The Fly in the Communion Juice

We had Holy Communion at church yesterday, which I love. We usually have the one large chalice and serve from one loaf and have people take communion by intinction (dipping the bread into the juice and taking both elements together.) However, yesterday we had the little chunks of bread and the little cups with grape juice for people to come forward and take from us, and then proceed to take it and pray at the chancel railings. As I was holding the tray with the little cups, I looked down while people were coming forward, and I saw a HUGE fly floating in one of the cups! I took a moment to take that cup out and set it aside, but in the midst of all this, I kept thinking laughingly to myself, what kind of theology would this be?! A fly floating in the communion elements?

It was then that I decided that this dead fly represented the humanness of it all. That these elements of bread and juice are blessed, but we are also only human, and in our world, there is so much "mess." This reminded me that while we take communion to take part in the grace that God offers us, that there is still so much to be done with our time on this earth, so much "mess" to clean up, so much darkness that needs to be illuminated by sharing in the light of Christ. Or maybe that fly was really thirsty and thought it would be a good idea to get himself in one of those cups...do flies need Jesus, too? :)

Either way, it made for an interesting morning!