Thanksgiving morning I sat down at my dining room table to have my hot bowl of oatmeal with butter. I do this is after waking up in my warm, cozy house and enjoying a hot cup of coffee while reading my bible. As usual, I read an article from a Christian magazine with my hot oats. The article I read was by Richard Wurmbrand. It was a memoir of sorts, really, an exhortation. He wrote about being imprisoned in Communist Romania after WW II…be a Berean and google him.
He spoke of years passing in prison, how nobody ever smiled, helped him or spoke nice words. He spoke of being very hungry for food, for love, the printed page, for the face of a human, and hungry for one more thing – Holy Communion.
He wondered how as a group, he and other imprisoned Christians could take Holy Communion. They were isolated, alone in their cells, and couldn’t gather in fellowship. They received one slice of bread a week. Wine, in a subterranean, Communist prison cell? We had no bible and no hymn book. We had nothing…we realized that we had something after all, something called “nothing”.
The Communists had taken our families, houses, libraries and churches. They had taken our clothing. They had even taken away our names and given us a number. We had nothing, so in this half dark prison cell we began to think about the value of “nothing”.
They began to reason about the bread of communion. Bread is made with flour, and flour is made from wheat. Out of what is wheat made? God made it out of nothing. Wine is made from grape juice, grape juice is made from grapes, and grapes grow on vines. God has made the vines out of nothing. So “nothing” is a very valuable material.
On a Sunday morning, we decided to take Holy Communion with nothing. At a certain moment, we gave a signal through the wall from one end of the corridor to the other. And at the same moment, we took nothing in our hands, and we thanked God for it. We ate nothing and remembered the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was broken for us.
He closed his article this way…we can learn from persecuted Christians who must do otherwise in special circumstances. We should learn from them the value of “nothing”. I believe the persecuted Christians can help us much more than we can help them. We can help them with a few coins or big checks. They can help us with something more than that: They can help us realize the value of “nothing,” the detachment from things of this world and attachment to our heavenly bridegroom.
Four days ago, I’m sure that many Christians were truly thankful, grateful, understanding much. I am also just as sure that most people, believer and unbeliever, simply took part in an annual ritual. We can learn much from persecuted Christians, from missionaries serving around the world. They can help us realize the value of “nothing”.
“Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.” Ps 26.2 …just a thought