How can it be? I was just sitting here with my husband and son and daughter-in-law, remembering their own wedding a year ago, greeting friends, almost giddy with celebration and joy. Listening to the beautiful music, hearing the familiar words of The Lord Bless You and Keep You. And when I allowed my heart to wander, I remembered, too, my daughter's memorial service. Funny, Be Thou My Vision was sung at both the wedding and the memorial. I love that. Songs of faith remain constant and true - from birth to death, through celebration and through sorrow.
This morning I found myself rereading some of Ann Voskamp's One Thouosand Gifts. She speaks of eucharisteo, the giving of thanks, as never ending, as the preparation for full restoration, in sorrow and in joy. She says , "Eucharisteo, the Greek work with the hard meaning and the harder meaning to live - this is the only way from empty to full. I know it's true.
Sharaya Crossan, in her blog Eucharisteo Journey writes beautifully about Jesus, just before his death, taking the bread, giving thanks for it, breaking it, and sharing it.
She writes, "The root word of eucharisteo in the Greek is charis meaning gift or grace. He took the bread and saw it as a gift. He held it and gave thanks. Is not all we have been given us by the Giver of all? Do we see the common like bread and drink as pure grace, unmerited gifts from He who can do nothing but give? Do we take up each moment of life in this way, both the mundane and the trials of life?
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