Tomorrow is World Communion Sunday, when Christians around the world intentionally celebrate communion together, mindful of what Paul described as the great cloud of witnesses, all believers across time and space, gathered around the communion table.
Here in McDowell and Headwaters, we're celebrating communion family-style. Family groups will bring a cup from home for the wine (well, grape juice) and will gather to take communion together.
Imagining the gathered, I couldn't help but chuckle. The visual reminds me so much of the joke (substitute your own favorite denomination at will) - at the pearly gates, St. Peter quizzes three women about why they should be allowed entrance. The Roman Catholic woman shows St. Peter her rosary and is immediately welcomed. The Baptist woman proudly displays her Bible and she too gains entrance. The Presbyterian woman, a bit sheepishly, brings from behind her back her casserole dish.
I don't know if there'll be casserole dishes in heaven, but I sure hope so! The Word of God is not only read and prayed, it is also lived. And there's a lot of life in some of those casserole dishes. They travel to the homes of the bereaved, bringing comfort and practical care in the form of macaroni and cheese. They show up at every church activity, saying "I'm here to help." Sometimes they travel to the home of a friend or stranger who just seems to need a little something.
Tomorrow Christians around the world will partake of the symbolic meal and enter into the real presence of the Risen Christ. Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, the casserole dishes will wait, ever ready to offer themselves as living sacrifices, symbolic of the real hands that prepared them, of the real love that created them, a practical testament to the Body of Christ in your neighborhood and mine.
The next time you meet a casserole dish, in addition to 'thank you', you might say 'amen'.
Here in McDowell and Headwaters, we're celebrating communion family-style. Family groups will bring a cup from home for the wine (well, grape juice) and will gather to take communion together.
Imagining the gathered, I couldn't help but chuckle. The visual reminds me so much of the joke (substitute your own favorite denomination at will) - at the pearly gates, St. Peter quizzes three women about why they should be allowed entrance. The Roman Catholic woman shows St. Peter her rosary and is immediately welcomed. The Baptist woman proudly displays her Bible and she too gains entrance. The Presbyterian woman, a bit sheepishly, brings from behind her back her casserole dish.
I don't know if there'll be casserole dishes in heaven, but I sure hope so! The Word of God is not only read and prayed, it is also lived. And there's a lot of life in some of those casserole dishes. They travel to the homes of the bereaved, bringing comfort and practical care in the form of macaroni and cheese. They show up at every church activity, saying "I'm here to help." Sometimes they travel to the home of a friend or stranger who just seems to need a little something. Tomorrow Christians around the world will partake of the symbolic meal and enter into the real presence of the Risen Christ. Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, the casserole dishes will wait, ever ready to offer themselves as living sacrifices, symbolic of the real hands that prepared them, of the real love that created them, a practical testament to the Body of Christ in your neighborhood and mine.
The next time you meet a casserole dish, in addition to 'thank you', you might say 'amen'.
The humble casserole's elevated status.
ReplyDeletePatti - it' so true :-)
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