I ran across a poem a few years ago that caught my attention. It’s called “The Land of Beginning Again,” and here are the words:

I wish there were
Some wonderful place
Called the Land of
Beginning again,
Where all our mistakes
And all our heartaches
And all our poor selfish grief
Could be dropped
Like a shabby old coat
At the door…
And never be put on again.

The Land of Beginning Again — wouldn’t that be nice?

Well, there is such a place. This is the good news of the Christian faith; this is the good news that Jesus came to deliver. We can be forgiven. We can make a new start. We can have a new life. We can, with the help of Christ, make a new beginning.

And this is why the common people in New Testament times heard Jesus Gladly. He gave them hope. He told them that they were special to God. He treated them with love and respect. He valued them, prized them, treasured the, included them in the circle of acceptance.

I have a minister friend named Tom Tewell. He is the senior minister of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York. Tom does a fascinating thing each month. Even though he has an extremely busy schedule (because he serves as pastor of one of the finest churches in our nation,) he makes the time once each month to go down to the homeless shelter in his city to work in their soup kitchen. After the homeless people have been fed, he then invites them to join him in a service of Holy Communion, and many of them will come with him to the little chapel in the homeless shelter and join in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. They have shared soup together in the soup kitchen and then they come to share the bread and the cup together at the altar in the chapel.

One day, Tom had an unforgettable experience in the communion service that he loves to tell about. As he was moving down the altar serving communion, he came to a man kneeling there who looked like he had been out on the streets for quite a while. The man looked up at Tom and whispered, “Skip me.” “What? Pardon me?” Tom said. In a louder whisper, the man said again, “Skip me.” “Why?” Tom asked. “Because,” the man said,

“I’m not worthy.” Tom said, “Neither am I.” Then Tom added, “I’ll tell you what. I’m going to serve communion to these other people. Then I’m going to come back and serve communion to you, and then I would like you to serve it to me.” The man blinked and said to Tom, “Father, is that legal?” Tom said, “Yes, it’s legal and it’s beautiful and that’s what we are going to do.”

Tom went on down the altar and served all the other people kneeling there, and then he came back to the reluctant man and said, “What’s your name?” And the man said, “Josh.” Tom placed the elements of the Lord’s Supper before him and said, “Josh, this is the body of Christ given for you. Eat and drink this in the remembrance that Christ came for you and Christ died for you. Amen.”

Josh blinked back the tears in his eyes and he received Holy Communion. Then Tom knelt and handed Josh the trays of bread and wine and said, “Now, you serve me.” Josh nervously took the trays in his weathered hands and again he said, “Father, are you sure this is legal?” “Yes, it’s legal. Just do it.” Josh’s eyes were darting around from side to side as he looked over this shoulder and then the other, as if he expected at any moment the police, the FBI, the CIA, or the Pope to come rushing in to arrest him. Finally, he held the trays toward Tom and as Tom received the sacrament, Josh muttered, “Body, blood...Jesus for you... Hang in there!”

Tom said later, “Of all the communion rituals I have ever read, I don’t recall the words, “Hang in there” in any of them, but at that moment for me, Holy Communion had never been more “holy.” As Josh walked out of the homeless shelter that day, he was standing a little taller, and he had an extra spring in his step and it was reported that he went everywhere saying, “You won’t believe what I did today.” In fact, the story became so wide spread that from that day, Josh became known on the streets as “The Rev” which of course was short for the Reverend. What a great story this is – the story of love, grace, acceptance, forgiveness, reconciliation, bridge-building and Holy Communion. It’s a story that reminds us of what Jesus was all about and why the common people heard him gladly.

They heard him gladly because he loved them, he enjoyed them, and he brought them hope. They heard him gladly because he brought them good news, and they heard him gladly because he practiced what he preached. The common people heard him gladly because to him, they were not common. They were special to him. And so are we, and that’s what we remember today as we come to Holy Communion.