Take the Bread

It is one of my most anchoring memories of childhood.  I was blessed to have my Gram Beale live with us in the house of my upbringing.  She was present, unassuming, strong, there. Frequently during the fall and winter she and my mother would make home made bread.  I can see clearly the big ceramic bowl with the blue and green painted stripes where they would place the dough and cover it with a white kitchen cloth to allow the dough to rise. It was bliss times a thousand to be handed a warm piece of homemade bread, buttered and the butter melting from the heat of the bread and drippping onto my fingers.

This whole ritual of making home made bread was a sensory overload --- the sights, the touch, the sound, the taste and the smell.  The smell of home made bread hearkens me to home and warmth, to nurture and security.

For me the central image of the church is a table. The sacrament of communion is what we are asked to uphold to remember the Christ with us... at table, present as we gather and eat of the bread and drink of the cup.  The conference gifts to the ordained elders is a small, clay chalice ---- sized to be easily portable so as to share the gift of table with many...with all.

In these days of  post-Easter, the many resurrection appearances are nudges to re-mind us that the miracle of Easter is an ongoing gift.  The celebration, the joy, the possibility remain.  The post-resurrection stories have the risen Christ making a fire on the beach and cooking a breakfast of grilled fish; walking through the door, showing his wounds, teaching, engaing in a mobile Bible Study while walking to Emmaus and ultimately being known in the breaking of the bread. 

In these times, as with seemingly everything, meals also are different.  For some, the meals are eaten alone.  For some the typical rush of mealtime is replaced by the time to prepare the meal and being strategic in one's plannning. How we will be changed as we journey through this and what lessons we will  have learned and will contiue to live will be fascinating.....those will be ours to shape. My hope is we maintain the simple yet amazing gift of being at table and seeing one another in the breaking and sharing of bread and that we make every effort to re-member those who will still eat alone, those who never seem to make it onto anyone's dinner guest list. See them, greet them, listen to them, learn from them, invite them.......