Communion

I love communion.
Really, I do. It's one of my favorite acts of worship. For some reason it has just always been a practice that is close to my heart. It makes me feel connected to my church family and to my Father in a different way than anything else does.

Now that you know this, you can imagine my excitement when I found out we were having communion this Sunday at NorthStar! I have been attending this church for almost a year and a half and we have only done communion 3 times.

I grew up in a Nondenominational Christian Church and we took communion every week. I honestly didn't know that other churches didn't do that until I went to college. I thought everybody took communion every week out of trays with tiny juice cups and chicklet looking bread.

When I went to Milligan, I learned about other ways to do communion and grew to love it even more. We did communion all the time in Vespers and sometimes in Chapel and it didn't always look the same. Communion was always a very present part of our worship.

It was so strange to me to come to Northstar and find out they only do it a few times a year!

Some people think that taking it every week makes it less special, but I have to disagree. We don't pray just once a month because it would be less special if we did it all the time. We don't sing worship songs a few times a year to keep them special. Communion is an act of worship. It's a time to be joined in community with the people around you and remember the sacrifice of our Father. It is one of my favorite things in the whole world.
 
However, My experience this week helped me to see that it can be a good thing to not have it every week. Now I look forward to it with greater anticipation. You can bet I'm not going to miss a communion Sunday at NorthStar! It is nice to eagerly look forward to that meeting with my Father and my church over the Lord's table. It may be a while before I can partake in it again, but I'll have plenty of time to prepare my heart for it and I am thankful for that.

I can't tell you all the arguments behind how often you do communion or all the ins and outs of the scripture, but I can tell you that no matter how often you do it, communion is a powerful thing!

To end on a light note, I will share some of my favortie communion memories:

1. The first time I took communion was the day I was baptized. I was 8 years old and my baptism was part of the service so when I came back I realized I had missed my chance that Sunday and thought I'd have to wait. Thouroughly disappointed, I looked up and saw Mr. Houk with a juice and chicklet on a silver plate. I was so excited! He prayed with me and talked to me about why we take communion. I will never forget that moment!

2. My mom used to keep mints in her purse and every week after communion would pass them down the row so we wouldn't have bad breath. Just looking out for her family I guess! We still call that kind of mint, communion mints!

3. In high school one time we were on a retreat and our youth minister wanted us to understand that the Lord's supper was just that, a supper. So we had turkey sandwiches and grape soda for communion!

4. In college, I attended Grandview Christian Church where we took communion every week. They had servers who stood in the front, held a plate of delicious bread and a cup of juice. You tore off a piece, dipped it in the cup, ate it and returned to your seat. Well a teenage boy was holding the cup I went to one week and when I got up there I saw the biggest HORSEFLY in the world swimming in the juice. The look on this kids face was so funny because he had no clue what to do! I naturally did not dip and just ate my bread, but then watched the people in line behind me. The faces people made were hilarious, and even funnier were the people that missed the fly and dipped anyway....eww....so funny!

That's all the communion ramblings I have for now! I hope you all have a great day!