This was originally posted on October 14, 2016:
It has been an occasional eucharistic practice at St. James to spread quilts around the communion railing. These quilts of many colors are the loving handiwork of a group of dedicated quilters who come together once a month. As a group, they have been doing this for the last forty plus years (they don't remember when it 'officially' started, but it is the longest running outreach ministry of the parish without a close second). With experienced fingers, the quilters have been joining bits and pieces of fabric together and tying them with yarn. No one seems to know how many such quilts the group has made. Counting hasn't been a priority; the whole ministry is not about accumulating good works or accomplishing goals. Still, the magnitude of their labor is astonishing. Do the math: each month for about four decades they have been crafting between thirty and forty quilts. Amazing!
Where do the quilts go? Over the years they have been distributed through a variety of partners. They have gone to refugees through Lutheran World Relief. More recently, they are passed out to the homeless on the streets of the Twin Cities through a grassroots effort. They have also been used at a local nursing home to wrap the body of deceased residents as they leave their home with dignity and love through the front door.
Back to the Eucharistic practice of placing these quilts around the Table so that folks can kneel upon them when they participate in the meal; why would we do such a thing?
For one, the colors and patterns of the quilts bring a sense of eclectic joy to our Eucharistic celebration. These splashes of clashing colors have a disorienting effect as well. The quilts both 'go with' and 'stand apart' from the carefully draped and coordinated liturgical paraments. The intrusion of "color wheel chaos" challenges aesthetic purity and cohesion. Though interior decorators might cringe, I welcome this disruption as it helps to keep the space of sanctuary connected to the spaces outside where we live our lives amidst joy and chaos.
In a dramatic way, the quilts also bring the harsh reality of need outside the walls to the very center of our worshiping space. We announce that these quilts (including the ones with children's patterns) will be going to those who are without shelter. On cold Minnesota Sundays, the quilts face us with a reality often overlooked in the warmth of suburbia's dwellings. We gather for Eucharist - to be fed with God's goodness - while others remain hungry and cold.
I ask that when folks come to the Table to receive communion and kneel on the quilts that they say a prayer for those who will be receiving these gifts of warmth and care. Of course, I don't know if people do this... I hope that some participate in this prayer practice. Prayer has a way of opening our hearts to both God's presence but also to our place in this world and the need of others. If we remain hidden in the false securities of our suburban constructed reality, we will not be moved to respond to the needs of those beyond. Our discipleship will lack a tangible outreach. On the other hand, when we prayerfully have the courage to move beyond ourselves, we enter a different reality. When we head in the direction of outreach, there is the potential of participating in the work that God is doing to bring about the Kingdom/Reign that Jesus inaugurated in his life, ministry, and meal practices.
For me, the quilts of many colors help to shape eucharistic practice in a way that has the potential of opening a space for a faithful response. It helps to 'set the Table' for a liminal encounter between the ones who receive Christ's life in bread and wine into their bodies and the broken body of Christ that is found around the table and into the world. Needs, cares, and broken realities fill this broken body of Christ. What the Spirit will do in this brief encounter remains to be seen. It is my expectant hope, however, that the living nature of the eucharistic celebration is one that will ultimately not disappoint. Restoration, re-formation, renewal, reorientation - these are all very real possibilities and realities where the bread is broken, and the wine is poured in the name of Jesus.