Shaken, not stirred
July 19th, 2026 – Communion Meditation
While the vast majority of plane flights we’ve taken have been largely and thankfully uneventful, some have taken us through stormy or unpredictable air. Occasionally that results in the plane being shaken. When the shaking is prolonged or especially intense and overhead luggage compartments start popping open, nervous travelers peer out at the engines and wings to check how they’re holding together. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve felt both shaken and stirred during a rough flight. Last week on my return from Maine, although I couldn’t avoid being physically shaken during the turbulence, I experienced the grace of not being stirred. Thank you, God!
Life is about connection and community. Life involves purpose and growth. Life is filled with simple joys. Life also necessarily includes the daily grind. Life can be rich and rewarding. Life can also be stressful and unpredictable. When we consider life circumstances that shake us up, we can remember that we do not have to allow those to stir us up. Whatever happens, God loves us with an everlasting love. The death of a loved one, a job loss, an unexpected or chronic diagnosis, a personal or family emergency, a local or national or global crisis, a geographic displacement, or even a radical habit change … each of these can leave us feeling shaken, whether they happen to us or someone we care about.
The Epistle to the Hebrews speaks of a future time when God will shake the entire created universe to remove that which is temporary so that what cannot be shaken, the eternal, may remain. Hebrews 12:28 says that “since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe.” When we are shaken up, let us remind ourselves to do as the psalmist wisely advises three times in Psalms 42 and 43 – “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.” And let us receive the peace which Christ freely gives us – “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” (John 14:27). Let us pray with Theresa of Avila, “Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you, all things are passing away: God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God lacks nothing; God alone suffices.”
At the Last Supper, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to those with him and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” Let us eat together.
Jesus then took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Let us drink together.
