The Body and Blood

Before I begin, I have to remind myself that I'm in desperate need of updating the illustrations and fanart pages on the Shelter site. So sorry for the delay. I purposely postponed these sections since I haven't had so much free time in the past few months and find that I have slightly less time now. But I will be working on it over the next few weeks, so please be patient! K?  The illustration called Beautiful is nearing completion and I'll be making sure to update the rest of the step-by-step process on the site soon. The poster will be sold in our Gold Plum Studio shop for $5 (11 x 17) like our other posters. Make sure you take a look.

And now moving onto bigger and better things (and the purpose of this blog post):

Communion.

"For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."

Paul, the apostle, from 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 

There are two elements to communion: one is the bread, representing the body of Jesus, and the other is the wine, representing His blood. If you'd like more info on this topic, I found a concise explanation here.

I took a picture of what I had this morning (inside the cup is not coffee :). I don't always have wine and matza on hand, but even if there are substitutions that's perfectly ok.  Gratefulness, repentance, and the representation of the drink and food is what is important. Even the cup and saucers are representative for me...

Having been raised a Roman Catholic (I can actually say that I'm Roman; my mother's side of the family came from Rome) and having attended mass every week as a young girl until the age of 15 or so, I recall taking weekly communion from the priest. He would hold out the Eucharist-- white flat wafers resting in a silver chalice representing the body of Christ. He would say something, we would respond, then have him place the wafer inside our mouths (I think they've branched off from this tradition recently). I went to catechism classes so I understood the basic symbolism of what the wafers represented, but nothing more. I didn't really read the Bible outside of catechism, but I recall having a big illustrated children's bible that enthralled me whenever I looked at the pictures. I remember David and Goliath, the tower of Babel, and the flood most of all.

Since elementary school, I spent each night kneeling next to my bed and praying to God. I don't really remember what I said during those times, but after I hit puberty I started to say things like, "If you give me this person as a boyfriend, I'll never ask for anything else!"

A year or two after my mother became sick and was confined to a bed, I stopped going to mass. By that time I felt I had outgrown being spiritual and had no more interest in church related things. No one else did around me, and whenever I would walk into my church for mass on the few holiday occasions and such, it felt dead to me. Becoming more independent and trying to find myself, I was experiencing a new freedom that I never felt before. I lost touch with God although in the back of my mind I knew He was there. I began to feel guilty. I was like a prodigal son, although I only knew of God on the surface.

After spending a long time away from spiritual things and having gone through a series of events and misfortunes, God drew me back to Him. I began to seek Him more faithfully and attended another church that I eventually became a member of. What I thought was being full spiritually was only a small sample, and I knew that there was so much more to the things of God. I recognized that being spiritual was not simply attending a service, but an inner, very intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.

I think for many people taking communion is mainly a church occurrence and that's a sad situation in a way since the time is spent reflecting, praying and in worship--simply between God and the individual. It's great to be together corporately as a family of believers, but to have this type of intimacy and reflection only once out of every 30 or more days? I don't know. I do remember going to my church for years and being very excited to participate in communion once a month. To me, that time was special. I had been saved through the people from this church and had grown so much because of their influence and the teaching of the pastors. But during the course of the past five years or more, I became increasingly agitated and felt that something was missing. I knew there was more but didn't know how to go about getting it.

After years of seeking (it seemed that way) I began to do my own research and study of scripture. Slowly, it seemed, I was led to other ministries and began to develop an understanding of the power of a spiritual walk. I knew God did not want us to be spectators, but active participants. Through humility, struggles, obedience and dependence on faith, I began to change internally. And over the course of years, more children and seeing dreams fall and rise, his promises fulfilled and some in waiting, I began to see a glimpse of who God is and how much He loves me.

Because of this, taking communion started to become more important so I recently made it a point to do it at home by myself whenever I'm not at work. I've heard other people say how much their lives have changed and how much encouragement, inspiration, breakthroughs, and healing they've received simply because they chose to have this intimacy with God on a daily basis. I wanted the same thing. And I'm recognizing how much He hears and how attentive He is to what we have to say...it's really amazing.

I don't always have matza on hand; any bread will do. And if I don't have wine on hand, I use juice, sometimes apple, even water (Jesus did turn water in to wine). The whole point is reflection, submission, confession, thankfulness that God himself has come into our lives and lives inside of us, his own people, and that Christ died so that we can have fellowship and experience oneness with Him forever.  What's more amazing is that through taking the body and blood of Christ, what I receive is far more beneficial than what I can give.

A few weeks ago, I went to a church and was glad that it was the day of communion (how great!). I was excited, but something interesting happened to me that particular day. When I held the drink and bread in my hands and began to talk to Jesus, something amazing happened. I felt the word "Elevation" sink deep in my heart and I couldn't shake it; God was telling me how much he elevated mankind so that we can have this special intimacy with Him! So I could share this moment with him personally! He elevated us so much to a position of honor that we didn't deserve. I don't know about you, but I wish sometimes that they wouldn't turn on so many bright lights in the sanctuary.

Then another amazing thing happened; I received the word "Humility". Not humility on our part, but His own. They way He elevated us to have fellowship with Him was to totally and completely become humbled to the point of becoming like us, and to die for us. So we were raised up while He was lowered, so much so, that we can't imagine it completely. If you think about it, what king or ruler do you know about today who would stoop so low for his own people, to the point of unjust suffering and death? Do you think our president would die for any one of us?  If I can take this thought further, do you think he'd suffer a paper-cut? I hate to say it, but I have my doubts. Yet, the Creator of all kings and all rulers past and present completely and willingly humbled Himself and suffered humiliation and pain to the point of death so that we can become one with Him and to receive gifts beyond description. Communion, therefore, is about us receiving.

I often wonder what the future holds. Although things aren't perfect in this life, and how much I've wanted to jump ship and say "Take me now!", I still sense that there's a great purpose ahead. But what's most important is the daily communication with our Father who knows what we're going to say anyway. I think it's small talk that pleases Him the most. How much more is this connection when we are given assurance of his blessings and covenant promise of salvation and recognition through the gift of his body and blood. All in a small cup of juice and a wafer....just amazing.