Last week I shared about my Christmas Eve tradition: quiet communion with my husband. On Christmas Eve, we packed up after an evening spent playing Apples to Apples with my family and went on our way to church, anticipating our moment of stillness and quiet.
We arrived to find the lights on and janitors vacuuming the sanctuary. Confused, we wandered around the church grounds, wondering if it had ended early and we had just missed it. It seemed that communion had not happened at all this year. For whatever reason, my church decided to not do it, and we had not paid close enough attention to church bulletins to realize this.
I can’t completely blame them. To do communion required our senior pastor to stay at church until midnight, and I know he must have been exhausted and probably a bit burnt out after a very busy month and three different Christmas Eve services.
If I’m completely honest though, I was upset and a little hurt. And this thought drifted through my mind.
“Let down by the church yet again.”
My one need this Christmas season was not met by my church. It was easy to walk away feeling bitter and jaded. My husband was disappointed as well, but he made a really good comment on the way home.
“There’s something to be said for putting too much stock in something.”
We put off quiet and solitude the entire season and continued in our busyness because we were counting on that quiet communion.
In the rest of my faith life, I put off my quiet time and prayer life and wait on church to fill me. When it doesn’t, I become upset and judgmental.
I think I’m beginning to see where the problem lies.
When we first moved to Mena we attended a church that never served communion. A big disappointment to us. But we found a church where we were a better fit and we celebrate communion on the first Sunday of each month…much better for us. Whenever we find we can’t be at home and we have no time to find a church on the road, we celebrate communion together. We just take the time to read scripture, meditate, confess to God, and then take the elements of bread and juice. It fills our need to draw closer to the Lord. While on our mission trip to Guatemala we served communion to each of our team members and they appreciated it so much. Just know that you don’t have to be inside the church walls to commune with the Lord. It is a very moving and personal experience for you and your husband too. Love you both!