Friday, 2 April, 2004

We continue with pieces from “Holy People” by Gordon Lathrop.



Continuing from yesterday’s statement about personal worship…

But these central matters of Christian worship are misunderstood if, even in this solitary use, their essentially communal context is not recalled. The very prayer that the Matthean Jesus proposes to the one who prayer “in secret” is a prayer to our Father, for our daily bread, for the forgiveness of our sins and for our rescue (Matthew 6:7-13). The God encountered here is the God of the community… When one prays in secret, that “room” becomes crowded with many other people: all the people one is called upon to forgive as well as all the people with whom one shares God’s gift of bread and the hope of God’s rescue.



Even the person who lives in seclusion under a vow and considers his/her life one that is dedicated to prayer…prays for the whole of the Church and the well being of all. Maybe another way to look at worship as both personal and communal is to consider the Lord’s Supper. I go forward or I am given the bread and given the wine. But if I would raise my eyes during that meal, you…are doing the same thing. The meal is simultaneously an event in which I take and eat…as we take and eat. This makes me think of the times I take Holy Communion to people who are homebound. I always connect the individual to the community…as in the praying of the Lord’s Prayer. We also share one of the lessons that was shared with the whole community. Most times, I take the meal with the person to emphasize the “we” who are fed even in this living room or kitchen. The Words of Institution tells of “our” Lord. Yes, this is definitely the Lord of the person who receives the meal…the Lord who comforts and heals and forgives…me. It is also our Lord.



Connection: The next time you are in prayer or taking part in the Lord’s Supper, lift up your eyes…your imagination – and look around at the saints who gather with you. In fact, if we take our faithful imagination seriously, we will see the multitude that gathers throughout the day and throughout the world – one Meal for one people – all God’s children.



Lord of the Banquet, draw us together that in the adventure of my life I may encounter the holy community and find a place in the midst of them so that my days will never be in isolation. Amen.