Broken & Poured...

Finished Rob Bell's "Jesus Wants To Save Christians". Yet again, Rob Bell's writings deliver the message with words so simple, yet so powerful that they leave a deep lasting impression on your heart that doesn't fade after you're done with the book.

While, I won't reveal too much, here's some of my favourite quotes. He makes reference to the Eucharist (Holy Communion)...

"God has made peace with the world through the Eucharist, the good gift, of Jesus. And so Christians take part in a ritual, a meal, a reminder of the Passover, called the Eucharist - also called communion or the Lord's Supper or Mass - as a way of remembering and returning to who God is and what God has done in Christ.

But the Eucharist, as it is with any other ritual, is about something far more significant than the ritual itself.
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***further on, Rob talks about Paul's letter in 2 Corinthians***

God gives the world life through the breaking of Christ's body and the pouring out of Christ's blood. And God continues to give the word life through the body of Christ - who Paul tells his friends at Corinth is them.

They are his body. The body of Christ.

The church is a living Eucharist, because followers of Christ are living Eucharists.

A Christian is a living Eucharist, allowing her body to be broken and her blood to be poured out for the healing of the world.
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It is written to the Ephesians that God's "intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms."

We have been given everything we need for the fulfilment of the story. And the act of loving the poor is an act of fulfilling, remembering; it's living our hope; it's the fullness of him who fills all things in all ways.

It's not a building, because no building can ever be big enough for that kind of grace.

The Eucharist is not fair.

Giving to those who can't give in return, that's not fair.

Serving those who have no way to serve in return, that's not fair.

Breaking yourself open and pouring yourself out for people who may never say thank you, that's not fair.

Because God is not fair. This is a God who is defined by action on behalf of the opressed. God is about giving the good gift. Jesus is God's good gift for the healing of the word. The church is Jesus' body, a good gift for the healing of the world.

It's for the benefit of others.

For the good of those who look different from us.

A church is an organisation that exists for the benefit of nonmembers (emphasis mine)."



WOW.... I love that last line. Have we as a church gotten it wrong then?