There was a man of color - a brown man with dark hair, dark eyes. I don't have a clear picture of him in my head. He was with several other people of color. I tried to listen to them talking but it was as foreign to me as the lively sound of the Liberian refugee children pouring through the door at our after school program. It seemed that he was talking to me. He was offering me something to eat.
The man whose skin is the color of my brother's gives me bread and wine, tells me that it is his body and blood broken and poured out for the forgiveness of my sins. He says that in offering me this meal he is asking that we be reconciled, brought back together again as God created us to be. He gives me this bread and this wine and asks that all I do is remember him, remember this reconciliation.
So often we come to the Table and accept the meal but deny Christ, that brown man with dark eyes and dark hair, the remembrance of who he was, how he lived, who he loves, and why he died.
Reconciliation ministry is the covenant of communion that we accept week after week. It is who we are. It is the ministry that calls us to remember the relationship of love and forgiveness.
I am grateful for the color of my brother's skin. It reminds me of what a tremendous yet natural offer it is to be reconciled to God and one another. The color of my brother's skin helps me remember that, though I was made in God's image, God is not made in mine.
Please join me this World Communion Sunday, in supporting the Reconciliation Offering.