To Belong...

What does it mean to belong? The Internet gives a plethora of meanings including owning something like a car or being part of a club. Most everyone wants to belong to something because it makes our presence in the world real and vital. We are well trained in identifying the groups or labels in which we belong based on categories like the color of our skin or our gender.  Think about all of the times we are asked for our information that requires us to check a box identifying us as male/female, Caucasian or Black or Latino or divorced/single/married.  All of these labels identify us in some way in an official capacity and yet these groups can also separate us in thinking I am “this” but not “that.”  

We are entering the season of Lent in which we contemplate the last days before Holy week that will end with celebrating Easter. During these 40 days, Christians belong to a group of faithful believers who spend time contemplating the ways they are missing the mark in their faith walk. In my contemplation, I am reminded of the group of disciples who hung around Jesus for 3 years. This group of twelve men were a combination of fishermen, a zealot and a tax collector.  Jesus called a group of misfits to teach, heal and carry on his mission to share God’s love and grace to the world. This was the same group that met with Jesus in the upper room, the night of his arrest, to share together a meal that we now call The Last (Lord’s) Supper or communion.   The men who sat with Jesus did so not in their perfection but in their messes. Peter, whom Jesus called the Rock, the future foundation of the church, would deny his friend three times.  Another disciple, Judas Iscariot, would betray him for money, which would lead to his arrest, conviction and death.  These men sat with their teacher and friend taking what he offered as he said these words, “Take and eat, this is my body,” and after blessing the cup gave it to them and said, “Drink from it all of you...” (Matthew 26:25-27). The disciples were offered his grace in the same way that we are today. When we go to the Lord’s Table we come in our messes seeking to be washed by God’s grace and forgiveness. Like the disciples we take what Jesus offers us. God’s grace is offered to all people and is not dependent on anything we bring to the table. Wealth, status, gender, sexual orientation, skin color or power or even theological beliefs does not get special attention. Side-by-side we stand, sit or kneel with our hands outstretched to receive the gift of grace. 
 
Last Sunday I was asked to serve communion. As people received their bread and turned to dip their bread into the cup I was holding, I offered them these words, “the blood of Christ shed for you.” Most of them looked directly at me waiting to hear the words before they dipped their bread. In that moment I felt privileged to say those words to the people of God. I had no idea who they were or which box they checked - gay, straight, divorced, single, married, happy or sad – they were coming to the table of grace. Without prejudice they were God’s guests seeking the love and grace that God offered them. They belonged to God’s family. In that moment I knew that I belonged to this church family but more importantly to God’s family.