Joy

My favorite part of church is the Eucharist.  I've always thought this particular practice so beautiful and divine and, as a child, I was disappointed that the church I attended only had the Lord's Supper (one of several names for the Eucharist) at Christmas, Easter, an eventually every fifth Sunday of the month.  So, not a lot.

Now that I attend an Anglican church, I get to celebrate the Eucharist every Sunday!  And this practice, this sacrament of the Church, becomes more and more beautiful each passing week.  (There are many reasons for this, but I'm going to touch on only one).

If you think of the church service as a procession into heaven, then this procession climaxes at the Eucharist.  Like in ancient times when only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies, only those baptized into the priesthood/community/church/body of believers/whatever you wish to call it (the point being only those baptized with water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) can partake of the Eucharist; this Holy of Holies that gives us a foretaste of the coming wedding feast of the Lamb. 

Everything climaxes at the Eucharist.  It's absolutely beautiful.

As I drove to church this morning (45 minutes) I was pondering this great holy mystery and I asked God to show me heaven at the Eucharist.  Show me how heaven and earth meet at the altar during this ancient, corporate, worship feast. 

I continued to pray this throughout the liturgy.  During the Peace (you know, when the people go around shaking hands and greeting each other; historically this was when churchgoers actually made peace with anyone they might be arguing with, etc.) I feel this tiny hand slip into mine.  I look to find this little girl holding my hand.

"Peace be with you," she said.  "My name's Joy.  What's your name?"

"Demelza," I answered.  She climbed onto my seat so that she now stood at my height. 

"You know my parents?"  She asked.  

"Yes," I answered.  I do know her parents, but this was the first time she and I were introduced in a formal sense. 

Joy decided that I would make an excellent tree and climbed into my arms.

Father Justin then began the Eucharist Liturgy.

"Do you want to get down?"  I asked Joy.  She proceeded to snuggle in my arms, resting her head on my shoulder, her small fingers playing with my hair.

We go through the liturgy.  As we sing the Agnus Dei I'm still praying for God to show me heaven and earth together, to show me this holy mystery of ascension.

Then, in the middle of the consecration of the bread and wine, Mark 10:13-16 pops into my mind and I realize,

Heaven is in my arms.

I asked for prophetic vision and instead of something like Dante's Earthly Paradise, God gave me a child.

The Church has been charged to spread the Kingdom of God (the Great Commission) because of the Kingdom of God has arrived on earth, but we also know that there's more Kingdom to come (Christ's Second Coming).  And so the Church lives in this mysterious, yet beautiful, and humbling paradox of the Kingdom of God that Is Now and Not Yet.

I asked to see heaven because I wanted to see the Coming Kingdom, and I still do.  God sent me Joy and an answer because, at this time, I don't need to see the far off Not Yet.  I, Joy, Joy's parents, my brothers and sisters of the global universal Church are ushering in the Kingdom of God and it's because we, filled with the Holy Spirit, are ushering in the Kingdom there is already a bit of heaven on earth. 

That's heaven.  Not a full picture of the Realm of Glory for sure, but a glimpse nonetheless of what is already taking place even when not at the Eucharist. 

I asked for heaven, and God gave me a child.

And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, "Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a  child shall not enter it." And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them. 

Mark 10:13-16 ESV