Does the Bible really reflect whats going on in the world?
As a priest, Ive celebrated the Eucharist most Sunday mornings of my adult life. Sometimes people ask if it gets boring to repeat the same words and actions week after week: Take, eat, this is my Body, which is given for you  But I can honestly answer that every single time is a humbling and profound experience. I stand at the altar dressed in robes patterned on ancient fashion, facing silver vessels that contain simple elements of bread and wine. Beyond them is the real treasure: Gods people, who have assembled in our churchs historic building for a chance to commune with something larger than themselves. If you train your minds eye just right, you can see the burdens and hopes they bring to the feast; its the job of the priest to make the words of the prayer on the page their words. Surrounded by all this holiness, theres no way but for the bread and wine to be transformed into something beyond themselves, becoming objects of our purest desires. Even toddlers invariably stretch out with chubby little knuckles in anticipation of receiving the bread. For just a moment, we are all transported to a place that looks and feels less like our broken world and more like a people at peace with ourselves and our neighbors  the heavenly banquet that Jesus preached about.