A friend sent me a link to a YouTube video featuring an Episcopal priest in Georgia who did a parody on “You’ll Be Back” from Hamilton. It is really a good video! Uplifting and encouraging in these trying days. The focus of the parody is on coming together again to celebrate Communion. The priest sings that Facebook or YouTube cannot give you the bread or wine, but the Church is strong and love will see us through – then we will have Communion…together.
We are back at First Presbyterian. We will have Communion together, but now using pre-packaged Fellowship Cups to ensure the safety of participants. It is not ideal, but the important thing to remember is that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, it is still Christ’s Table and we have the opportunity to eat and drink with Christ as we come in faith, repentance and love.
This understanding of being with Jesus in church led me to recall a story shared by the popular seminary professor and preacher, Fred Craddock. He was invited to preach at the Riverside Church, New York City, where some of the greats such as William Sloane Coffin and Harry Emerson Fosdick had preached. Upon arriving in the city, he found the modest apartment where he was to stay just down the street from the church. There was nothing in the refrigerator, but a note that said, “If you usually eat breakfast, you can go to the church. We have a breakfast for the homeless people.”
Craddock walked down there and stood in line with a large crowd holding metal trays as breakfast was being served in the church basement. He talked to people around him. “Well, what’s put you into this situation?” he would ask. The answers ranged from alcohol to any number of problems. Then one asked Dr. Craddock, “What put you here?” He replied, “I was invited.”
Come church time, he stood before hundreds of people worshiping, enormous choir, great organ, getting goose bumps, and realized he was a guest of Jesus. The church had so much to offer, but even if it didn’t, he had already received so much from the little shared over breakfast.
Whoever we are, we come as guests of Jesus and his church. All are invited to come for the first time, or come back, and to stay…together, for love will see us through.