A Communion Story
by Ron Soleta
When I was in the Army in Vietnam I was in the infantry. We had a compound and there was a church on the compound. There was an Army Chaplain assigned to our Battalion. As it was back then Army Chaplains would come and go just like anyone else.
There was one Chaplain that did more than preach on Sunday and visit the sick and wounded. This Chaplain would go out in the field and have worship services and communion in the field. This may sound very heroic of him and it was in a way.
Most memorable was once when we were guarding a bridge. Chaplains would go out in the field to mostly secured areas where we had lots of firepower and protection. One Sunday the Chaplain came out to the Bridge that we were guarding and he wanted to have a worship service and communion. I thought that he might need a little help letting people know that the Chaplain was at the bridge so I went around and announced that there would be a worship service in a few minutes and that there would be communion. Out of the 100 or so people guarding the bridge 10 showed up. We listened to the Chaplain and we had communion. It was an uplifting event in a place far away from any type of civilization.
During Lent 2011, we are encouraging the St. Philip the Deacon community to reflect on the Sacrament of Holy Communion — recalling early memories, describing memorable celebrations of Communion, or reflecting on how Communion informs daily life. This post is part of that series. We invite your reflections about Communion, as well. If you would like to submit something for this series, please send it to Pastor Cheryl Mathison at cmathison@spdlc.org.
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