04/29/2022
Lynn Murphy Mark
Communion of the common ones
For much of my church life, taking Communion has been an important element. I love to join the line of congregants approaching our spiritiual leaders for a chance to physically remember Jesus’s call. The elements are symbolic of Jesus himself, of the night that he broke bread and drank wine with his disciples. If I have the story right, Jesus was well aware of his fate as he gathered around a table with his faithful followers. He left them with a tangible way to remember him, knowing that this was their last meal together.
Every day I read Richard Rohr’s meditations. The theme this week has been about Communion and the universal meaning behind taking in the food and drink that represent God’s bounty:
“If Christ is the body of God, which he is, then the bread he offers is also the body of the cosmos. Look deeply and you notice the sunshine in the bread, the blue sky in the bread, the cloud and the great earth in the bread. Can you tell me what is not in a piece of bread? The whole cosmos has come together in order to bring to you this piece of bread. You eat it in such a way that you become alive, truly alive. . . . Eat in such a way that the Holy Spirit becomes an energy within you and then the piece of bread that Jesus gives to you will stop being an idea, a notion.” (Richard Rohr Meditation, April 27, 2022)
I have read these words over and over. They give the best description of the power of Communion that I know of. Taken mindfully, the bread and wine bring me into a different realm, if just for a little while. I am connected with the spiritual nature of my surroundings. I return to my seat filled with the sure knowledge that my atoms have traveled this world in forms unknown to me, but a part of God’s Creation nonetheless. I know that this sacrament is repeated world wide and is one way of acknowledging our common bonds.
Communion is not commonly offered in Unity churches, and I miss this aspect of worship. My Unity Minister has promised to have a conversation with me about her thoughts regarding Communion. I look forward to learning from her. A friend who attends a different Unity church told me they had a Communion ceremony a few Sundays ago. She loved the experience. It brought her to a deeper spiritual level, and she spends a lot of time in the spiritual realm every day as it is!
I love my Unity faith, but I genuinely miss this sacrament. As I explore this issue I am sure that “more will be revealed.”.