Breaking bread, not tradition
On the first weekend of each New Year, my family gathers, as we have for many years, to celebrate “old,” or in my case, Ukrainian, Christmas. This is a family tradition on my paternal side that was started so many years ago, that it’s beyond my own memory.
My grandfather, Dymetro Shindruk, was born in Austria, and as a young man, a teenager perhaps, lived in the Ukraine. As the Russians invaded the other Slavic countries in the early 1900s, his freedom was paid for by his father by bribing border guards. He made his way to a ship in England, then to Canada.
After so many years, our family history faded and died with him, and my own father, yet we still celebrate. By this, I mean we enjoy a family supper at my mom’s home, on the Sunday closest to Jan. 7 each year, sharing traditional Ukrainian food. We will not exchange gifts, or have the 12 meatless dishes that represent the Apostles, but we will prepare peroghies, cabbage rolls, and borshch, using very ordinary and basic ingredients, guided by original family recipes from my paternal grandparents. This gettogether is part tradition, part time to give thanks as a closely knit family, and it also serves as a celebration and reminder to remain proud of my heritage, and a time of fond remembrance of my father.
As I thought of this, I could not help reflecting on the parallels as we gather to share communion. When Jesus gathered his disciples for what we know as the last supper, they shared food. It also was very ordinary and basic, bread, and drink. In Luke, 22:19 NIV: And He took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them saying “This is My body given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
They would only realize much later just what He was telling them. Whenever we gather to share food, may it be a reminder that this too, is communion. As we speak Jesus’ name in all things, let us be reminded to give thanks for the heritage He has gifted to us, and always be in fond remembrance of the presence and the sacrifice of our Father.