Last night, I received Holy Communion in the Pittsburgh Hard Rock Cafe. It was part of a U2charist worship led by United Methodists in the Pittsburgh area, a service that doubled as an Imagine No Malaria event. It was a night in which the Holy Spirit was flowing more strongly than the spirits on the shelf behind the bar.
I can't say that I've ever received Communion in a bar before last night, and now I'm wondering why not. Why aren't we holding worship and administering sacraments in bars and restaurants? Why do we limit these acts to our sanctuaries? Jesus didn't. John Wesley didn't. And we shouldn't.
Recently I preached on Matthew 5:13-20, in which Jesus declares that we are the light of the world. But how can anyone see our light shine when we're hiding under the bushel baskets of our sanctuaries? Last night, the light of Western Pennsylvania United Methodists radiated through Hard Rock. We placed ourselves in the world, and let our light shine as we received Christ's body and fought to eradicate malaria. We need to be doing these things more often.
2 things I'd like to do: U2charist and receive communion at a bar. To do both and draw attention to a life-saving cause like Imagine No Malaria would be awesome.
ReplyDelete