C - Communion
James Cathcart
July 05, 2023
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1 Corinthians 11: 23-25 (NRSVA)
23 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ 25 In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’
I’m one of those people who always wants to know where my next meal is coming from. At breakfast I’m thinking about lunch. At lunch I’m planning dinner. At dinner it’s tomorrow’s menu. This is not because I only think about food at mealtimes. It’s because I think about food All. The. Time. Apparently not everyone is like this.
As you might suspect the dark side of this love of food is the tendency to get ‘hangry’. A portmanteau of hungry + angry, the irritability and impatience felt when hungry.
The more positive side is that my love of food stretches beyond my own appetite. I’m happy to make smalltalk about the weather but I’d love to find out what you’re having for lunch. Food fascinates me and enriches my life. I love talking about it, making it and reading about it.
Of course my obsession is simply a magnified version of that universal human trait: hunger. We all gotta eat.
This week I’ve found myself approaching the start of the alphabet, our ABCs, with a focus on the core motivators that drive us. The essential longings of the human being, to be heard, recognised, acknowledged, and cared for.
It’s no accident that Communion, The Lord’s Supper, is a meal. Food has a shortcut to the soul. In breaking bread we don’t just know but we can feel that we belong, that we are included, that there’s a place for us. In Communion we remember who Jesus is. And Jesus is someone who feeds people.
In a difficult world where we have messed up supply chains — wasting mountains of food while others go hungry — Communion is meal that tells us that that is not God’s vision of abundance. God's vision is enough food for everyone. Communion gives us a foretaste of the Kingdom.
I am going to challenge myself now to use my hangriness to be hangry, not for myself, but for equality, for justice, for mercy.
PRAYER:
Lord,
Make us hangry
for the things you hunger for
may your Communion
transform us at your table
using our hunger
not just for ourselves
but on behalf of others
to do your work
of building your kingdom
of compassion and generosity to all.
Amen.
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