Daily Devotion

Every year since I began my call at Good Shepherd, I have had the privilege to teach a class on Holy Communion to the youth of Good Shepherd.   I really enjoy teaching these classes because the students are so eager to explore what communion is and why it is important for them to receive this gift from God.  I think those students love discovering that the gift of communion is given so that we are reminded of God’s love and forgiveness as well as the fact we are fed so we can be the hands and feet of Jesus in the world.  But there is another part of communion that I enjoy teaching as well. Holy Communion is a meal shared by many because we are all a part of the “Communion of Saints.”  Let me share this story which I think helps us understand what we mean when we say the Communion of Saints.  It is called “Ricardo’s Dream.”  By the way, saints are not necessarily over the top spiritual people, they are people like you and me who love God and strive to do God’s will each and every day.  Now, back to the dream.

One morning Ricardo woke up from a dream he did not quite understand.  In the dream, Ricardo received communion for the first time at his home church with his parents and baptismal sponsors.  They were with him at the altar.  But then in the dream, he notices he and his family are just part of a big circle of people receiving communion.  He sees in the circle classmates and neighbors who go to different churches.  They are included in the circle.  He then notices people who are poor and hungry in the big circle.  In the dream he hears people speaking different languages and sees people who are wearing different types of clothes, from different cultures.  They have places in the circle too.  But then the clincher comes, for in the dream he notices people wearing old-fashioned clothes and they look like relatives whom he had never met because they had died before he was born.  And then he notices people who are dressed like the pioneers from his social studies book and then he notices people who are dressed in garb which would have been worn in Biblical times.

Ricardo’s wonderful dream portrays the Communion of Saints, the people of God, past, present and future, joined together because they are all part of the body of Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:12-13)

So, every time I receive the gift of Holy Communion, I try to remember that I am also part of the Communion of Saints.  I try to remember that I am united with God in the meal, but not only with God, but with the whole family of God throughout the world and also with the family of God who is in heaven. Holy Communion is the gift which binds us together as Christ’s body in the world over time and space.

That is why I look forward to sharing the meal with those of you who are a part of the body of Christ known as Good Shepherd on Pentecost.  Even though we will not be together, we are still bound together by the Holy Spirit, which unites us to God and to one another in this meal that tells us we are deeply loved by God, forgiven and fed so we can be the hands and feet of Jesus in the world.  I hope you will join us on Pentecost Sunday and receive the gift of Holy Communion so you will be strengthened for your journey during these unprecedented times.

1 comments on article "Daily Devotion"

Sandi Wearne

Thank you so much for a wonderful Daily Devotion, Pastor Pat. The visualization of the Communion of Saints as a gift that binds us all together is powerful.

5/26/2020 2:10 PM

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