Marathon of Life
I'm going to be running a marathon in about a week. There's a lot of things they don't tell you when you train for a marathon. For one, they don't tell you how after about 18, 20 miles how your knees and hips start hurting when they've never hurt before. They don't go into detail about the burning you feel in your legs and shins after your long runs. They especially don't tell you about things like chafed areas of skin which—you'll have to trust me on this one—are not for the faint of heart. I'm sure no one ever tells you about the pain because if they did, probably no one would go through with it.
And they also don't tell you about the bone-drenching, dog-tired weariness and the loss of hope that you'll never be able to finish after 3 or 4 hours of running. But that is the exact moment when you have to believe, when you need to have faith in the hours of training you've put in before that point. That and plenty of water & energy bars help.
Is not our walk through this life similar? Isn't it easy to lose hope when whatever sin that seems to haunt you returns once again? Isn't it easy to lose hope when your marriage goes south, when your job seems meaningless, when your kids don't do what in right, when all the circumstances in life rise up and rear their ugly head? Yet that is when we are called to faith, to believe...to pray and once again hope.
But God does not leave us without a means to get back to hope. He gives us a meal to remember that it is He who will strengthen us once again. All the heavy training and lifting was done once and for all by Jesus. All we have to do is remember Jesus by eating of His body and His blood, and remember that we have been grafted into the vine, the very lifeline of God which gives us strength and hope from day to day.
So if you are weary, come and eat. If you are tired from battling with depression or sin or addiction, come and drink. Come and remember Jesus and His undying love for you, yes, come and remember who you are, come and renew your hope. They that wait on the Lord will renew their strength, they will run and not grow weary, walk and not faint.
After we pray, the way we take Communion is to take the bread at either of the tables, dip it into the juice, and eat. If you are a regular attender here, there are boxes for you to place any tithe or offering you would like to give. There are candles in the back for you to light if you have an area, person, or circumstance in your life you want to offer up to God.