When Nora Gallagher, a talented writer and devout Episcopalian, decided to write about one of Christianity's most nourishing practices, I had to get the book.  (Thankfully, the folks at Booksneeze were kind enough to offer one for free in exchange for this review.)  What Nora brings to this project, as she does to most everything she writes, is an authentic voice that recounts her struggles, triumphs, questions, and mysteries.  It's not so much a book as it is a coffee shop chat with a close friend about one of the most formative practices in her life.

One of the book's memorable quotes (especially for those of us who regularly receive the Sacrament) is that Communion is something we do over and over again but is never the same.  Eucharist can surprise, inspire, open and reveal.  How ironic that something that changes so little has the capacity change us so much.

Communion is mainly something we do together, which has ramifications of its own. When we do it successfully we don't dictate who comes, the Holy Spirit does. I've heard it said that the health of a congregation is signaled by the number of unlikely friendships it nourishes. And when Communion does what it should, it binds us in the love of Christ, wrapping us up in the warmth and joy of God.

When we participate in The Sacred Meal, then it binds us to God and to one another, reminding us about the pinnacle truth of human life: we will not be exalted for what we earn, what we own, or what we accomplish, but how much we love.  And placing ourselves into a community where sacrificial love is at the center gives us a better shot at becoming who we want to be.  "It helps us free ourselves from everything that keeps us from loving and being loved, from competition, constraint, self-pity, and self importance - all the things that stand between us and love."

Recommended for those who are new to the faith as well as for those who have been sitting in the pews a while.