A few weeks ago I had the privilege of being in worship with the CBF of Oklahoma at Spring Creek Baptist Church, a church I love. Their remarkable pastor, Preston Clegg, invited us to the table with these words. I thought you would like them as much as I did.

                Communion around Spring Creek is always a special time for me.  It’s special because of the event itself, but it’s also meaningful because of where the bread is purchased.  We purchase our communion bread from a baker in downtown Oklahoma City.  It’s just a small bakery shop with one employee and a million fragrances.  I enjoy chatting with the baker every month when I visit the shop.  I always learn something from him, and I love to watch him make the bread.  He makes it right there in front of you.  It’s always fresh.  Every month he takes me back to a small room in the back of the bakery.  A table stands in the center of the room, and jars of flour line the shelves around the walls of the room.  The jars have labels on the front of them.  One label reads Leavened while another says Unleavened. One jar says Wheat while another reads Rye.  Jars like this surround the room. 

                This week I walked into the bakery, and he greeted me with a smile.  “Let me guess, communion time at Spring Creek,” he said.  “Well, sort of,” I replied.  I told him about this gathering.  “We are hosting a meeting of Oklahoma Baptists.”  He said, “You mean, I am feeding all the Baptists in the state of Oklahoma!!!”  I replied, “No, not all of them; just the best of them.”

                So I tried to explain this group to him.  I told him about CBF churches in Oklahoma, and what they stood for.  I told him about our missions and ministries.  He listened intently at first, and then he began to walk around the room.  He pulled a cup of flour from this jar, and a cup of flour from that jar.  He walked over to a couple of jars in the corner.  One said Young, and another said Old.  He took a cup from each and spread it over the table.

 “Can you get both of those in one loaf,” I asked. 

“Don’t worry,” he replied.

He drew a cup from a jar labeled Rich and one labeled Poor. 

                “Are you sure about this?”

                He looked me square in the eyes and said, “Yes, this is good news for ALL the people.”

                He took a cup from a jar labeled Liberal and a jar labeled Conservative. 

                “Two entirely different outlooks,” I said.

                “But it’s the same love isn’t it?  It’s the same love.”

                Then he began to walk around the room and take flour from jars that came from all over the world.  He took a cup from the Hispanic jar and the Anglo jar (cup for Oklahoma, North Carolina, and Texas).  He took a cup from a jar labeled India and one from Kenya.

                “All that in one loaf?”

                “It’s one Kingdom.  It’s ONE Kingdom.”

                Finally, he took a cup from a jar labeled Democrat and another labeled Republican.

                I said, “My gosh, that has to be two separate loaves right there.  You can’t get both of those in one loaf.”

                He smiled and said, “I thought you had a higher calling and a different mission altogether.”

                I knew he was right.

                He took all that flour and kneaded the dough, and he was able to get all that in one loaf.  He handed the bread to me.  Now I could be wrong about this.  I am not sure about it.  But when he handed the bread to me, I could have sworn there were holes in his hands.

                “I don’t know how you did this.  This really is a miracle.”

                He said, “That’s what I do.”

                “Yes, that’s what you do.”

 Now, would you join me as we each partake from one loaf of bread, and drink from one cup- and allow this miracle inside us all.

Thanks, Preston.