Today we closed the church building where my dad attended growing up and where I visited throughout my childhood on summer Sundays at my grandparents’.  They are buried in the cemetery out back now, along with two sets of my great-grandparents.  It was bittersweet to worship at Rocky Run UMC one last time with second cousins and longtime country neighbors, helping celebrate Communion in one of the places that helped form me as a person and a pastor.

For years now, whenever I serve small children during Communion, I offer them the elements by saying, “This means God loves you very much.”  I can’t claim credit for this idea since I copied it from my colleague Alex.  But I love its simple restating of the point of the Eucharist and what all those other words mean.  Boiled down and essential good news:  God loves you very much.

Today, during the last Communion we’ll share in that place, a small blond boy of about 5 came up.  I offered him the bread and the simple words.  He took them and took a step towards the other minister, who was holding the cup.  Then he did a double-take.  He looked back at me as if the words had sunk in and he realized after a beat what they meant.  He was radiant, with a smile of surprise and delight on his open face.

Yes!  That is good news.  Yes!  It is for you, little one.  Yes!  Even on a day when the doors will close and lock behind us, this is still God’s Word for you. Yes, yes, yes!