A Foretaste of...
Dear Friends,
What a beautiful foretaste of the fall we had earlier this week — it was even borderline cool Wednesday morning. Alas! No more...108, 110, 109, 110, 106…ugh! Woe!
The way that little break in the weather changed everyone’s mood, the way commenting on it became a part of every interaction, the way it filled us with pleasure in the moment and also hope for the fall days to come, all of that got me thinking about this line in our prayer book. The line I’m thinking of is actually the beginning of the post-communion prayer that is used in a funeral service:
Almighty God, we thank you that in your great love you have fed us with the spiritual food and drink of the Body and Blood of your Son Jesus Christ, and have given us a foretaste of your heavenly banquet…
A foretaste is not just a preview of something that’s yet to come. A foretaste is a little bit of the actual thing. We got a foretaste of fall this week, and it changed and invigorated us even in the present. Maybe it even gave you a little extra mental strength to face the rest of summer ahead.
Holy Eucharist works like that. When we gather at the altar it’s not just a preview of eternity, it’s a little bit of the real thing: the real presence of Christ in the sacrament; the real grace of love and forgiveness poured out on us; the real loving community of vastly different people united by one Lord. And God gives us that foretaste to change us, to invigorate us, and to give us strength to face the not-always-so-heavenly days ahead.
That we would be as excited and thrilled by that foretaste of the heavenly banquet as we were when we encountered the foretaste of fall weather earlier this week!
Stay cool!
In Christ,
Fr. Andrew
