Communion at Home

Photo by Maude
Enhanced by Maria Esteves

CELEBRATING COMMUNION AS WE SHELTER-IN-PLACE

We’re still sheltering-in-place

during the Covid-19 pandemic

and missing, among other things

our church family

in spite of live-stream services

Our pastor announced

we’d celebrate Communion

during a prayer meeting

to be held over a conference call

on Tuesday morning

We’d need to have unleavened bread

and the fruit of the vine

to fully participate

I didn’t have any matzoh in the house

and don’t go into stores these days

so I simply mixed a little flour, water and

olive oil, kneaded it a bit

and rolled it out as thin as I could

I pricked it all over with a fork

and lifted it onto a baking sheet

The oven temperature was so hot

it caused the fire alarm to blare

so I opened windows

and turned on the fan

The flatbread quickly

browned and blistered

I flipped it over

to brown on the other side

In a few moments it was finished

I thought of the Hebrew women

who’d been sheltering-in-place

during another difficult time in history

Thought of them packing up

their unleavened dough

and kneading bowls

preparing for a journey

as their husbands

applied lamb’s blood to the lintels

of their homes, and they waited

for the Angel of Death

to pass over them

I placed a few broken pieces of matzoh

on a special plate depicting a mosaic

of the miracle of the loaves and fishes

and took two tiny olive wood cups

out of the china cabinet, souvenirs

from a Communion service

held at the Garden Tomb

during our pilgrimage there in 2006

Our pastor began the blessing

over the bread

Baruch atah Adonai

Elohainu Melech ha Olam…

We partook of the bread

and the fruit of the vine

in a Communion connecting us

with God and His protection

over His people

spanning millenniums

and millenniums

Maude Carolan Pych

5/14/2020