CELEBRATING 1ST COMMUNION TOGETHER

Being Church by Pastor Megan Torgerson

“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” – 1 Corinthians 11:26

Last week, I got to be a part of something incredible here at Easter. This year, we had to cancel  our service of First Communion as our church buildings were closed. For months, we wondered: how could we safely provide communion to these young people who have prepared and prayed to receive the Christ’s presence in bread and wine?  Thanks to the creativity and resilience of Easter’s Children’s Ministry and worship leaders, these young people could finally gather outside at the Lake to take communion for the very first time.

It didn’t look like they’d first planned. It didn’t look like communion as we usually think of it. But I can promise you that God is good and the Spirit showed up powerfully just as Jesus promised. It was holy and beautiful, and it was an honor to be a part of the service in some small way.

This Sunday, October 4th, our congregation will join around the table as an entire community. Our online worship service will have communion, just as we have continued to offer through the pandemic on the first and third Sundays of the month. Because God does the work no matter where we are, we trust that that sacrament is just as holy and powerful as in our worship spaces. However, we will also celebrate in-person communion at outdoor worship both at the Lake and the Hill.

To keep everyone safe, it will not look quite like you will remember. I need you to bring your own elements with you to worship that day. That means you’ll have to bring your own bread and grape juice, as you cannot legally drive home from church with an open bottle of wine in the car. There will be a limited number of pre-packaged cups of bread and juice, but please leave those for people who forgot theirs or didn’t hear the announcement. If you’re able, the safest way for us to share communion is for each household to bring their own elements.

We’ll all have different kinds of bread and have to pour our own cups of juice. We’ll all be serving our own households or ourselves instead of being served by someone else. We might wonder if it even counts to do it this way. I promise you that it does. At the First Communion service, I reminded students and their loved ones that it’s not the words we say that makes communion special. God’s promise does that. God’s promise is true no matter what kind of bread you have or who holds it.

Keep praying for these First Communion students in their growth in faith. Pray for this congregation as we join around the communion table, no matter where that is. Give thanks to God for the gift of grace and mercy that communion shares.

Let us pray:
Jesus Christ, our Lord, you promised that in the gift of communion you would always be present. You give me forgiveness and hope, and I give you thanks. Let this gift strengthen me to do your work in the world whenever I receive it, for I pray in your name. Amen.