In Remembrance
(A poetic reflection on Luke 22:14)
Today,
when Jesus expounds on the words we hear every Sunday
in the Eucharistic Prayer
in the Words of Institution
I was reminded
that I had forgotten
that Jesus himself
said he’d forego the bread and the wine
for an undetermined time.
When I look back
at those months in lockdown and semi-lockdown
Zoom Church and the infancy of livestreamed church becoming mainstream
and the Eucharist became incredibly dear
I remember being tempted from time to time
to invite a trusted friend or two over
and celebrate these Sacraments.
Yet I never succumbed to that temptation
because I remembered
that I don’t do this for me
I do it for the people I serve
and it’s enough for me to join in with them.
And it makes me smile
to remember that when
the resurrected Jesus
has “roasted fish on the beach”
with the disciples
it was probably just as savored
as the first time there were people in the room
and we could celebrate the Eucharist again.
Maria Evans splits her week between being a pathologist and laboratory director in Kirksville, MO, and gratefully serving in the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri , as Interim Priest at Trinity Episcopal Church in Hannibal, MO.
