Do you want fries and a shake with that?
Today, in my church, as in many others it was communion Sunday. Since the preacher knows where I live, I of course did participate, but I had to do it remotely. So for me, the body of Christ looked an awful lot like an English Muffin, and for the blood, there was water that I had turned in to coffee. Don’t get me wrong, the concept of Communion is one that I like, maybe not as it was originally intended, but more along the lines of taking a moment to appreciate your place in the community of the Church and the people around you. There’s nothing quite like having the body of Christ stuck between your teeth and trying to flush it out with a plastic shot glass of Welch’s concord grape juice, as you express your gratitude for your neighbor.
This afternoon, I had a customer stop by. She told me that on her way to see me she stopped at a drive-in communion. I thanked her for coming and said nothing about her other stop. After she left, it struck me how far off of the mark the drive-in communion was. As I discussed this with myself, I couldn’t help but conjure up my own version of that. I even came up with the prayer for that event:
“Our Whopper who art in the microwave, hallowed by thy menu, thy kitchen come, thine will be salted and greasy, thine will be done for eat-in or carry out. Give us this day our daily french fries and forgive us our abuse of the ketchup as we forgive those who put pineapple on the pizza. Lead us not to the salad bar but deliver us to the dessert aisle.”
Why is it that everything in our lives has to be sped up, digitized and presented at warp speed? Are any of us so busy or so important that we can’t take a few moments to appreciate what we have, what we were given? Will we get to the point where a walk in the woods is presented on our big screen TVs as wallpaper to enjoy in the background while we are thumbing across the screens of our cell phones? Will human interaction be replaced by Twitter or Facebook? In terms of special events and the rituals surrounding those, will they be replaced by an App? Will we replace Christmas with a wish list on Amazon? Will an Easter egg hunt now be handled by the USPS, someone ships the eggs and you have to figure out where they are?
With every one of these ill conceived efforts to engage or attract more people, it distracts from the real reasons for the event, it diminishes the original thought and ultimately either grows in to some unrecognizable mutant or simply fail and leave behind a trail of disappointment. A lonely trail with no guides because they were cast aside as no longer necessary. A self-defeating process where there are no winners.
Instead of instant gratification, let’s focus on long term, meaningful lasting gratification, happiness. Let’s find ways to share the love. Let’s work on more of us learning how to commune with each other and nature or both, in person. Let’s work towards that communion, or sharing of the bread or community social, or pot luck supper as a way to get to know our neighbors, get to understand them and share the love for the things we all have in common.
heinzweverink 