You are my body broken for me

Last night at our weekly church plant gathering we took communion. There is something wonderfully dynamic about a bunch of normal everyday people getting together above a pizza restaurant in the middle of Belfast to take part in a meal that for centuries has been pivotal to the worship of every christian denomination.

Of course meeting in a pizza restaurant has its distractions, namely the wafting smell of dough balls or a sloppy meat feast extra spicy cheese topped thin crust double drifting up the stairs. Or the steady stream of customers mistaking the location of our meeting for the toilets, walking through the door, cue rabbit in headlight look, then steady but ‘cool’ backwards retreat.

Last night as we shared the bread I was reminded of the extraordinary nature of what we were doing. Not only are we taking the bread remembering His body broken for us but we share in this meal as His body here on earth. His body sharing in remembrance of His body. It’s the same body that Paul describes in his letter to the Corinthians as being ’so composed’ by God - a phrase loaded with meaning. It’s a phrase that alludes to an artist’s multi coloured pallet as he prepares to compose a piece of work on a blank canvas. God so composed the church as a kaleidoscope of colour and variations, making skilled marks on the canvas that may sometimes look abstract and unintentional but actually display great skill and purpose. Think Kandinsky or Pollock.

With this in mind, next time your church gathers together adopt a posture of observation, look around, see. Is there any other context in life where you would find yourself together with these people? Is there any other place in life that you would be standing amidst such diversity and difference? Look carefully and you start to see the brush strokes, wet paint, the bright colours, the undercoats and the finishing touches. It really is an amazing picture worthy of the best position in any gallery show.

Now consider what it cost Him for us to be part of this kaleidoscope body. It was His physical body broken for us so that we, His present earthly body could be broken by His grace for Him. The outworking of Jesus’ words and action “this is my body broken for you” is you are my body broken for me.

Comments

Although I can’t make any comparison to our early church meetings with regard to waftign pizza and dough ball smells, I do completely understand where you’re coming from when you talk about God’s perfect composition! Great article, great pictures.

By Box-head*. Posted on Wednesday 12th Aug 2009 at 13:39

Agreed!

Loving the kaleidoscope imagery!

By Matthew Jones. Posted on Wednesday 12th Aug 2009 at 14:54

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