The Deal Is In The Meal

Earlier this week good news came to the Dryden Family.

What did we do?  We had a slap up meal featuring all our favourite cuisines.  Girls had what they like.  My beloved had what she liked.  I had what I liked.  Some might call it indulgence, but to us it was not a regular event, and it was a typical way of celebrating good news.

Looking back I realised quite a number of key events in my life and pleasant experiences revolved around a meal.  One particularly memorable occasion featured a good friend of mine at the time, way back in 1999.  (Can you believe that was 14 years ago!)

I had helped with an assignment and as a thank you the good friend and her husband (also a treasured friend) took me out for a meal.  During that meal we talked about many things, and among the topics was the issue of who would be my own ideal spouse and then … well I don’t want to spoil the story at the moment.  I’ll save it for another blog entry – it’s a good story though.

Point being, all of this good stuff came as a result of a meal.  You could almost say the deal was in the meal.  When I celebrated my birthday last year, my family helped me celebrate with TWO meals.  One with the wife and children, and another later with just the wife.  I remember it for where we had the meal, what we had, an interesting biological consequence of the meal, and the pleasant time we eventually had afterwards.

All of these recollections and more got me thinking again about the Lord’s Supper.  This is a meal.  The deal in this meal is about communion, commemorating what it took to bring it about, and celebrating what it now means for our heavenly and earthly connections.  There just seems to be so much more to the meal than the deal that is sometimes experienced.  There just seems to be deeper riches to be experienced in the meal as we delve into the deal of the meal.  Especially if we really do make a meal of it and share in it.

This acts as a precursor to a series of blog entries I’ll be writing about my journey into joy in the Supper.  My experience hasn’t always appreciated the deal in the meal, but I hope someone reading it might look at this event again, not from a ritualistic perspective, but something affecting life, and celebrating soemthing supremely significant in it.

In fact the series itself was inspired by a conversation I had with a really special friend of mine and my family.

Leonie is a young woman who became good friends with my wife quite a number of years ago now.  She and her sisters became a part of my wife’s life in a major way.  Authrine loved them like they were her own little sisters – not just in a namby-pamby, nominal church style, but as her own blood.  Indeed to this day Authrine still loves them with that depth of love that her big heart is renown for.

Leonie, in the meantime, is a spiritual giant in her own right.  Not that she brags about it, or boasts in it, or even recognises it for what it is.  She is just one of those unique people you come across who glows the grace of God and exudes it without saying a word.  Her character also reflects a big heart and I know as God has bestowed the pastoral gift in her, she is significantly influential in the lives of others through her youth work and developed relationships with people up and down this country.  It is an honour to know her, and a privilege of mine to call her friend and sister in Christ.

It was as a result of a conversation with her about the Lord’s Supper and why it was so special, that I was inspired to put together the upcoming series on my journey.  I dedicate the series to her and others like her open in their hearts to growing in knowing Jesus more and having that growing in knowing spill out in every aspect of their lives.

My prayer is that you will see the deal in the meal.

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

C. L. J. Dryden