Things were different with communion last week! Normally they pass around a tray with little cups full of grape juice followed by a plate with crunchy, unleavened bread.

To save time, someone had a great idea…..wait for it….how about two clear little pew cups? Put juice in the top cup and the little unleavened, wannabe a big Saltine cracker when I grow up, in the bottom cup. Brilliant! Cuts the distribution time in half!

Houston, we have a problem. Mainly, I wasn’t paying attention.

It came time to partake, (partake is a much more spiritual word than drink or eat, yes?) so I chugged (not a spiritual word) the juice in the top cup.  Janet looked at me, started laughing and said in a semi loud whisper, “You did it backwards”.

Confused, I looked at my little communion cup and there were still a couple of drops of juice. I figured she meant I left some, so I took another swig, even stuck my tongue up in it to get the last taste of grape paradise out of the cup.  

It was odd that one of the Elders up front was clearly holding his juice cup. I remember thinking, “Oh no! The poor guy is behind!”

Janet was still amused and elbowed Jessica to take a look. That’s when I realized I drank the juice when I was supposed to have eaten the bread!  Uh oh!!

Is there a rule against that in the Bible? I mean really, in the last supper, what if one of the disciples was communion dyslexic?  Did they get a backwards break?

I don’t think Jesus would’ve gotten upset. I think Jesus would have been patient, kind and said, “Alright, let Me say this again for Bartholomew’s sake. This is time for the bread. Just put your cup down, Bartholomew, until I say when.”

So, I just shrugged like Bartholomew and figured I’d get caught up on the second round.

I looked around to see if anyone else had done that, but there wasn’t anyone else with a piece of bread, just the sneeze size cups of juice.  You never know for sure though. Some Judas could have been in the service and swiped an extra juice and bread cup when the server wasn’t looking!

It would’ve been too obvious to turn around and check out the people’s cup on the rows behind us, but I don’t think anyone else noticed anyways.  If they had in East Texas, some guy would have been staring at my back and like the last supper start asking, “Is it me? Is it me?”

Then the person beside him would answer in a redneck Gomer Pyle voice, “It ain’t you, Bubba! It ain’t you a tall!  It’s that goober in the yella shirt, three rows up, cause when everyone was a eatin’, I heard him slurpin’.  And then when everybody was a drinkin’, I heard him crunchin’!  It’s that moron right yonder in the yella shirt!”

When the time came for everyone to drink the juice, I tossed the little cracker to my molars and ground the daylights out of it.  There! I worshiped too, albeit Bartholomew backwards.  Technically, I might have said “Amen” before “Dear Lord”, but still worshiped.

I looked it up in the Bible thinking maybe everyone else got the order wrong, but sure enough, Matthew 26:26, 27 says they ate FIRST,  then drank.

Well, dad gum it! I did do it backwards, again!  Fits too! Virtually everything in human nature is opposite of God’s nature!

Hear me out…

A guiding principle, one I wish I could always follow, is simple — do the opposite of what “feels right”.  The opposite, the backwards of my human nature is usually the right path.

God says obey His Word; I want my way.  God says forgive; I want revenge.

God says give; I want to keep.  God says confess; I want to cover and hide.  God says guard your tongue; I mumble what I think.

God says be humble; I want to brag.  God says walk by faith; I walk by sight.

God says be a living sacrifice; I wiggle back off the altar.

On and on, human nature is backwards to God’s nature.

At the crossroads, don’t take the road that feels right.  Do it God’s way!  Follow His road signs!  It saves a lot of grief down the road!

Note to self — Bartholojeff, this doesn’t include the Lord’s Supper. Pay attention next time!!