Did you say Euchre-ist?

Uhhhhhh no. That would be one who excels in the wildly popular card game of the Midwest.

Well, it is just about midnight. I sit here in my orange chair (yes, the one Christine thinks is going to the 3rd floor) laptop ready, IPA in reach, with my notes from the conference I attended today at Mars Hill Bible Church. It is a conference celebrating the local church, cleverly titled "Isn't she beautiful?"

What I was referring to was the Eucharist. In it's roots it means thanksgiving...thankfulness...and the like. It is the word used by some churches to describe the sacramental ritual of The Lord's Supper or Communion. Today, Rob used it as a paradigm for leaders (and you could argue all followers of Jesus) to makes sense out of that feeling of being tired in the bones from giving ourselves away. Here's how the picture works out...

When we give ourselves away we are, like Jesus, being given over to death so that others will have life (2 Cor 4). Our bodies are broken when we meet with the couple who is thinking of calling it quits after 12 years of marriage. Our blood is spilled out when we drop everything and go to the hospital to sit with the family who has just lost their teenage son to a drug overdose. Over and over chunks of our soul are ripped away. We are this eucharist for our families, for our churches, for our neighbors, for our co-workers. We exist, as followers of this Jesus, to incarnate the breaking of the body and the spilling of the blood...do this in remembrance of me. Seems like somebody said that once??

And it is good to be broken and to bleed.

very good.

But we have to be put back together again. We, like Jesus, need to get in the boat. We need to go to sleep. We need to escape to quiet places and be replenished. We cannot give 110% . I've heard that said before. We have to give more than we are capable of giving? I don't believe that. We give ourselves over to death, but we have to be refilled with life. Which leads me back to being thankful.

Who and what and where am I put back together again?

My wife...coffee and reading (which turns into coffee and talking).
The great folks in my house church
Late nights at Founders. It seems counter-intuitive, but the conversations fill me
A two hour conversation that "goes there" the first time we meet (thx MLaw)
Nights on the patio with the Howell's
Reading a great book
Coffee or other beverages with Leddy or Nelly
4 hours at the Kava House with you and you and you (you know who you are)
A 10 pm soccer match--but only when we win (which finally happened tonight!)
Holla.
The list could go on...

To the people in my life who put me back together, Thank You. I need to tell you that more often. And in person. I will try.

So, what about the rest of you? When do you find yourself living out a Eucharistic Lifestyle? What breaks you and causes you to bleed? And what puts you back together again?