Recently, I heard a story of a mom who has a red plate that says, “It’s Your Special Day.” On special occasions such as birthdays, promotions, first day of school, etc, this plate is used for this very special person’s meal. After every special occasion, the mom writes on the back of the plate with a permanent marker the occasion and a personal note. There were several years of memories already dedicated on the back of this very special plate. The kids felt so special getting to eat off of it and the mother probably felt so much pride to be reminded of all the memories when using “The Plate.” Pretty Sweet, right? What a great idea. After one of the children’s birthdays, this special plate was sitting dirty in the sink with the other dinner dishes. The husband, being the very thoughtful guy that he is, decided to load the dishwasher with those dirty dishes and wash them. I can just imagine the scene in my head – a husband so proud of himself for helping his wife out, patting himself on the back for all the points that he was scoring for doing such a great act of service for his wife. The next thing that this mom realizes is that this special plate is spotless – of all the food and all of the written memories. I guess permanent marker isn’t always so permanent because the dishwasher washed it all away. Can you guess the shock and horror as the mom stares at her plate. All the work gone, she could never redo the moments in the same way again and the poor husband’s points washed down the drain with all of those memories. If I understand most men, he will probably never wash another dish again. The truth is that this woman really didn’t wash memories down the drain, in fact, she will think of them and her husband every meal that she uses this plate.
There is meal for Christians that is supposed to be filled with memories as well. Jesus asks us to remember him at communion time. In the Bible, this time is also called the Lord’s Supper. When I was a little girl, the men would march down the aisles of church at communion time. They would gather around the table and pray, serve each other communion and then pass the plates to everyone. I remember it being all really solemn and quiet. During this time I would just stare at the communion table and look at the carvings on the table. I longed to run my fingers in those carvings. As I grew older, I realized that those carvings said, “This Do In Remembrance Of Me.” I didn’t get it then and even now the importance of those words can be forgotten in this hectic life.
I Corinthians 11:23-26 says, “For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you: do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after supper he took the cup saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”
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