feast.

sin comes from the mistaken belief that God withholds goodness from us, that he hordes away blessing. but our God does not withhold. He opens up His arms with super-abundance. He wastes nothing.

this is made especially evident in the ceremony of the Eucharist, for in order to best articulate his message and work, Jesus did not leave behind a textbook, he left a meal.

in this world we may not be given all that we desire, but we most certainly have been graced with all that we will ever need. we are called to the communion table to eat and be satisfied, to FEAST on the goodness of God.

'this is my body, given for you...'

within the Eucharist we acknowledge and celebrate the fact that we are forgiven and that we are invited and that we are lifted up to the table of God.

our God does not withhold.

our God gives unto death,
and He loves, and loves, and loves.

'I am the bread of life. this bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world...'

He beckons us to eat and be refreshed, to come to this mighty table full of joy, restoration, nourishment, light, and partake.

come.
taste.
see.

taste and see that the God of this world is so very GOOD.

(thoughts from the teachings of ian morgan cron).

the one and only vital thing.

"our community with one another consists solely in what Jesus Messiah has done to both of us. this is true not merely at the beginning, as though in the course of time something else were to be added to our community; it remains so for all the future and to all eternity. i have community with others and i shall continue to have it only through Jesus Messiah. the more genuine and the deeper our community becomes, the more will everything else between us recede, the more clearly and purely will Jesus Messiah and his work become the one and only thing that is vital between us. we have one another only through Jesus, but through Jesus we do have one another, wholly, and for all eternity."

-dietrich bonhoeffer.

a rabbi's prayers.

"may they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."

-the last prayer of Jesus the night before His death, His prayer for you and you and you, and me too.

company.

"It is common and appropriate to think that 'alone' means lonely or in need of assistance, that is, that aloneness is a badge of weakness. Weakness cries out for help, whether as companion, partner, or coworker; and God in fact offers to make a 'help' for the human being. But 'alone' could also mean self-sufficient or independent; it could be a mark of strength - real or imagined. Aloneness as strength and apparent self-sufficiency might be bad or dangerous in a variety of ways. For example, a solitary being, lacking a suitable mirror, might be incapable of self-knowledge.

For aloneness as strength, the proper remedy is weakening, caused by division, opposition, conflict.

Fittingly, God proposes an ambiguous helper. Man's helper is to be neged, that is, 'opposite' to him, 'over against' him, 'boldly in front' of him, 'in his face': the helper is to be a contra, an opponent. Putting together 'partner' and 'opposition,' God proposes to make man a counterpart. What is called for, whatever the reason, is not just another, but an other other - fitting and suitable, to be sure, but also opposed. Company here comes with difference; and as we shall see in the next chapter, la difference will turn out to make a very big difference, both for good and ill."

-leon kass, the beginning of wisdom.