“When I was 13 and invincible, the last thing I wanted was anything which tied me to my mother and said in some way, “You still need my love and protection!”  But my mother knew better, having seen much more clearly just what the world throws at a person. So she gave me two things, “Just to help you remember I love you,” she said. One was a name bracelet; the other was a pocket New Testament. I carried them through Vietnam. Or maybe they carried me; I am no longer certain.

Until recently when the clasp broke, I wore the bracelet – a visible reminder of love when the road got dark and the wind got strong. The mud-caked New Testament now sits in my office where others need to hear that someone still loves them, even when the world seems too wild for safety.

When the first meal of Communion was held, the disciples also thought they were invincible…or at least they were convinced Jesus was. They were young men who probably recoiled at the thought that they would need another’s love and protection. But Jesus knew better. He had a much deeper comprehension of the evil that could – and would – engulf even the most faithful of followers. So he gave them two things. “Just to keep you safe and assure you of my love while you remain in the world,” he said gently. One was his name; the other was a meal.

We like to believe that as faithful followers we have carried his name all over the world. But I think that perhaps it’s the Name that has carried us all over the world. The bread and cup nurtured us through two millenia – visible reminders of love when the road gets dark and the wind gets strong.

Like those gifts from my mother, the bread and cup are intended to accompany us into places of pain and danger. Sometimes the bread has been prisoner’s hardtack and the cup a brief swallow by a hospital bed. Jesus never asked that we be exempted from the world’s desolation. Indeed his name seems to draw oppression toward us.

But he did promise to be with us, even amid the anguish of the soul. So as we join together for the communion meal, let us receive what is being offered: a visible reminder of Christ’s love…to carry with us when the road gets dark and the wind gets strong. Shalom!”

Donald D. Denton, Jr.
Jubilee
Readings Through the Year from Alive Now