Picture it: 13 brothers, sharing life together, preaching about God’s forgiveness of sins and His gift of life the way God meant it to be: helping, loving, laughing, encouraging, enjoying God and each other. One night they are all eating together, as they have done countless times before. Their beloved teacher looks into the faces of his friends, who don’t know that he’s about to die for them. He lets them know that he won’t be at the next get together by telling them that his body will be broken and his blood spilled. He does it by likening their bread to his body and the wine to his blood. He asks them to remember him when they eat and drink. These are his people, though one would sell him out for 30 pieces of silver. The son of God was trying to let his friends know what was about to happen, though they didn’t understand. The first communion. What an unbelievably holy, emotional, personal moment of time.

I’m a little put off by our modern take on communion. I’m not sure if Jesus ever envisioned people standing in a row to get Necco wafers and OceanSpray grape juice to commemorate his gift of himself as a sin offering for a corrupt world. It seems dry and unemotional and impersonal in light of such a loving, close God.

I have heard before that we miss so much when there is a separation between sacred and everyday activity. While we can and should set time apart for prayer and reading His Word, we lose out big time if we don’t invite God into the rest of our day.

Ways to let God in are infinite, but prayer throughout the day is huge. God hears and answers prayer with resources we don’t have access to. George Mueller started Ashley Downs Orphanage (caring  for 10, 024 orphans in his lifetime) and established 117 schools for children in Bristol, England with almost no resources of his own, and he never asked anyone for a dime (or shilling. Whatever.).

He simply prayed whenever he had need and his Dad would always provide. He kept journals and there are hundreds of specific needs that God met recorded in them. Why wouldn’t we invite the blessings and help of such an awesome God into our everyday moments?

Another huge way to let God in is by obedience.This is so multi-faceted but I will just say it like this: when we are disobedient to God, we are most likely not praying, we are most likely not being a good example to anyone else, and we probably are not remembering how much God sacrificed so that we could live differently.

God wants us to ABIDE in him, and then he will ABIDE in us. This is a verb. It means together always.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if we were so moved by the love of God, that even the boring, mundane Mondays would be opportunities to worship God, give thanks, make time for one another, and make every meal communion? I think that was his heart at the table. I think it is still His desire. Religion is dead ritual. Faith is living, breathing, messy, beautiful.

TGIF

Ang