...beloved, and loving

All who hunger, sing together; Jesus Christ is living bread.

Come from loneliness and longing. Here, in peace, we have been led.

Blest are those who from this table live their days in gratitude.

Taste and see the grace eternal. Taste and see that God is good.

---Sylvia Dunstan, 1990

Communion. Union. Community. From the Latin communio, ‘sharing in common’. This word, communion, speaks to the deep loneliness and longing for fellowship settled in the souls of so many of us, waking faint stirrings of…hope, maybe? There are so many periods of isolation and sequestration in this busy, noisy life---many of them in the midst of the noise and busy-ness of everyday life. So many days which stretch from end to end with no real human interaction breaking through workaday, rote communication, or days of solitary pursuits.

Into this lonesome landscape shines the chance to gather at the table of our Brother Jesus, eating and drinking of love and sacrifice, telling each other the stories that bind us to Christ and to each other. The table draws us---not strangers but family, not hurried and harried but grateful and blessing, not fearful of rejection but cherished and welcoming. This table calls us empty, and we feed each other. This table draws us, and sends us. This table makes of us beloved, and loving.

Oh, taste and see…

Renewed Creation

You come, O Lord, with gladness, in mercy and goodwill,
to bring an end to sadness and bid our fears be still.
In patient expectation we live for that great day
when your renewed creation your glory shall display.
---Paul Gerhardt

Today I am feeling worn out. I have had a cough that won't let up for going on a month, and things keep piling on. Things I bounced back from at 25 seem a little tougher to shake in my...early 50's. Even the medicine the doctor prescribed to make me better, made me worse. If you could see me (and I'm sort of glad you can't see me in my blogger chair), I would look worn out to you; I've got my worn out PJ's on, I'm eating leftover leftovers at the computer desk, my face is ashy save for the cheeks rosy from coughing and the purple circles under my eyes from the allergic reaction to the meds. If I was a rug, someone would cut out the good parts of me to craft and resell as wallets on etsy.
Our world is that kind of worn out right now. Tempers are frayed, both interpersonal and international. Ecosystems are fragile and natural resources running low. People sometimes look for reasons to separate themselves from others, based on ways they look, behave, love, speak. We choose consuming over conserving, doubting over trusting, fearing over loving. Our creation needs re-creating.
Good news! The coming of Christ brings with it the promise of renewal for the creation we have worn out! We will be renewed!

...so here we stand, whoever we are,
bathed in the light of a star...