Greetings from Asia!
What happens when five male pastors are encouraged to serve communion to women who have recently come out of the dark world of sex slavery? At a retreat in the Far East, we gathered together several people who are serving the marginalized in the region. Our desire has been to see these retreats as tools where God touches their lives and takes His love back into the difficult ministry environments each are serving.
On the last day of the retreat, we came together to serve each other communion and to remember how God freely and generously extends this grace and forgiveness to each of us. A few of the women had in recent years been rescued from prostitution and had a long history of being hurt by men. Sensing that God wanted to continue this healing in their lives, the pastors were encouraged to come and serve the women communion. The desire was to see the men be agents of God’s healing and forgiveness for the past hurt by men. When the time came to serve communion, the pastors came to the table, took the bread and juice and quickly served communion . . . to each other, clearly not serving communion to the women. The moment was awkward and the message was clear: crossing lines of stigma and social barriers is very difficult. We were about to move on, when the Kingdom of God became tangibly real. Rather than take offense by the rejection, the women proceeded to the communion table, took the bread and juice and began to serve communion . . . to the pastors . . . a second time. One could cut the air as the significance of the moment settled on all of us.
Upon receiving this communion a second time, the tears were flowing. It was as if the ladies realized the social strain the men were under and with compassion reached out in a Godlike way. That morning we all realized in a profound way that when one has been forgiven much, one loves much. Two things followed.
The first was our final meal together following communion became a true celebration, full of laughter, friendship and probably a more authentic expression of the communion table. Secondly, there was a holy silence in the two hour van ride as we returned back to the city. It was as if each were pondering the two disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:30-31 that says, “As they sat down to eat, He took the bread and blessed it. Then He broke it and gave it to them. Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him.”
By Robert Newfound , LAC International Staff *
*Names have been changed to protect LAC International Staff’s confidentiality. For more details on Global Outreach, visit us online at http://globaloutreach.lakeave.org.