Yes, I listened in church this morning . . .and remembered.

A thought struck me during church this morning as we celebrated the Lord's Supper. I imagine thousands of others have had the same thought, and most of them have written books, but just in case you missed them, as I apparently have, let me get it down before I forget. I may write a book someday, packed with original unoriginal thoughts, or unoriginal original thoughts, I am not sure. Someone else has probably already written that one too.

Matt Smith, pastor of Taylorville UMC in Tuscaloosa, was moving us from his sermon into the time of communion. He reminded us that Jesus had given us a means of becoming of one mind in the Body of Christ. He reminded us that as Jesus offered the cup and broke the bread to share with his friends He said, "Do this and remember me."

I like words. If I am in danger of jealous and envy, it is for people who can condense profoundness into few words. So in that sense I am most envious and jealous of Jesus. There aren't that many red letter words in the Bible. But the economy of words that produce such perfection and power are beyond my understanding, certainly my ability. This instruction at that last meal is so brief that its depth is almost lost as we skim the text, much like we hurry through the taking of the elements.

Break the bread. Do this and remember.

As Benjamin reminded me, sometimes I over think. The most obvious meaning is the meaning. Sometimes I strain to go deep in clear, shallow water. And of course it is here. Jesus knew He would not be present with his friends in the chaotic times to come. Using the most common things, food and drink and a treasured ritual from his own religion, he gave his friends a way to remember Him.

But this morning the sermon was on unity, the one mind of the Body. And another meaning struck me. This is when I really envy Jesus' communication skills.

Jesus broke the bread, a foreshadowing of his imminent fate as his human body would be tortured, whipped, abused, and ultimately cruelly destroyed. And he broke the bread as a foreshadowing of the future of His Church, as it suffered, and suffers, or should, for the condition of the world. And I believe he broke the bread for the times each of us have crumbled.

He blessed the bread and broke it. He told us to eat the broken bread, broken for us, symbolic of Him and us, and brokenness, and then, re-member.

I know all my seminary graduate friends will say I am taking license here, that the old French derivation of "remember" simply means to remember again, and that is what Jesus meant for us to do.

But re-member means something else. "Member" is also derived from Old French and means something that belongs, or is a part of. And the prefix "re" means again.

So the bread is broken. Jesus was broken. And we are broken.

But we all belong. We are all a part. And the promise and example of Jesus assures us that it can all be put together again, better than before. Fully whole, fully restored.

After the brokenness, remember, and then re-member.

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