A church bus of Presbyterians drove off a cliff one day (greatest opener ever). When they all walked up to St. Pete in heaven, he welcomed them and brought them inside the gates. "Heaven is divided into floors based on denomination. Presbyterians are on the 4th floor, so please file in the elevator and I'll take you up!" The crowd followed St. Pete inside the elevator and it began to move (use your imagination for what the elevator music would have been). "Oh I almost forgot," exclaimed St. Pete, "When we're passing the 3rd floor, DON'T MAKE A NOISE." With confused faces, the Presbyterians followed suit until the doors finally opened on the 4th floor and the filed out. One of them asked St. Pete what that was all about and he said, "well you see, the Baptists are on the 3rd floor, and they think they're the only ones here!"
Apologies to my Baptist friends! Know I love you all dearly! I use this joke not to rip on them, but rather to encourage the notion that ALL Christians tend to think in this manner from time to time. We tend to think we are the epitome of Christendom. Those of us who have grown up in the church tend to forget that there are people out there who haven't. Understandings of salvation aside, there is a distinct church culture among us that acts more like an insider club than radical followers of Christ's message. We tend to forget those among us that are seeking and wishing for a place to exercise their questions of faith.
Now, I point out these "unchurched" NOT in the sense it is often used: "save them so they don't go to hell," but rather, to encourage my fellow church folk that by NOT acknowledging such people, you are NOT practicing hospitality and more importantly, you are NOT allowing them to come in and transform the church as the spirit leads them.
Enter "Take This Bread" by Sara Miles
Sara Miles, a lesbian left-wing journalist who grew up atheist, wrote this "spiritual memoir of a twenty-first-century Christian" to speak of her experience with God. Growing up, she speaks of an education based in physical experience and questioning, which led her to distrust dogma (14). Out of this, it's not hard to understand why someone like her would have grown up with a bad taste in her mouth for "the church" that told her exactly what she should believe instead of encouraging her questions and doubts.
This is the story of so many in our culture: questions and doubts. By avoiding these questions and doubts, are we not avoiding encouraging a deeper understanding of the gospel? Have we forgotten the glory of the mysteries of God?
One day, Sara walked into a church in time for Communion, the Eucharist. It was in this moment she experienced Christianity in a way she couldn't explain. She writes: "There was the immediacy of communion at St. Gregory's, unmediated by altar rails, the raw physicality of that mystical meal. There was an invitation to jump in rather than official entrance requirements. There was the suggestion that God could be located in experienced, sensed through bodies, tasted in food; that my body was connected literally and mysteriously to other bodies and loved without reason" (64). The physical components and mystical nature of Communion are what drew her into the Christian faith. There was a recognition that Christianity was about humans, in flesh in blood, on earth to feed one another. There is also a recognition of mystery in this moment, a desire to pursue and dwell within the great mysteries of God's love.
The Breaking of bread as a lens to experience God's mysteries is nothing new. Even in Scripture, the risen Christ was not recognized by his disciples until after the breaking of bread:
"When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’" -Luke 24:30-32
The disciples do not gain an immediate understanding of all things Christianity at this moment. They simply recognize it is Christ. This causes them to question their state, "could that have been Christ that caused us to desire more?" We encounter a recognition of physicality and mystery in this moment. It's a dichotomy that only urges our continued questioning guided by faith, not our dogma and assertions of absolute truth. Sara explains her state following that first Eucharist: "I went to church, heart pounding, and tried to figure out why"(64). Deep down, are us "churched" folk not the exact same way? Every day, a quest to understand the deeper mysteries of faith?
The Eucharist is central to worship at BSM. When those gathered come to receive the bread and juice, they are told that they ARE welcome to this table and that there IS enough grace (bread) to go around. They are encouraged to take big chunks of bread. They do so because they desire this physicality of the body of Christ and wish to seek the deeper mysteries of God.
When we get in "churchy" mode and forget to allow the working of questioning and doubt...when we don't allow the broken bread to work it's mysteries within us and others...when we tell people we have God figured out and forget to allow others in our midst...when we forget that the physical notion of bread is an invitation to feed others in our midst...we do a great disservice to the kingdom of God!
During this season of lent, may we be intentional about the meaning of the Eucharist.
*I will be posting more thoughts on this book later!
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