For the first reflection looking at how God speaks to us about communion, it seems most apt to go to the Old Testament and see what we can learn from the most famous wandering community of all. The story of Moses leading the people of Israel from Egypt, and guiding them to the promised land is rife with life lessons. From the very beginning of the tale, God goes to tremendous lengths to bring all of the community together and unite them under the leadership of Moses. In the passages where God sends Moses back and forth to Pharoah the messages begin with the words ‘The God of the Hebrews says “Let my people go!” (Exodus 9-10). This becomes the norm throughout the greater story of the journey to the promised land, the people are always addressed as a community of believers, not individuals. There is even a justification given for allowing the Hebrews to be released “So they may worship the Lord, their God.” (Exodus 9) – or to put it another way, so that they may become a praying community. God’s first and foremost wish for His people is for them to come together in prayer. Upon this their lives are based, upon this the existence of them as a people is cemented through a wish for them to be founded on prayer.

There is also another lesson from the forty years they spent wandering through the desert – sticking together through it all. Those years were full of mistakes, arguments and rivalries. There were plenty of highs and a fair share of lows. Just before the parting of the Red Sea they are in fear and collectively complain “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt?” (Exodus 14:11). However, they find the courage to proceed forward as one “The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left” (Exodus 14:22). The naivety demonstrated in the fashioning of the golden calf is palpably embarrassing yet they all see this and return to God when Moses comes down from Mount Sinai. They are an obedient people but often a disobedient people, they stray from God, yet return to God – but in every situation they are together as a community.

The most famous part of the story is God giving Moses the ten commandments on the tablets of stone. He returned to the people with a covenant, a set of guidelines for which their community could be founded upon. “The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved upon the tablets.” (Exodus 32:16). God spoke to the Hebrews through those instructions which were a blueprint for community living. Those very same instructions are the basis of our faith today, and if you look closely at them, form the essence of greater society and communion.

Mr M Robinson
Lay Chaplain

 

Chaplaincy Calendar:

Monday 27th

  • Holocaust Memorial Service (Break)
  • Arts & Crafts (lunch)
  • Christian Union (G9)

Tuesday 28th

  • Shared Prayer (Break)
  • Arts & Crafts (Lunch)

Wednesday 29th

  • Staff Morning Prayer (8.30am)
  • Rosary (Break)
  • Meditation (lunch)

Thursday 30th

  • Lectio (break)
  • Arts & Crafts (Lunch)

Friday 31st

  • Shared prayer (break)
  • Games (lunch)