I love it when kids come up to the communion rail for a blessing!  With each child I bend down, make eye contact with them, put my hand on their head and say, "Child of God, the Lord Jesus Christ loves you forever."  And it's amazing how much response I get from them!  Often I get a smile.  Sometimes I'll get a nod of agreement.  If they're in a bad mood, I might get an eye roll and a look that says, "Duh!  I already knew that..."  But I usually get some kind of a response and it's usually an affirmation.

But last Sunday I got more than usual when young Aysha Romeis came to communion with her parents.  I did my usual thing: bent down, looked her in the eyes, and gave her the blessing.  When I finished, she got a big smile on her face and produced a piece of paper she'd been hiding behind her back.  She excitedly placed it before me, nearly slamming it on the communion rail. 

"Here," she said with a grin, "this is for YOU!"

I picked up the paper and saw that it was a page from a coloring book.  She had decorated it with many different colors that splashed across the page like a beautiful sunset, regardless of the black lines pre-printed by the publisher.  It caught me off-guard.  I'm not used to people handing me things during communion.

"Thank you!" I said to Aysha.  Then I took her offering and placed it on the altar... which made her smile get REALLY big!

So often when we come to Holy Communion we think of it solely as something that we're getting from God.  We come to get bread and get wine.  We come to get forgiveness.  We come to get peace and a clear conscience.  We come to get God's love.  But what Aysha reminded me of and I what I pass onto you now, is that when we come to the altar we also come to give.  We give our lives back to God... lives filled with beauty, and yet chaotic, often going outside the lines of what God expects.  We bring all of it, our whole selves, to God and say, "Here, Lord, this is for you!"

And we remember that ultimately our lives don't belong to us... they're God's... that we're here not to live for ourselves, but for the One who created, loves, and redeems us.  We've been given this brief time on earth not to just get what we want for ourselves, but to give... to bring beauty and love to those around us... like Aysha did for me. 

Giving made Aysha feel good.  She had such a big smile as she left and so did I... a smile that has lingered in my heart, even to this moment.  May you, too, know the smile that comes from giving yourself away :-)

Peace,

Pastor Russ