Remembering Love

"Do this in remembrance of me."

Sunday begins Holy Week, the most sacred part of the church calendar, where we tell the story of Jesus coming to Jerusalem, having a final meal with his friends, being betrayed, arrested, and convicted. We follow Jesus to the cross and to the tomb, and on Easter morning we celebrate the resurrection with joy. The focus for much of Holy Week is on the cross and what Jesus accomplished there.

But the cross, as important as it is, is not the main way we have been asked to remember Jesus and God's sacrificial love. Instead, we remember God's love for us with the Eucharist, with the sacrament of communion. Rather than the violence place of execution, we remember the love of God by breaking bread, by sharing a meal with those around us.

There's something universal that we receive when we take communion. In that bit of bread and sip of wine, we receive the fullness of God's mercy and love and forgiveness for us. We receive the whole communion of saints and are brought together with everyone throughout the world and throughout time that has taken part of this meal. We receive the presence of Jesus, given for us.

The hard and beautiful thing about the shared meal of communion is that we don't get to decide who is worthy to receive it. Which means we sometimes take communion alongside others we disagree with, those who have hurt or harmed us, or people we don't seem to have anything else in common with. At the communion table, we all come equally before God, no matter who we are or what we've done or what we wear. There's a radical equality in communion that isn't found in many places in our world. 

And maybe that's why we remember Jesus and God's sacrifice on the cross at the communion table, at something that bridges divides and unites us in ways we wouldn't be otherwise. The place where we see and touch and taste God's love and forgiveness can also be a place where we extend that same grace to others.

When have you felt the unburdening, the relief of forgiveness? Where have you felt welcomed despite knowing you're different than the rest? How do you experience God's grace for yourself or for others?