Communion

On Sunday, I was watching the reverends prepare for the communion, and I thought of my previous post. So this is sort of a continuation, but with a different theme.

Altars have been, for most of their history, places where humans sacrifice to gods. But in Christianity, we aren't offering anything to God on the altar. Instead, people are taking communion. There is food and wine, a typical offering, but we are eating it, not God. Furthermore, this is not simply bread and wine. It's flesh and blood. Jesus is the sacrifice; he is giving himself to us. In communion, we have both a food and drink sacrifice and a human sacrifice.

What great love does God have for us, that he has reversed the roles to offer his Son to us? That the people of God partake in the communion, eat the bread and wine blessed at the altar?

Jesus is giving to us, instead of people giving to him. That's one way to look at it. Like I said previously, what could we give God that he does not already have? Christianity answers this question. We give God what he gives us: Our lives. Our talents. Our gifts. God gives us these things, and we return them to him, devoting ourselves to Christ.

There was a short story I read once: "A Father's Story," by Andre Dubus. In it, the man comes to the reverend's house and says, "I want to receive." I realized on Sunday at least part of the significance of such a word. We receive Jesus.