In a previous church
where I served, there were two women who invested a great deal of energy and
care into the worship life of the church.
They were both exceptionally skilled at organizing all the 'pieces' of
worship at a large church and took great care of the worship space. I learned a great deal working with both of
them and watching how attentive they were to the intricacies and subtleties of
worship that most people (and even many pastors) simply don't think about.
Shortly after I left
this church, the congregation decided to replace the carpet in the
sanctuary. Ever attentive to how to best
care for the worship space, these two women suggested that the church purchase
some carpet squares to put down during communion to reduce the drips and
splatter on the carpet that accompanies serving communion by intinction (each
person receives a piece of bread torn from a loaf and then that piece is
dipped into a common cup). Not a bad
decision.
The first official
service of worship on the new carpet was the wedding of some close friends of
ours and communion was part of the ceremony.
Freshly carpeted, the sanctuary was beautiful - including the carpet
squares laid down, ready for any crumbs or spills. The couple had invited several previous
ministers to assist with communion and there were many happy reunions that
afternoon. One in particular taught me a
lesson about communion and only deepened my love for the Lord's Supper in the
Methodist tradition.
One of the
aforementioned worship leaders had son, Doug, who was mentally
handicapped. Doug's heart was so kind
and joyful - it was always a blessing to see him and his smile. Doug came forward to receive communion and
when he saw one of his former ministers serving, he was so excited that he gave
him a huge hug. The pastor happened to
be holding a chalice full of grape juice, which was subsequently knocked
around, causing some of the juice to fly out of the cup and onto the new
carpet. Not one drop hit the carpet square.
Reason Number 5a -
I'm a United Methodist because everyone is welcome to the table to receive the
Lord's Supper, which means that everyone has an opportunity to experience God's hospitality and saving grace in the presence of Jesus Christ.
We can't control
God's grace. As Jesus teaches us in the Sermon on the Mount, "for God
makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous
and on the unrighteous." Who are we
to put up obstacles in the way of people who are hungering and thirsting for
righteousness? I love that in the United Methodist Church, anyone who wishes to
come and receive can do so.
We can't limit God's
grace. It is very much a blessing that
we Christians don't have the option to determine how much grace people receive.
Talk about a disaster. If we're honest with ourselves, we'll probably admit that there are people who we feel are outside the reach of God's grace. If you don't think that applies to you, it's likely that I could list some people or groups, and for at least a couple of them, you'd say there's
no hope for their redemption. I say that because, much as I
hate to admit, it's true of me too. My
ability to show and share grace is limited by my lack of faith, my immaturity,
my ignorance, my sin, my need to grow in love and understanding. That's not
true of God - God's grace knows no limits and God won't be thwarted by our
occasional desire to keep people from receiving that grace.
We can't manage
God's grace. Blood spills, bodies break, cups tip over, crumbs litter the floor - the body of
Jesus and the grace of God goes where we don't plan and where we can't
manage. Thank God. Otherwise, I might have never received that
grace, over and over and over again. I'm glad that somebody welcomed me to the table and I'm blessed to
welcome other people in the name of the one who saved me.
Just a quick note - those two women who so effectively organized and arranged worship at my previous church were not trying to control, limit, or otherwise manage God's grace. They simply wanted the new carpet to look nice as long as possible.
