Chocolate and Wine and Redemption

So, my faith community isn't exactly normal. We do things like share our budget, give 5% of our income, eat weekly meals together, host art shows, go on silent hikes, pay rent for people when it gets too hard, and all kinds of other crazy things. However, one rather normal thing we do together is share the Eucharist. I mean if you are not part of a Jewish or Christian faith community dipping bread (or for me some other non-gluten thing) into wine might seem odd, but for most people with a Judeo-Christian background the bread and wine (juice if you are Baptist) is standard enough. Nonetheless, leave it to me to make it a bit different.

Tonight standing at Whole Foods gathering supplies for my salad contribution to the pot luck and grabbing the bread and wine for the Eucharist I had a random memory of a time I had chocolate instead of bread for the Lord's Super, and I loved it. There was something poetic about bitter sweet dark chocolate representing the gift of Jesus surrendering his life. It is decadent and celebratory - we were passed over, we were spared, the gift was given and we are to celebrate and remember the gift. Still, it isn't just sweet, it is challenging, and bitter, it is life and death. It is the gift of God and we have been reminded to taste and see that the Lord is good.

The memory sparked action and I grabbed a bar of fair trade dark chocolate to go with the red wine, and we shared it together tonight to celebrate redemption.