I have been working on a new song about communion. While I've been working on this song I have also been watching some "church" events unfold in the area. For me life is about a journey. It's not about where we are going so much as the going. Some of the churches I have been hearing about in the last few weeks were a part of my journey that has led me to where I am. I am thankful for those parts of my journey that allowed me to walk with some of those people. A depth was added to my life that could have only come from walking that path at that time. Sometimes we come to an end of a part of our journey but something happens that causes us to stop forward movement. I think for me it is often a fear of not knowing what is around that corner. We learn how to control a familiar path so it becomes predictable and we no longer fear turning a corner because we've been there before, we know what is coming. I would like to say that I willingly moved forward on my journey and embraced that new corner but I can't say that. In fact when I found myself on a different path than what I had traveled for the last 10 years or so I came to a stand still. I refused to move and I just knew that I would never turn a new corner. God has a way of giving us a push towards that corner. I'm sure God uses all sorts of things to nudge us but I think my nudge came in the form of desperation. A desperation for communion. Communion is just what I found around that corner in the form of a church that places value on the journey over the destination. Communion with others who share common things and yet bring such diversity to those who walk this common path. The one thing I didn't expect to find around that corner was the lighter side of faith. The last 10+ years church has more often than not been a battlefield of sorts. Every time I thought I had reached a place of peace and a place where growth was happening something ugly would appear and rob all of us of the beauty of where God had brought us too. All of those years I had thought we had to be serious about our faith and have a little fun but not too much. It was always about "where" we needed to get to. I came to a place where I judged my faith and my value on whether or not I could lead a group of people into a serious encounter with God and where often the heavier side of emotions would emerge as proof that we had delivered what we thought God had called us to. Communion and worship were suppose to lead us to repentance so that God could better use us. I know those things have a place and they certainly have been a part of my journey but maybe there is a different side to faith and God that I have missed. What I have seen around my new corner is healing that comes from joyful praise of a God who gives laughter instead of tears. Where worship flows from genuine relationships with God and one another. So when I stood a few weeks ago and asked this congregation to sing along with a few songs of worship and praise, I truly knew it was not about "getting somewhere" or evoking some emotion. It's about the steps we take and the paths we clear for those who may walk with us. It's about celebrating who God is and what God is doing right now right here in our lives that we share. It's about a 100+ people singing "love came down and rescued me" not because some movement of God suddenly evoked some deep emotional response but rather because it's how we live. We don't have to wait for prayers to break through to God or for some great and mighty wind to come along and blow us to a place closer to God. What we need is to love our neighbor and to love God. We need to walk with each other and share what God has done in our lives. We need to laugh and to pray and to sing joyful praises because God has filled our hearts and they are overflowing. We need to live as Jesus did, open and honest and available to those who walk close to us. We need to live in a way that our whole life, our whole selves become our reasonable act of worship. We need communion with each other and with God.
Communion
Here lies the bread
Here lies the wine
Pieces of a life we share
Come walk this path
Our common ground
Joining hope to lift the weak
Come and see the works of God
Taste the goodness of this love
Hear the Savior whispering
Remember Me
Remember Me
God of glory God of light
Come walk inside our brokenness
Raising us to life and love
Healing wounds with joyful praise
Worthy is the lamb of God
Who takes away our sin
Worthy is the lamb of God
Who takes away our sin
Come and see the works of God
Taste the goodness of this love
Hear the Savior whispering
Remember Me
Remember Me
