Reflections on Holy Communion 5

“Remembering whose servant he is”
This meal is a political meal. In it we gather as a new people. In it we are fed by God. Yet there are others who feel the burden to feed us, chiefly our leaders. In the prayer for them, we pray that they might remember whose servant they are. Not ours, but God's. I heard an interview with Paul Keating the other day, where the interviewer was questioning Keating about his inaction over the abuses in Indonesia. Keating replied that he would have loved to intervene, but his first job as leader was to protect the interests of Australians. His frustration was palpable. “You cant sit there with you healthy pay packet and ipod and nice shoes and then ask that question”.
At the communion, we ask God to remind our leaders that they are not our servants, they are his. They are not to ‘protect our interests’, but to do what is right. God himself feeds us with eternal life. Prayer (even when not for leaders) is always a political act, because it names our true benefactor.