Matthew 16:13-20 NRSV
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
But Who Do You Say I Am?
Our weekday routine is that my fiancé gets up at 4am. To get more sleep and leave the master suite bathroom open for her use after her morning meditation, I head out to the loft and snooze in the recliner until she’s ready to leave for work at roughly 6:30am. Occasionally during those hours sleeping in the recliner, I dream.
A morning or two ago, I dreamt of being in priestly garments and serving Communion to my congregation. The line seemed endless as one parishioner after another came before me to partake of the wine, symbolic of the blood of Christ shed for our sins. At one point, we ran out of wine, and so I asked my helpers to bring water and we kept serving water for wine until the water ran out, but luckily everyone had been served.
Next it was time to serve the bread of communion, symbolic of Christ’s body broken for our sake. In the place of bread however was oatmeal, and I served the oatmeal to each individual until all had been fed. For some reason, the process had gotten a little messy, so at times I used my garments for wiping my hands. I remember being near to exhaustion by the time all had been fed and my helpers had removed the Communion emblems. I felt relief and satisfaction that all had been served.
All of this was followed by a lay leader in the congregation who came forward as I tried with a wash cloth and towel to clean the sticky oatmeal from my hands and garments. She said to me, “It was beautiful to watch you serving Communion to our congregation this morning.” The look in her eyes struck me far more than her words as I felt humbled and touched to the core of my soul.
Who do I say that you are my Lord? You are the one who calls me to believe that I can capably serve others no matter the circumstances. You are the one who helps me to serve creatively and resourcefully when challenges arise in the midst of serving the needs of our human family. You provide me means to comfort and heal.
I am who I am because of you!
Brad Shumate
Free of Encumbrance
Eugene, Oregon
USA
No comments:
Post a Comment