For a Moment, It Became Real

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Holy Catholic Church,
the Communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
and the life everlasting.  Amen.

Every Sunday, we profess this as our faith.  Sometimes we use the Nicene Creed which uses different words, but expresses the same sentiments. 

Today, for a few moments a few of those words became reality.

On Thursday, I conducted a funeral for a member of my congregation.  My last blog posting included the sermon from that service.  Today, several of his immediate family attended worship.  At Holy Communion, they came forward to receive the Sacrament.

His wife came forward, and I placed the bread in her hand.  At the same time I spoke the words, "The body of Christ given for you," the phrase "the Communion of Saints" flashed into my head.  With the phrase came the vision of just what we believe happens when we celebrate the Sacrament.

For we believe that as we commune, we become a part of the entirety of the body of Christ: the Church on earth and the Church in heaven.  Eternity and human time become one as we join the host of heaven in this celebration.  For a moment in time, this belief became absolutely real as I handed the body of Christ to this newly widowed woman.

It brought tears to my eyes as I thought of this woman being together with her husband at that moment: worshiping together; communing together; in the presence of Christ together. 

Sometimes, we are blessed with moments like this--when belief becomes reality.  Sometimes they are few and far between, but when they happen, they are special.  Even if they only last a moment.