August 2015 – A Seminarian’s Letters Home

To the membership of Circle of Faith Parish:

Greetings to you all from Evanston, IL! By the time you read this, we’ll be well into the weeks when the lectionary treats us to a bunch of long discourses from John’s Gospel. For basically the next month, we’ll hear Jesus talking about bread week after week. During that time, Circle of Faith will also be celebrating Holy Communion every Sunday. I am so excited that this is happening! If I wanted to be funny, I’d say that we are doing this because we’ll all be so hungry, having heard all this stuff about bread. But that’s not the only reason why.

One of the promises Jesus made to his followers in John’s Gospel was “where I am, there you will be also.” Throughout our history, Christians have expressed that promise in our art and our music, right up to today. At Waverly, there was a time when the altar rail was in the shape of a half-circle, disappearing into the wall. At Trinity, angel statues flank the altar for the same reason. At St. Peter, also, that’s why so many saints’ symbols appear in the stained-glass windows in the sanctuary. Moreover, this is why we always sing the angels’ hymn – “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might…” every time we have Communion. All of these things are meant to show our belief that everyone who has gone before us, all the angels and saints, are there with us, with Christ in the center, every time we celebrate Holy Communion. They are there – we just can’t see them. Heaven and earth come together at the table we call the Eucharist. That’s why we call what we do celebrating Holy Communion. Sounds like a pretty good thing to celebrate, too! So, let’s enjoy these weeks of feasting with the Bread of Life, and with those who dine at heaven’s banquet beyond our sight.

Enjoying these weeks of the feast Christ gave us, let us pray for God’s blessing, using these words:

Life-giving God, in the mystery of Christ’s resurrection you send light to conquer darkness, water to give new life, and the bread of life to nourish your people. Send us forth as witnesses to your Son’s resurrection, that we may show your glory to all the world, through Jesus Christ our risen Lord. Amen. [ELW, Prayer after Communion]

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Your fellow member and pilgrim,

Carl P. Rabbe, M.Div.