In Remembrance

Any place is sacred ground.

Communion.

In remembrance.

In A Listening Heart, David Steindl-Rast wrote, “Any place is sacred ground, for it can become a place of encounter with the divine Presence.” I remember when I first had that thought that everywhere we go is sacred ground. When I read these words from Brother David, my heart and spirit recognized this to be true. Sacred ground is not limited to divine Biblical encounters or reserved for places of worship. Sacred ground is any place we can pause, open our eyes, and recognize the Presence of God. That undefinable, inexplicable, impossible to put into words experience of knowing something special is going on here. Any place can be a place of encounter. So, every place is an opportunity to commune with God and creation.

This week, I found two small pottery communion cups at Mom’s house. I remembered these cups from a communion service conducted by David Hayes. His son, Paul Hayes, made these beautiful cups, along with about a hundred others, for the service. I don’t know where mine ended up, but these two were used by Mom and Dad on that day of communion. As Mom and I talked about that service, she offered them to me as a gift. Humbled, I accepted one and said she needed to keep one to remember that day she and Dad shared with our small, faith community.

In Luke 22, after being betrayed, Jesus shared his final meal with the disciples. Here he offers the cup and the bread of communion. Often and rightly, the focus is on the bread and the drink. But on my desk, sits this cup. A beautiful and powerful symbol. A humbling reminder for me to do, to serve, and to live my life in remembrance. Also powerful is the image in Jesus’s prayer a few lines later. “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Until this morning, I hadn’t recognized that Jesus both offered the cup to the disciples and accepted the cup from the Father.

Today, may I recognize that all ground is sacred ground and that all encounters are divine encounters. May I commune in the divine Presence of God and in divine presence of my neighbors. And may I do all of this, always in remembrance.