Communion

Check out who walks up around 55:50. Who's that? Oh, It's me. That's right.

Upgrade - The Blood Upgrade (07.22.12) from GSUMC on Vimeo.

Before church this past Sunday, I noticed a table at the front of the church set up for communion. I mentioned to my friend that, after being spoiled with communion at our seats with nifty single serve cups, I lazily didn't want to walk ALL the way to the front for communion. She agreed. Next thing I knew, the pastor walked up to us and asked if we would be communion servers that day. How do you say no to a last minute, obviously desperate question like that? You tell him hesitantly ok, but you've never done it before. After he quickly told us what to do and what to say and when to go up, we moved to the front row (The front row? Seriously? You've got to be kidding me.).

I'll tell you what. Sitting on the front row makes me super nervous. I know that they are watching the front row people. It means no mind wandering. No inattentiveness. No fidgeting. All of these rules plus my mind was shooting all over the place with nerves during the entire sermon. What if I messed up? What if I didn't remember exactly what I was supposed to say? Would these people think I was a poser? That I didn't belong? Who am I kidding? Should I even be serving communion anyways?

In the video at the top, you can see where we went up. You can see where I was too nervous with stage fright to even turn around during the "instructions". I was glad to be sent with my friend to the side section quickly.

But I remembered. I remembered what to say. The people didn't act like I didn't belong up there doing it. I did wonder a time or two if I was supposed to say "This is the body of Christ broken for you" (See? I still remember!) to every single person. I figured I was, so I did. Every person deserves to know that Jesus died for you, both the singular and collective yous.  I felt deep in my being that each person needed to hear that it was broken for THEM, so I tried to tell them so they knew it. Each person matters.

I would do it again in a heartbeat. If a newcomer to the Church sees someone like me serving communion, then perhaps that will help them know that they belong there as much as the seminary scholar, something that I've wondered a time or two myself. I was super nervous going into that church service, a little relieved going out, but I will volunteer without hesitation to do it again if asked. It matters more than filling a position.