That place does am amazing job of making sure everyone there eats very well.  Wow.  I’m going to have dreams about Beechwold Salad.

This Sunday is World Communion Sunday.  Christians around the world will share in this common meal of bread and cup and celebrate the new humanity that Jesus has called into being.

“We all eat.”  Christian or non-Christian.  Those who celebrate the Eucharist every Sunday and those less frequent.  Eating and drinking are part of what makes us human, part of what makes us alive. Everything is eating something else to maintain life – taking the other into one’s body and making it part of the self.  Jesus’ parting gift to his followers was to have them equate the bread and cup of everyday living with his body and blood.  Communion is a ritualized and stylized meal reminding us of the true Source of life, the Other whose continual self-giving makes us the selves we are.  “We all eat,” but we don’t always do so in such a way that takes us deeper into the reality of Christ – that enables us to eat the body of Christ and thus become, as a church, the body of Christ.  It’s pure gift.  It’s there for the taking.  Everyone is invited.

The past number of weeks there has been an announcement  in the bulletin regarding how we will practice an open Communion table this Sunday.  The words of invitation will be “All who hunger and thirst for God are welcome.”  For those who have been baptized, it is a renewal of baptismal identity.  For children and adults who have not been baptized it is an opportunity to be formed by this gift which even precedes our own “Yes” of comprehending or committing.  There will also be opportunity for those who wish to come forward but not have Communion to receive a blessing.  Each household is encouraged to make their own decision as to how their children will participate.

It will be good to eat together.