Communion

They need not go away; you give them something to eat.

- Matthew 14:16

A gospel reading about a crowd of 5000 people eating together seems strange in the midst of a pandemic. It’s been a long time since we gathered together, ate together, had communion with one another on a regular basis. Some of us do have a circle of people we see in person, others’ interactions are limited to a computer screen. We’re living through a difficult time, there’s no getting around it.

The passage clearly shows, however, that for Jesus, the most important thing is communion. It didn’t matter that what other plans he and the disciples had when they’d gone to that deserted place, or that they were tired, or running low on supplies. Connecting with others was more important than any of that - and the communion they all shared with each other brought amazing abundance and healing among them all.

How people can have meaningful communion during a time of pandemic. Can communion be felt online? On the other hand, does being in close proximity to others always necessarily mean we’re in communion? The early desert monastics were in deep communion, even though they never saw another soul. And everyone knows how its possible to feel lonely and isolated even in the midst of a crowd. So what does it mean to be in communion with God, others and the world? I’m not just talking about the Eucharist, which we miss so much. I’m talking about deepening and growing our connections with our faith and others despite our physical limitations.

I’m glad I’m well rested after a grateful vacation to begin thinking of how to move forward as a church during this drawn-out time of pandemic and health precautions. There are some of you that have been feeling left out or left behind by online church, while others who need to be more cautious worry that once we start gathering in person, they’ll be the ones left out or left behind. We’re still discerning how to move forward together, but we already know that whatever we do this fall will not be quite the same, and likely everyone will be disappointed by at least some of it - if not all of it! We are in a very hard time, no getting around it. It is sad and it is disappointing - a time of lament.

So I’m taking a cue from this Sunday’s gospel story in remembering that communion is the point of everything we do. It doesn’t matter how sad we are, how rough the circumstances, how anxious our society is, how tired we are, or scared, how few resources we feel we have or what we think we should be doing. Whatever we spend time on as a church as we move forward, and however it looks, will need to focus first on deepening our relationship with God, God’s word, God’s creation, each other as children of God, as well as our neighbors - the ones we know and the ones we do not. This is communion, and it is why we are a church. Even when we can’t have Eucharist, we still need communion before all else.

I found this to be an intriguing article while I was away. What do you think? What have you learned ‘out on the road’ during these weeks of isolation? What are some ways you could imagine new ways of communion despite our current limitations? What is true bread for your journey? When have you been in communion with others? How we extend ourselves in unexpected ways to be in communion now, despite the pandemic?

The readings for this Sunday are HERE. Ordinary time offers many readings to contemplate each Sunday. Track 1 will lead you through certain Old Testament books week by week more in depth. Track 2 provides an Old Testament text that is meant to compliment the Gospel of the week.