On Receptionism and Touching the Ground
Saturday, January 12th, 2008I was raised in the era when the Flag touching the ground was an unforgivable sin. My time in the Army reinforced this. When I flew the Flag from the flagpole outside our church the Sunday after 9/11, I was careful not to let it touch the ground.
Among the Greeks and Romans, one of their idols falling over and touching the ground was a big deal, a bad omen, something to be avoided at all costs. Centuries before them, the Philistine’s god, Dagon, was disgraced when the Lord caused that idol to fall “downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord” (I Samuel 5:3
). My favorite apocryphal story about Baby Jesus’ flight to Egypt is that as soon as He crossed into Egypt all the idols crashed to the ground at once. How cool!
But I write not about the Flag touching the ground or false gods touching the ground, I write about the Eucharist, the Holy Communion, touching the ground. (more…)
