spaces. We should be seeking God and time with Him like we seek a new job. Trying to look good for him like we look good in our interviews. We should be trying to do things that 'pad the resume,' things that are above and beyond the call of duty that make us look good for our God. We should be hurrying to spend time with Him like we hurry to those parking spaces. Wanting to be as close as possible. Instead, we take Him for granted and convince ourselves that Sunday mornings is enough of a sacrifice of time.

So what did I learn while serving communion? There is more than enough Jesus to go around. Perhaps the laws of supply and demand are affecting our views of Jesus? Since there is plenty of Him to go around, perhaps we aren't fighting to get a piece? If there were limits on how many people Jesus could love, would we then be more willing to fight to be one of the chosen few? I'm glad we don't have to fight to be loved by Jesus, but would we appreciate His love a little more if we did? Just a few thoughts I had after communion on Sunday.