Reflection, Eucharist
This is the baptismal font in the back of the sanctuary at St. Mark's. I tend to be anti-social, or at least not wildly pro-social, and more often than not I slip out the side doors after a service ends, so I do not walk by the font more than once every month or so. When I do, though, I appreciate that water is kept in the baptismal font, and we are encouraged to dip our fingers in it, in memory of our baptisms.
I don't remember my baptism -- I was raised in the Congregational end of the United Church of Christ, and we did infant baptisms. I would guess I was baptized in 1975 or 1976, and I have never seen any photos of the event. The water I press to my forehead when I walk back up the central aisle after a service bring forth memories of a childhood spent in the church, from Christmas pageants to roadside cleanup service days.
My first thought for yesterday's word of "Eucharist" and today's word of "Reflection" was to go literal: get a photo of bread and wine, and a photo of a reflection of something, but I find myself thinking of rituals. This baptismal font, where I dip my finger into the same font as the older couple in front of me, and pull back memories that are similar, yet different. I share something in the recollection, the reflection on my baptism.
When I attended Broadway UCC in New York, our pastor had a liturgy around the Eucharist that I especially loved:
"Pastor: The first time Jesus sat down to this meal, among those gathered there were one who would doubt Him, one who would deny Him, one who would betray Him, and they would all leave Him alone before that night was over-and He knew it. Still He sat down and ate with them. If He ate with them, surely He's ready to eat with us-baptized or not, confessed or not, Christian or not, sure or not, believer or not, saint or sinner or a little of both. All you have to be to eat at this table is hungry.
"People: God will do the rest!"