My story (part VII)

One sunny April afternoon I was cleaning out the kitchen cabinets. It was the end of Lent and this was on my list of Lenten things to do. Spring cleaning. Amazingly the house was quiet. Mace was sleeping and the other three were playing outside. Since it was Lent I got the idea that I should use my quiet time to do something spiritual.  Hmm.

I know, I can listen to something on youTube while I clean. Hmm? What should I listen to? Yes, I know. Something about the Eucharist. So I opened up the iPad, opened youTube, and typed in "Eucharist."

I scanned the list of videos. One immediately caught my eye.

"Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist"

Perfect!! The video was 1 hour and 12 minutes long.

I started cleaning again and listening. I became completely absorbed. By 54 minutes, I exclaimed in my mind "I got it!  I got it! I got it!  This is it! If Christianity is true, than THIS is it!"  I even emailed Doug "I got it!" He had no idea what I was talking about.

So why did I find this video so intriguing? Why did it seal the deal for me?

Well, I think because it connected ALL the dots for me. Reading the early church fathers was good and helpful. The early church fathers wrote in the first few centuries AD, the beginning of Christianity, but that was not the very beginning of our faith, was it?  Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created."  God was there in the beginning. I needed the start at the beginning of HIStory.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God." (John 1:1-2)

The Word? The word? The gospel of John begins so beautifully, so mysteriously. Why is the Word capitalized? Because John refers to a person. Jesus.

Jesus was in the beginning with God the Father. The story of Jesus starts at the creation of the world. In fact, John says in that first chapter that is was the Word (Jesus) that created the world. After God creates the universe, the earth, all the plants and animals, he creates man. Man and woman. Thus begins the story of mankind. Mankind and his interaction with God.

After we read about the creation of the world in Genesis we then meet the first cast members of this epic story. Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, and their descendants. By chapter five we are meeting Noah and his family. We all know what happens in chapter 8: the flood. Chapter nine opens with God making a covenant with Noah. AAaahh, covenant. Covenant is a very, very big important word in this story of God and mankind. Bigger than I'll ever be able to justice to but I'll just say in Ruthie-language (God help me if I mess this up), covenant is where God invites mankind into relationship with Him. The relationship is sealed in Genesis. After Noah we meet Abram who later becomes Abraham through yet another important covenant. When God makes this covenant with Abraham, he establishes the Jewish nation. God's people. Then we meet Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob's twelve sons. Then we've got Joseph, the brother sold to slave traders and brought to Egypt. He stays in Egypt. His brothers and their families eventually move there as well and you've got the Hebrew people in Egypt for a very long time.

The book of Exodus begins the Hebrews in bondage in Egypt and Moses is born. So where does "my story" fit in? Why this rabbit trail? Because I'm a lifelong Christian. Christians are all part of one giant family who tells the family story over and over and over again. I've heard these stories and I've told these stories many, many times. They are knitted into the fabric of my very being. So as I search for truth in Christianity, it clicks for me in my head, in my heart, and my soul when I see the pieces of the story reflected back to me from the very beginning. When I see the thread of Jesus connected from what I see in the church today all the way to the beginning of time, it all clicks and my heart cries out in joy.

And THAT is what I saw in the video. I see God's love and long-term plan for humanity way back in Exodus. This discussion on the Jewish roots of the Eucharist begins in Exodus chapter 12.

I'm going to write about the video in the next post. I have no idea if anyone out there is even reading my ramblings and finds them mildly interesting but it feels to good to write it out even if just for my own records. It's a digital scrapbook here.