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It is one of my favourite times of the week. I sit there and watch them make their way up to the front. I see a son kneel down beside his mother; I see an elderly couple slowly make their way up together; couples, families, widows and widowers all walking up to the altar. I see the tangible sign of our grace and redemption being received with open arms and grateful hearts. Today as I watched an elderly woman with a cane being helped up to the communion rail it struck me that this is a clear reminder of how the Christian lives. Sure, there those who will advocate for an individual faith, one centered on the autonomous choice of each person, but this is not how we live. I carried my little newborn son up to the altar to receive a blessing from the priest. Not long from now he will be baptized, welcomed into the community faith and joining in the journey with a whole host of witnesses who have walked the path before him. We can pretend that we walk through this life by our own strength, that we make choices based apart from those around us, but this is not the faith tradition that I am a part of. Isaac, my son, is carried to the altar to receive grace; when he is old enough, he will walk beside me; one day, God willing, he might hold his arm out to assist his elderly father as I struggle with cane in hand to the altar. For now, my dear wife and I will carry him as we go to share in the Eucharist. This is an honour beyond description.
I consider it such a blessing to share in the central Christian celebration with those in my church. I am thankful for the grace we receive in the Wine and the Bread. I am humbled by the reminder I receive every week that I do not walk through this life alone: to be a Christian is to be a part of a glorious community of those who have come before, those who have walked beside others, been carried by others, and carried others on this great journey.
For all those saints who have come before, for all those future saints who walk beside me... I give thanks to God.
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