I just knew it

I’ve been going to church, a Baptist church, my whole life.  I don’t know when this strange thought first crossed my mind, but now I think about it whenever my church has communion.  

Unlike some denominations, that have the congregation move in rows up to the minister and he or she puts the communion wafer on your tongue and gives a sip of wine or juice, the Baptists bring both parts to you. 

When you’re a young boy who is still not ready to partake in communion, but who wants to very badly, the idea of having crackers and juice in church is more than a little appealing.  While I couldn’t have them, I always wanted to make sure I got to at least touch the communion trays as they were being passed down the pew.  

I remember as a young boy at First Baptist Church of El Paso Texas how massive the communion trays seemed.  Well, not so much for the first tray that held the tiny communion wafers (the body of Christ), but second tray that held the small cups of juice (the blood of Christ) was big and heavy and I was not allowed to hold them as they passed.  

Maybe it was because of how small I was.  Maybe it was how big they were.  Maybe it was the fact that accidents involving beverages were all too common around my house.  Who knows?  

Whatever the reason, somewhere back in my early childhood the idea of someone dropping that communion tray full of tiny glasses of juice seemed like the worst spill accident I could ever imagine.  

I know it must have happened somewhere to someone.  I mean, in the history of the Baptist's “take it to the masses” style of communion, you would think that at least one of these trays must have hit the floor…right? 

I’ve asked many people, but to date none have ever witnessed such a disaster.  In college, I even asked about 80 people in a Sunday School class, but nothing.  I mean nobody had even seen one glass of juice fall to the floor, much less the whole tray.  

Today, at Wilshire Baptist Church, all that changed. 

We were sitting about five pews from the back and I had just taken the juice tray from my daughter, gotten my cup and passed it to the usher, (being quite thankful that I hadn’t dropped it of course) when somewhere behind me the sound of a tiny cup bouncing on the tile floor caused me to whip my head around.  

I couldn’t see the actual cup and I couldn’t really tell which person dropped it, but it hit the floor all the same.  I must admit I was a bit relieved to see that no small kids were sitting on that pew.  Because of course they would have been blamed. 

I turned back around and tried to refocus my mind on the real reason for communion.  But I couldn’t get the thought of that falling glass out of my mind.  

I was somewhat amazed and quite pleased at how little attention this falling glass had received.  Melissa and Macy didn’t even know it had happened.  I dare say only a handful of people even new anything was wrong.  

I knew that kind of thing had to happen. 

 

I just knew it!