Today was just a lovely day; very warm and sunny as it has been all week, and it seemed as if the weather boosted our spirits as well -- we had an extremely peaceable and loving day together and I want to tell you about it!
Last summer we had discussed in detail when would be the best time to share a communion last supper together, knowing of churches that celebrate it daily, others weekly, others monthly.
About this time we were being very impressed by the lifestyle of the Hutterian Brethren and found out that, for them, this was a once-yearly celebration, at Easter time. The more we thought about it, the more we liked it since it seemed to us that doing it too often somehow cheapened the experience.
So we decided right then that we'd put it off and do it again next for Easter 2007 -- that is, today.
So for the past few days as we've seen the Easter weekend approaching we've discussed some of the details of how exactly we felt the Lord would have us do it to make it the most meaningful.
Last night we gathered together in the evening instead of eating supper and found a common focus in anticipation of the next day. We knew Sunday should be a joyful occasion but we felt that we wanted to share in communion beforehand, so we decided to fast through the morning hours as well, in preparation.
I shared with everyone that if the Lord had wanted some of these time and place details to be carefully observed nothing would have been easier for Him to tell us.
I concluded by the lack of such details that He would have us do some things as and when we choose, and that in this, as in many other things, He has left some things up to us.
Raph and the older children decided this morning that each one of them who was going to participate should try to have a little one-on-one time with each other in order to clear any past or present quarrels or misunderstandings.
The more we shared these things, the more it became apparent to all that this was surely the essence of the event. As it happened this sharing took all morning and we weren't really all finished and ready till almost noon. But there was a wonderful peace and such a good, brotherly spirit by then that no one even noticed the time.
When we were ready we sat at the large table in the living room -- there were ten of us present; Sarah, Jonathan, Nathalie, Camille, Raph, Lilly, Michel, Frederic, Becky, and me.
Mum had spoken with Debbie the night before suggesting clearly that this might be a wonderful time to get baptized and for her to think about it. This morning she said she'd rather do it when she got back to Sweden so the matter was dropped and Mum simply explained that this morning we were going to participate in a little ceremony that really only concerned baptized members of the family.
We decided to let the children stay in the same room and watch so Raph gave them a little coaching about being sure to stay very quiet -- and they were. We'd already made sure that Grandma was upstairs taking her morning nap so that there would be no disruptions.
We sat down and after asking the Lord to bless with his peace and guidance we sang "Crown Him With Many Crowns" in French a capella. I read a little passage that Michel had given me earlier written by Roy Hession on the importance of mutual love as our expression of our love for Christ and it turned out to be very appropriate.
After this, Raph read a few related scriptures and we shared a small whole bread that Jonathan had just baked this morning followed by a glass of wine. Everything was just right.
We ended by all holding hands in a ring and sing our theme song, Psalm 133, and giving the person next to us on each side a kiss of love. I closed the time in a simple prayer and we went upstairs for the noon meal.
I don't see how it could have gone better and it set the tone for the entire day -- certainly it was the simplest and most meaningful communion ceremony we had had for a very long time and everyone felt united and blessed.
Later on in the afternoon Becky invited us all outside to inaugurate her new ruchette that had just been completed and set out yesterday. We took some photos and Raph, Camille, Lilly, Michel and Nat decided to take all the little ones out for a nice walk. Mum went down to the island to read and I'm sitting here to tell the tale for posterity.
God help us to preserve our simplicity and unity and peace for which we are all very thankful to Him.