52 Weeks at the Table – Week 49

A visiting missionary on a farewell tour with only a week to spend at Troas had a lot to say on his final night with his church family there. So Paul kept talking until midnight, and one member of his audience not only fell asleep, but fell out of the third story window. But Paul’s talk – that almost certainly centered around the One who was resurrection and life – was not mere talk. And the young man Eutychus who had been picked up dead was stunningly rendered alive by Paul’s embrace.

Then, apparently exhibiting no great surprise, Paul climbed the steps again to break bread with that dear church family, spoke on until daylight, then left for his next destination. A body that should have been broken by a three-story fall was taken home whole and alive. The Lord’s power to give life and restore the broken to wholeness would be visible in that town for as long as Eutychus lived there … and that reality would surely have been on the minds of those who broke bread at Troas for just as long.

A Prayer Over the Bread

God and Father, we are a people as broken as this bread; restored to wholeness and given new life by Your Son, who gave His body and His life to bring us this gift. We remember this reality as we break this bread. Even when we fall, Your love bears us up; Your embrace makes us whole again. Nourish and strengthen us with the grace of this bread, for which we give You our humble thanks. Amen.

A Prayer Over the Cup

Dear God, thank you for this cup, for life itself, for forgiveness when we break faith with You, for Your Son, for His blood which restores us in grace. It is a blessing too magnificent for us to drink in, yet we do so with all due gratitude. When our travels and Your mission for us must separate us for however long, bring us back together at this table and this cup and the life which never ends. In Jesus’ name: Amen.