St. Clare’s Episcopal Church

 

On Saturday (8/8/09) we had a feast here at St. Clare’s Episcopal Church – or really we had several feasts.

 

We celebrated the Feast of St. Clare, our patron saint, and learned a little more about her life and witness.  We wanted to draw inspiration from her life of loving God and those around her.  She gave up her wealthy life to live poor in things, but rich in God’s love.  She dedicated herself to acts of mercy done on behalf of the poorest, most neglected, most outcast people of her time.  This is who we want to be – a people who serve others.  We celebrated her feast and feasted on her example.

 

We celebrated a feast in Holy Communion, or what Episcopalians often call Holy Eucharist.  The physical parts of this particular feast are not lavish – a bit of honey/molasses, fresh-baked bread and a swallow of ruby port wine, but as a thanksgiving to God in remembrance of all He has done for us, it truly is a feast for the soul.  We gather strength and sustenance from this meal – remembering Christ’s sacrifice that we might be freed from sin and taking Jesus into our very bodies in the form of bread and wine.  This is to strengthen us to go out and be a people who serve others.

 

We celebrated a feast of love and fellowship as we took the time to really see one another – our fellow worshippers around Christ’s table.  This feast of fellowship continued in an Italian-themed potluck dinner in honor of our Italian saint, Clare of Assisi.  We laughed and listened.  We took in the closeness of sharing food with people all around us.  Don’t overlook the importance of sharing food with one another.  Just take a look at how often Jesus is shown sharing a meal with those He came to serve – especially in Luke.  Good thing He spent so much time “Power walking” all over the Holy Land!

 

And of course there was the feast of the food itself – sumptuous lasagna, artichoke dip, fresh mozzarella and tomatoes, crispy salad, sourdough garlic bread, and tiramisu mousse spread on wheat crackers….the list goes on.

 

But as good as the food was, it was those first three feasts I described that fed me on Saturday.  Won’t you come and join us in this joyous feast?