Tribute of Delight

"Not the sun or the summer alone, but every hour and season yields its tribute of delight; for every hour and change corresponds to and authorizes a different state of the mind, from breathless noon to grimmest midnight." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Yesterday's hour and season was communion. jeb posted a wonder-full blog on the subject of serving that I can't say any better, but I was struck by a part of the experience this time that knocked me someplace new. Keith spoke of ministers in the 10/40 window... Pastor Steve was leading a group of students in Haiti... About a hundred kids were dragging us to the throne to offer our tributes of delight in worship... It dawned on me that this was the Body -- this is what it's all about. Age, race, location, language, these are all reduced to trivia when we step into that Body that we're always a part of.

As I served communion, I was in awe of the parts of His Body coming to meet me. The ones with bowed heads who whispered a hushed "Amen" as I blessed the cup to them, the ones who made eye contact as soon as possible, smiling and saying "Thank you!", the few who met my gaze with their tears and came to the table with desperate thirst. I was stretched by their beauty; I realized that by some mystery I was, in this moment, both the agent of Jesus on Earth and the least of the "least of these". I felt God's smile on me, on them, on US as we met with Him at the table.

I end just as I did on Friday, but this time not from emptiness, but from a fullness that is so far beyond being about me. It's about the Body. And tonight with the Body I say: "Come, Lord Jesus"...