January 26, 2010

Day 25

Weight: 198 lbs

Weight lost: -8 lbs

Surprised this morning… Down two more pounds! Okay, I’ll take it. And I even had seconds on stir fry and rice for dinner last night…

Communion is remarkable, if you really think about it. Often in our church experience with Eucharist we see it as a kind of religious ritual. But when Jesus initiated this experience it was a REAL meal. It began at his last Passover celebration and the elements of bread and wine were part of that meal, left over even and there on the table. He took them and gave them new significance. Then in the first century, in the earliest churches, Communion was celebrated as part of what the first believers called “love feasts.” They are meals together and in the process took wine and bread from the table and “remembered” Jesus.

There’s something very intimate and powerful about eating together. As my wife Jill says, it’s pretty hard to feel like a stranger to someone who’s chewing their food at your dinner table. Jesus made Communion a meal because it’s really about intimacy and relationships – with him and with others who have relationship with him. For this reason Communion is a shared me, with others. Whenever possible, I’m sharing my daily Eucharist experience with at least one other person. I think this is how Jesus intended it. And in the process I think I’m getting closer to him and to the significant people in my life…

“The Eucharist Diet” adventure is my six month experiment taking daily communion and tracking and posting the results in my personal life, relationships, health, and body fat percentage.