One of my favorite bloggers in the whole wide world, Victoria over at Beauty Tips for Ministers linked to my "How to Offer Gluten Free Communion" post. It made my day, as I've been learning ministerial fashion tips from her for several years now, and I'm an avid reader of her blog.
In the comments section after her link, a reader of hers commented the following:
"Before we started doing [gluten free communion], in response to a new little guy who needed wheat free, two people with celiac had been taking the bread and not eating it, one for almost fifty years."
Friends, THIS is why gf communion is important. This comment almost broke my heart. Fifty years of quietly taking the communion bread and slipping it into a pocket, passing it along to a family member who could eat it, or maybe crumbling it up to feed the birds. Fifty years.
But then, the pastor started offering gluten-free communion. Can you imagine how that felt for this person?
Not to be overdramatic, but it seems to me to be a pretty clear picture of the radical love of Jesus Christ. This is his body, broken for you.
Whether you know it or not, there are likely people in your congregation who cannot eat gluten. Take an easy step and offer it for them, so they can hear the words, "This is the body of Christ, broken for you," and hear them with no internal disclaimers or caveats.
It is the body of Christ, broken for you. For you with Autism. For you with Celiac. For you with gluten sensitivity. For you with Dermatitis hepetiformis. For you with wheat allergies.
The body of Christ. The bread of heaven.
Amen.
I have gluten in tolerance and for many years my home church did nothing to make communion available for me. When I left for college, that is when I finally got to take communion. I cried with tears of joy. Now, at seminary they have Gluten Free communion for me and it makes me so happy to be able to take communion with rest my community.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post.
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