redeemed . . . how i love to proclaim it!

Not long ago I found a very tired looking Chalice for auction on eBay.  I submitted my bid and won the auction.  It was unusable; tarnished and corroded.  I went to work cleaning it and after several hours of scrubbing I gave up. 

I found myself wondering about its story:  Why had this chalice fallen out of use?  What happened to the church that had used it?   Did the church disband or split?  Did the church get a newer and better chalice?  Or did they decide to make the move to individual plastic communion cups? 

Since I couldn’t get it clean on my own, I brought the chalice and silver cleaner to our Christ-common’s next meal (our gathering when we remember/enact/enter Christ’s body broken and Christ’s blood spilled).  I invited Dan to put some of his elbow grease into redeeming the chalice and to pass on to someone else when he felt ready.  Over the next few hours as we ate and talked and played, everyone helped clean.  By the end of our time the once tarnished Chalice had been restored by the by very people whose lips will touch its rim for years to come. 

That night, after polishing it, we washed it, we filled it with the fruit of the vine and as we passed it around we were reminded of the beauty of redemption.  What was filthy and unusable now reflected the sun. 

One thing that surprised us all was that by the time we had finished drinking from it, the chalice was in need of cleaning again.  Our fingerprints marred its sheen, and wine left its stain inside.  The chalice would need to be polished once more; cleaned to be used to remind us of Christ and his life/death, and in the process of being used will be dirtied again, and will need to be cleaned to remind us of Christ and his life/death, and in the process . . . .

I love the fact that this chalice which our Christ-commons is using, has been kissed by the lips of untold numbers of brothers and sisters in Christ who have gone before us; our stories unite in and through Christ. 

Theologically, I thrill to see those things which look like trash or seem dispensable or unnecessary and redeemed.

Cheers, dwight