One of my favorite parts of Sunday morning service at our church is communion. Everyone is invited to come forward and tear off a little piece of bread, dip it into the wine or grape juice, and hear the words, “The body of Christ, broken for you” and then “the blood of Christ, shed for you.”
Occasionally, I get to serve. There is something so beautiful about looking someone in the eye, holding out the bread and wine, and saying those words. It’s as if, for a moment, I get to see each person through the eyes (and love) of Jesus. The first time I served, I was caught off guard by how intimate and vulnerable it felt.
When we receive communion, we are simply invited to come. In vulnerability, Jesus offers us his body to feast upon. Nothing is asked of us except our faith that he died for us (often fumbling at best) and that his death and resurrection have provided our reconciliation.
In her book, Feasting on Hope, author and Anglican priest Hannah Miller King writes:
“…some scholars believe the English word ‘reconciliation’ shares a history with the Latin word, cilia, which means eyelashes. In being re-conciled with God, then, we can also imagine another more intimate kind of relationship. Through Jesus, we are brought face to face, ‘eyelash to eyelash with the One we’ve been looking for all our lives.’”
So, the next time you take communion, I invite you to imagine yourself eyelash to eyelash with Jesus, the One who loves you dearly.
Blessings on you,