⁹ Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel went up, ¹⁰ and they saw Israel’s God. Under God’s feet there was what looked like a floor of lapis-lazuli tiles, dazzlingly pure like the sky. ¹¹ God didn’t harm the Israelite leaders, though they looked at God, and they ate and drank. (Ex. 24:9-11, CEB)

My own Pentecostal/Charismatic conditioning says this is not how you act when the presence of God shows up. You’re supposed to fall down (forward or backward, depending on your theology), and “be undone.” Then… write a book.

Or something like that.

I exaggerate (somewhat), but when the presence of God comes down, I never heard about eating and drinking.

In that day, it was a sealing of a covenant. It was the acceptance of a peace offering. This was what they knew to do. God shows up, the covenant is agreed upon, so we eat.

The presence of God makes all the difference. His presence in our lives is key. We are to be people of the presence.

And the invitation comes to us on a regular basis. Eat and drink.

Where?

“Take and eat.”

“Take and drink.”

In our church, it’s every Sunday. We come to the Table of the Lord. We are invited to remember this covenant, and by partaking of the table we are invited into his presence. God comes down and we eat and drink.

In most churches of my denomination we are seated and the deacons serve us. The communion generally comes at the end of the service and is generally “tacked on.”

We serve communion weekly and ask people to come forward. I give the bread and say, “The body of Christ for you.”

They move to the next server who gives them the cup saying, “The blood of Christ for you.”

This is nothing new for mainline Christians. (And I’ve probably butchered it. My apologies.)

But every week we are invited into the presence of God. It’s not overly emotional… though I must admit it IS emotional for me. Every week, I love giving communion. It is precious.

But I don’t fall over. (Well, not every week.)

Yet, here I am in the presence of Almighty God. Eating and drinking.

And his presence changes everything.