together at home
a weekly practice of scripture, reflection, questions and prayer
 Gather the cup, the plate and the bowl, and set them before you as you consider the following. If you have any bread or crackers, put them on the plate (and eat them during or after!). Scripture Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him…. As they came near the village to which they were going, Jesus walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. - Luke 24:13-16, 28-35 Reflection There are lots of stories in the Bible that involve eating. It seems like Jesus loved to sit down and have meal with people. In this particular story, two people are experiencing sadness and confusion; their world has been turned upside down. They’re so wrapped up in it that they don’t even realize that it’s Jesus walking beside them. It’s only when they start to eat dinner together with him that the Resurrected Jesus is finally recognized by his fellow travelers. A lot of life happens around the dining table. We reflect on the day; we listen to each others’ stories and feelings; we get to know strangers; and we grow in friendship with others. It’s a place where we gather not only to nourish our bodies, but our own souls and relationships. But during this time of separation, our tables may be emptier than they normally would be. We are perhaps sad and confused, and our worlds have been turned upside down. In the practice of communion, we believe that we are eating a meal together- with the body of Christ both past and present, and with Jesus himself. We believe that when we eat the bread and drink from the cup that Christ makes himself known to us in a special and unique way- that we are nourished both in body and soul. While we are no longer coming together in the same way to worship and to partake of the Lord’s Supper, we can create space for Jesus to walk beside us. We can continue to break bread, and when we eat, remember the One who nourishes us. We can open our eyes to recognize God in even the most ordinary experience of eating so that our hearts may burn and we may come to know Him more deeply. We can allow Jesus to nourish us. Questions/Practices 1. Eat a meal with someone this week. You could have a picnic outside or perhaps a “digital dinner” when you eat with someone while video chatting. Be intentional about the conversation: reflect on the day, listen to each others’ stories and feelings, ask questions, share freely. 2. What does it look like or feel like for Jesus to nourish your soul? Prayer God, You are the One who provides us all that we need. You nourish our bodies as well as our souls. Walk with us and feed us so that we may recognize you at work in the world and participate with you. Activity Suggestions for Young Ones - Coloring page below. - There are two prayers that devout Jews say before eating. They might have even been the same prayers that Jesus said when he blessed the food. Try praying them before a meal and/or memorizing them. Blessed are you, O Lord, our God, Ruler of the universe Who brings forth bread from the earth. Blessed are you, O Lord, our God, Ruler of the universe Creator of the fruit of the vine. - In the video below, you’ll find instructions on how to make the bread made by the Blystras typically used for communion at Maple Ave. Featured Artwork: Communion by Dani Suhy 
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 Gather the cup, the plate and the bowl, and set them before you as you consider the following: Scripture Directed by God, the whole company of Israel moved on by stages from the Wilderness of Sin. They set camp at Rephidim. And there wasn’t a drop of water for the people to drink. The people took Moses to task: “Give us water to drink.” But Moses said, “Why pester me? Why are you testing God?” But the people were thirsty for water there. They complained to Moses, “Why did you take us from Egypt and drag us out here with our children and animals to die of thirst?” Moses cried out in prayer to God, “What can I do with these people? Any minute now they’ll kill me!” God said to Moses, “Go on out ahead of the people taking with you some of the elders of Israel. Take the staff you used to strike the Nile. And go. I’m going to be present before you there on the rock at Horeb. You are to strike the rock. Water will gush out of it and the people will drink.” Moses did what he said, with the elders of Israel right there watching. He named the place Massah (Testing-Place) and Meribah (Quarreling) because of the quarreling of the Israelites and because of their testing of God when they said, “Is God here with us, or not?” - Exodus 17:1-7 Reflection Today we find ourselves in a time like no other in recent history. We are separated from one another, isolated in our homes, distanced from the people and places we love. We are thirsty for life; we are hungry for togetherness. It might be easy for us to ask: “Is God here with us, or not?” As a church, we are experiencing a sense of longing. We are longing to be together, to pass the peace of Christ with our hugs and handshakes. We are longing to worship with each other, to speak face to face, to sing as one voice, to baptize our new babies, and to share the bread and the cup at the Table with one another. We currently find ourselves in the wilderness, and just like the Israelites, we are thirsty. And just as in Exodus, God will provide in our wilderness. Until we can be together again and share from the abundance of the Table with Christ and with one another, God will somehow find a way to bring forth water from a rock to nourish us. Questions 1. What do you find yourself longing for? What would it look like for you to be “nourished”? 2. Have you ever felt like asking the question: “Is God here with us, or not?” Prayer God, You make a way when there is no way. You provide water in the wilderness, nourishment when we need it because You are the Living Water and the Bread of Life. Amen. Activity Suggestions for Young Ones - Coloring page below - Paint rocks and place them on a shelf or in a garden so that you can see them and remember them as a symbol that God shows up for us. - Fill a glass with water and with each sip say a prayer telling God about something you miss or long for (example: sip- “God, I miss seeing my grandparents.” sip- “God, I really wish I could be at school.”) Featured Artwork: Promises from At God’s Table/En La Mesa de Dios by Joel Schoon Tanis 
