Fresh look on the Santa Cena

Santa Cena = Communion

And prepare yourself now for a Spanglish post. (you can use Google Translator)

Every beginning of the month, our church celebrates Communion. After the two sections of music, three sections of prayer interspersed, and the predica, we arrive to a moment of sharing the bread and the wine.

I was thinking about Bethlehem esta vez. We are studying Ruth in the youth group on Saturday evenings, and we took time the first week to look at the significance of each name. Ruth, and this surprised me, means "Faithful companion." How perfect is that, considering that she stays with Naomi even though there is no promise for a future for her (see Ruth 1:11-13 and Luke 14:25-27)? We find that Naomi means "pleasant", but she changes her name to Mara, "bitterness", because she feels her whole life is no longer destined to be sweet and pleasant, but full of amargura. The list goes on.

Up to Bethlehem, the place that Naomi and Elimelech left in order to live in Moab. The place Ruth and Naomi would return after the LORD provided food again. What does Bethlehem mean in the original Hebrew?

House of bread.

From this small town of Bethlehem, a place from which people thought no one important could come, comes the Bread of Life.

Jesus said to them, "Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." John 6:32-33

And then Jesus breaks the bread and says, "Eat this in remembrance of me."

What's crazy about this is he's changing the meaning of the Passover meal that they are celebrating. What was meant for a celebration of escaping Egypt -- REMEMBERING all that God had done in setting them free -- would now be a celebration of the death of Jesus. His blood spilt for us, setting us free from sin and death.

Speaking of the blood..

In Latin America, they are not afraid to use wine for the blood of Christ. And in Argentina, a true wine country (Malbec, anybody?), it is GOOD stuff. Sarah and I used to joke about how for the Santa Cena we ought to skip the blood simply because we would be thinking so much about the flavor than what it stood for.

But this night, I decided that it would be worth it to take in the rich flavor of el vino. As the flavor enveloped the cavity of my mouth I meditated on what it means to be filled by the Holy Spirit. And how with this sabor, all of life is changed.

All of life is richer. Much, much better.

Preciosa sangre, que mi vida cambió,

Mis pecados mis culpas lavó,

A quedado atrás el pasado sin Dios.

Fue en esa cruz, donde la historia cambió

Donde mi vida tomó otro sentido,

Donde encontré la razón de vivir.

Indeed, it makes my heart sing.

Chau!