Remembering

Although every denomination deems it a Sacrament, the meaning and manner of the Lord’s Supper—also called Communion and Eucharist—has caused many fierce debates among the many streams of Christianity. Recently, a friend of mine offered the children in his church a novel way to imagine it.
He explained to them that Jesus is having his last meal with his disciples, his friends. They’re sharing stories and jokes and supper, and he looks around at them, and he just loves them so much. Though he knows everything will soon change, he really, really wants their relationship to continue. He wants them to remember him when he’s gone.
Then my friend asked the children at his church, “What is the opposite of remember?” Of course, they responded, “Forget!” Jesus does not want them to forget him, nor to forget what he taught them and showed them.
But then, he asked the kids, “What is another opposite of remember?”
Silence.
It’s dis-member, he said. The opposite of re-member is dis-member.
What was going to happen to Jesus was a dis-membering. Everything would soon be torn apart. His friends would be scattered and separated. His spirit would be torn from his body. Their hope would be ripped into a million pieces.
So, there at the table, before that happened, Jesus broke the bread. He dis-membered the bread and he gave it to them, calling it his body. Then, when they ate it, all those little bits of his body became part of every one of their bodies. Likewise, he blessed and passed the wine—one cup shared around the table, a sip for everyone, as if his blood now flowed in all of them.
And that meant that every time his disciples came together again, whether huddled in a dark room on Holy Saturday, or in the glorious presence of the risen Christ on Easter, or every single day after that including today... they re-membered Jesus Christ. They brought his living body back together in all of their bodies.
The authorities could kill Jesus. They could separate his body from his life spirit. But they could not stop the re-membering. And they cannot stop it now! Every time we come together in mutual loving relationship—in our churches, in our communities, in our workplaces and families—we, too, re-member Jesus Christ.
We’re not just remembering a man who lived long ago and things that happened in history. Our bodies are being re-membered into the Body of Christ here and now, by the grace of God. And that creates a sacred unity among us, like family around the table of God. In our coming together, Christ is truly present.
In the Lord’s Supper, our bodies experience that moment of reunion with Christ, of re-membering. And then, fortified by grace, we go out to live sacramentally, strengthened and encouraged by our oneness in Christ to be his hands and feet, his compassion and his generosity.
So even though we worship in different denominations and place emphasis on different teachings, we remain one in the Body of Christ. The bread and cup are for all and shared by all. There is no one who doesn’t need Christ’s strength and essence. There is no one too broken to participate.
In fact, this whole Christian journey is about being broken, and being made whole again. Dis-membered and re-membered. With the One who shows us the way.