Bread and Wine: Alex’s first communion
Last night I was privileged to share a meal with Alex Huber . The meal was simple - red wine and a small piece of bread. We ate while standing at two tall tables with five other friends in a dimly lit room at MACK home store.
Before we enjoyed our meal, we recalled that Jesus shared a meal with his closest companions the day before he was arrested. On that day Jesus surprised his disciples before dinner by washing their feet in an act of perfect love as a reminder to them, and by extension us, that love demands time spent on our knees. On that day Jesus re-imagined the bread and wine as more than a source of nourishment for the body. He said that they should receive the bread and wine as food for their souls, and remember the sacrifice that he would soon make. With that reminder he instituted the ritual of the Lord's Supper. We call it communion or the eucharist, and we receive it as a visible sign of the invisible grace that sustains us.
This wasn't the first time that Alex ate bread or drank wine. But it was the first time she received them as symbols of the body and blood of Jesus. It wasn't necessary, but Alex waited until after she was baptized last Sunday as an adult at Downtown Church during worship to receive the Lord's Supper. She didn't have to wait long. Four days later the church celebrated it's first communion during our Maundy Thursday drop-in last night.
Alex responded to a few questions last week that I sent her via email. Below you'll find excerpts from her responses in which Alex summoned the will to reflect honestly....I grew up, sort of in the Episcopal church as you know, thinking that taking communion without accepting Christ was not an option. I remember going to visit other churches and being offered communion but I don't ever think it crossed my mind to even think about taking it, because at that point I guess it technically didn't mean anything to me. To be quite frank, I guess I just never really got the point of taking communion if I hadn't accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior.
On how her understanding of Jesus has changed over time
...I think later on I maybe was a little scared of him. If you think about it, especially as a kid who didn't really grow up hearing this whole story regularly, the whole idea that he died on a cross and was resurrected can sound a little scary.
On how her faith and her job (hopefully as a future public defender) relate
I think it can be hard to think about your faith and your occupation and how they intertwine. But you have to wonder, would Jesus do this job?