In the Bleak Midwinter

Last week I participated in a worship service called, "In the Bleak Midwinder." The service was intended to focus on our state of being in the cold, harsh, mid of winter. The weather the day of the service was sunny and 60 degrees.

Today that service seems appropriate. As I gaze out my window a light wintry mixture continues to fall. The world seems quieter and most everyone is seeking refuge indoors. Many children, students, and employees are celebrating a snow day. The clouds brought a gift of rest and a break from our daily routines packaged in a white wet mix.

During the service there was time to mediate and focus the winters of our lives. We heard a poem and prayer about the harsh death of winter. Even though I am experiencing the bleak midwinter, I find myself quite glad. Today I experienced the calm the snow brought in the bleak midwinter. I suspect if I lived further north I would be praying for more sun and warmer temperatures and understand the word bleak more fully.

Winter can be a harsh time of clearing and of death, a time for us to mediate and reflect on our lives. May it also be a time of calm and rest in the bleakest of moments.

take this bread

For Christmas I received a book called, take this bread, by Sara Miles. This is a memoir of a twenty-first-century Christian. Her story is captivating. The back cover of the book sums up her story, "Early one morning, for no earthly reason, Sara Miles, raised an atheist wandered into a church and received communion, and found herself transformed-embracing a faith she'd once scorned..." Miles discovers a religion centered on real hunger, real food, and real bodies. She turns the communion table, where she first received the bread, into a food pantry.

The image is profound. The communion table, where we share bread and the cup week after week, a place for people who are hungry to receive food. In my estimation, Miles takes Jesus' invitation to heart and discovered a way to make it real for all people in her community. I am captivated by her bravery and her openness to God's invitation.

Each week that I have come to the communion table since I have been reading Miles' story, I have thought about the food pantry spread out on the communion table. I have thought about how we are all connected by sharing a meal at Jesus' table. Through Christ, we share the table with St. Gregory's Episcopal Church serving their community grapes, beans, bread, and numerous other groceries as part of their communion celebration. It turns out there is room for more than bread and wine at the table.

Miles has got me thinking about the table. What does it mean for all to truly be invited to the table? How can we extend the welcome and share a meal together throughout the week? How do we share bread with our neighbors? In this book, I am finding more questions than answers and I am quite grateful.