 Gather the cup, the plate and the bowl that were set aside last week
and set them before you as you consider the following: Scripture I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. - Genesis 17:7 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. -John 1:12-13 Jesus got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” - John 13:4-9 Reflection Washing in the waters of baptism is a sign of God claiming us as God’s people. It marks us as members of the covenant community, the Church. Baptism continually points us to God’s love and grace through the simple, everyday element of water. Washing, and particularly washing our hands, has perhaps become a reminder of the current social distancing protocols. There are advertisements everywhere encouraging us to wash our hands, from commercials to billboards to songs on Sesame Street, and in so doing, reminding us of the distance that separates us. All for our own health and the common good. The washing of baptism has a different approach: we are taken in as children of God, and united with Christ and with others through the waters of baptism. By washing in the baptismal waters, we- with our brothers and sisters in Christ- are claimed as offspring in God’s covenant with Abraham; we are given power to become children of God; and together we share in the life of Jesus. Though we are currently scattered and separated from one another physically, we are gathered together as family in Christ, and claimed together with an inseparable bond by the Spirit, all through the waters of baptism. Instructions & Questions Fill the bowl with water. Dip your hands in the water, and let it run through your fingers. 1. Do you remember your own baptism or have you witnessed another’s? What do you remember about it? 2. What does it mean to you to be “a child of God” and to be connected, through baptism, to brothers and sisters in Christ, the other “children of God”? Prayer God, we give you thanks for the gift of water that washes and cleanses us. We give you thanks for the gift of baptism that washes and gathers us closer to You and to our siblings in Christ. Amen. Featured Artwork: Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet by the Mafa Christian Communities in Cameroon in the 1970s  Gather the cup, the plate and the bowl that were set aside last week
and set them before you as you consider the following: Scripture Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look ash this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” - Exodus 3:1-5 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people. - 1 Peter 2:9-10 Reflection Holy. The author, Frederick Buechner, wrote that “Only God is holy, just as only people are human. God’s holiness is God’s Godness. To speak of anything else as holy is to say that it has something of God’s mark upon it. Times, places, things, and people can all be holy, and when they are, they are usually not hard to recognize.” To be holy means “to be set apart.” It’s the ordinary dirt on the ground in front of Moses, the ordinary group of people named in 1 Peter that are set apart for God and God’s purposes. At the Lord’s Table, an ordinary plate of bread and cup of juice are somehow holy, a meal set apart for God and God’s purposes. At the baptismal font, the ordinary bowl of water is somehow holy, a washing set apart for God and God’s purposes. And we, those of us who love to come to the Table and who have washed in the Font, we are also called holy. We have “something of God’s mark upon” us. We are people who are set apart by God and for God because of God’s great love for us. Questions 1. What are holy places, spaces, moments that you’ve experienced or encountered? 2. How might we, as the church, live into our call to be a holy people? How might you live in a way that is set apart for God and God’s purposes? Prayer God, You are holy, set apart and like no other. Thank you for your holy love and the holy gifts of communion and baptism. Help us to live holy lives set apart for You and Your purposes. Amen. Featured Artwork: Fruits of the Spirit by John Stushie  Scripture
Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” - Luke 22:19-20 Then Ananias said to Paul, ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear his voice; for you will be his witness to all the world of what you have seen and heard. And now why do you delay? Get up, be baptized, and have your sins washed away, calling on his name.’ - Acts 22:12-16 Reflection In our church tradition and as part of our faith, we practice two sacraments: communion and baptism. These sacraments are physical, tangible ways that we remember and put into practice the covenant God made to us as God’s people. We get to taste, smell, and touch the grace of God in the ordinary, everyday elements of the bread and juice of communion, and the waters of baptism. During this time when we are separated, we are unable to come to the Table or to the Font with one another. However, as we continue on the journey of faith together (always together), we would like to invite you into a weekly practice of meditating on scripture, engaging questions, and praying- all while pondering and wondering about communion and baptism and our life together as the MAMily. And we look forward with great hope to the day when we will able to reunited in physical space and come to the Table and the Font to celebrate God’s grace and love in the bread, the cup and the waters. Instructions & Questions Gather a cup, a plate and a bowl to set aside. We will use these ordinary, everyday items in our weekly practice- the cup and plate to symbolize communion, and the bowl to remind us of baptism. Put them in a place that is set apart but still visible, and bring them out each week when you participate in this practice. Question to consider: When you think about communion and baptism, what comes to mind? What words, stories, tastes, smells, sounds, etc.? Prayer God, we look forward to the day when we are back together with the people we love in the places we love. Until then, help us to grow in faith and hope, and love for You and for one another. Amen. Featured artwork: Broken for You by Joel Schoon-Tanis |
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