this morning i had communion at spring valley christian church. communion has always been a regular part of my church-going life but for some reason i was struck today with some interesting and sobering thoughts...
why is it that i do not weep every time i take communion? i don't mean loud, attention attracting crying (soren kierkegaard said that anyone whose tongue runs easily over the course of their own troubles has not tasted true suffering [training in Christianity], meaning, people who talk and talk about all their problems don't really know what it is like to truly suffer; i think he's right. that doesn't really have much to do with this post... my bad.), but expressing the heart-broken emotion in sincere and quiet weeping. has the essence of communion become so trivialized in our mindset that it no longer affects us when we do it? should not i walk away from each of these experiences where i recall the pool of blood beneath the cross and the cries of agony from Christ as he is beaten and disgraced by his own creation... different? i mean... what the crap? so there's a once a month schedule where the church, in its typical weekly gathering, will go out of its way to pull out some grape juice, break up some crackers and put it all in some elaborate dish so we can remember the very essence and center of all that brings us together?!
something is awry.
maybe something is just wrong with me and not everyone feels this way. thoughts anyone? differing opinions? help me out here.
marksantistevan.
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3 comments:
Is Christ's cross real to us? Abstractly, yes, but concretely, no. Some of this probably has to do with the fact that we are two thousand years removed from the event, so, like the Battle of Hastings or the election of FDR during WWII, we know its real, yet it does not have any real experience to us since we did not experience it. Another culprit is probably the fact that we, like you said, do this on a regular basis and have been doing so since before we can remember. These reasons, however, do not provide a good excuse. If Christ is real to us, if we are truly seeking to know him better, if his work has truly changed us, then his death should not seem like a historical event that has no personal relation to us. On the contrary, this event should mean everything to us, even if we did not experience it. But we do the same thing to events of lesser importance. We really do not care about the typhoon over in India or whatever. We'd rather watch Heroes or something. That is what's real to us. The fact of the matter is we probably have not spent enough time in our lives meditating on the cross and the sacrifice of Jesus. Sorry about the long comment, I couldn't stop thinking.
I love you.
nice dan i like the comment about "people" caring about Heroes. Anyone in particular you were thinking about? haha
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