More than holy goldfish
Photograph by Erik Mclean via Pexels
Rev. Dr. Robert W. Lee
Today my daughter turns eight. She is kind, precocious, attentive, and courageous. When my wife Stephanie and I adopted her and her sister almost four years ago, we couldn’t have imagined the ways in which her exuberance and curiosity would nurture our own faith. She is now a faithful acolyte for our church, bringing in the light of Christ and reminding the congregation of Christ’s presence among us. She is both grace and determination mixed into one child.
One event last year illuminates my point. We had come to the altar for communion when our pastor handed us the elements of bread and cup. As we received the elements, she dipped the bread in the cup and then took a half-bite of the wafer. She then put the wafer back in her hand as we began to make our way back to our seats. I gently suggested that she consume the remaining elements not thinking I’d be on a collision course with God. She looked at me, almost offended, and responded, “No, Dad, I want to enjoy this.”
For me it was practicing a ritual that I have faithfully attended to for my entire career; indeed, it is a practice I find the most sacred of all. For her, it was an encounter at a meal that she wanted to relish. Who was the more faithful one here? I felt I would be forever haunted by this moment as she was determined to enjoy that which had been set before her. Sometimes in our rote memory we practice such signs of God’s presence almost apathetically. While theologically, there are debates over what happens at communion, it is my opinion that in our rushed society we are neglecting the sign and seal of God’s presence in a gathered community. We are too polarized, too divided, or thinking a little too much about lunch that we miss the ways we ought to enjoy the meal before us. It is more than just a snack; it is more than holy goldfish.
While theologically, there are debates over what happens at communion, it is my opinion that in our rushed society we are neglecting the sign and seal of God’s presence in a gathered community. We are too polarized, too divided, or thinking a little too much about lunch that we miss the ways we ought to enjoy the meal before us. It is more than just a snack; it is more than holy goldfish.
Flannery O’Connor famously quipped that if communion was a mere symbol, “Then to hell with it.” The famed Catholic author and thinker saw in this meal what my daughter sees; there’s more to it than those who are rushed can see. We must come to enjoy the downright audacious notion that God wants to dine with us. God desires fellowship, food, and friendship in our midst. In God’s holy desire to be with the world, we have people like O’Connor and my daughter to remind us of the sacredness of liturgical worship.
I hope neither of my kids lose the enjoyment and safety they feel within the church we attend. I hope they feel within their very being that they are loved beyond measure by their parents, their church community, and their God. I hope they forever see in the celebration of communion that it is something to be experienced with joy and with an intentionality that leads to peace. I hope I can learn from them too.
The Rev. Dr. Robert W. Lee is an American Baptist minister and author of six books. He has preached across the world, written for all kinds of media outlets, and appeared on television on CNN, MTV, and ABC’s The View. Visit his website at www.roblee4.com to connect with him.
The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
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