o blest communion

fellowship divine

A reflection for All Saints

I remember in seminary when all of us were up for our first calls. 

What happens is, first you’re told which large swath of the United States you’re going to. Then, you’re told which synod you’re being assigned to. 

And then, finally, the bishop will say there’s a call they think we might be a match for…

And at that point, all us students thought things were finally going to get moving. 

But what really happened is that they slowed down! 

We couldn’t understand how the call committees would wait a week before meeting to review our paperwork. And then, they’d take another week to reflect on it! 

And even if they scheduled an interview with you, they soonest they would call back would be in a week! 

And often it was longer than that…

What we didn’t realize then was, that’s about that fastest a church moves! Weekly…

I’ve come to learn this snail’s pace isn’t a liability, but a secret power. It is a means whereby God wrenches time out of our hands, and in the process redefines time. 

And that’s given me this idea, an idea for a story.

A story that takes places once week, over years…

And all the action would be the little things the church busies itself with; the liturgical calendar, weddings and funerals, the high holy days, the little details, the silly arguments, and the like.

I got this idea watching us all try and live together, basically once a week, over the years. 

And I’ve seen how the big things we get anxious over aren’t really that big. And how the little things we tend to gloss over, are actually really big!

And I’ve thought how charming of a little book about that would be. A slow story. A story where a lot doesn’t happen. And let the ordinary detail sketch out the shape of these characters and their lives. 

To watch these people come together to argue about the color of the carpet and where the coffee maker should go. To watch them worry over if there’s enough food for the luncheon. To watch them come to church when no one else is there, and take care of something that needs taking care of. To watch them come and pray when their backs are against the wall. And, to watch them come and pray when everything is coming up roses, too.

To watch these people do all that against the backdrop of the great heavenly throne. To show how those little things that no one saw had eternal significance. And to show how those things they worried about so much, were really being taken care of by the Lord all along.

At the end of this story, I thought it’d be fun to follow the folks to their homes. And to reveal it was the cemetery all along. To show that during the hour the living gathered in that old church, the dead got to join them. 

And in that hour they got to continue their silly little arguments. Because I’ve come to realize that those who bicker, like it. 

And in that hour, those who couldn’t stand it, got to plead with everyone to have love for each other. Because we love that, too. 

Because holding it all together, would be the Lord. The one busying himself redeeming the living, holding the dead, and preparing to return!

…That’s why we’re placing the candles here, filling out our communion rail. Because at this rail the living and the dead are united in the one who rose from the dead!

So, while it may only seem a small thing, to the Lord what we’re about to do has eternal significance. It unites the living and the dead. It brings the future to bear on the present, and somehow even the past, too. And it prepares us for the great heavenly banquet!