Miss Pink Flamingo sat upon Beth’s pillow, legs crossed, showcasing her pink feathers, blue eyes, and long lashes. Once a vibrant fuchsia plushie, she was now worn from use. Beth received Miss Pink Flamingo from her mother as a child, but now she was passing the plush along to her boyfriend, Brian, before his departure to Australia.
Beth met Brian at the age of twenty. After they had dated for six months, Brian needed to take a semester at a school in Australia. Beth wouldn’t get to see him for four whole months. Even worse, there would be pretty Australian girls waiting for him there. Beth couldn’t stand the thought of losing him.
As the couple said their goodbyes at the airport, Beth gave Brian one last hug. When she pulled away, she placed Miss Pink Flamingo in his hands.
“Here,” she said. “Take care of Miss Pink Flamingo. When you get to the dorm, place her upon your pillow.” With a smile she added, “She will help you remember me.”
Brian planted a kiss goodbye on Beth’s forehead. With one last wave, he was gone. He was not excited about taking Miss Pink Flamingo along with him, but he did. Brian carried her onto the airplane along with his hand-held luggage.
Just as Beth asked, Miss Pink Flamingo had a place on Brian’s pillow. During his stay, people would come into Brian’s room and ask about the flamingo. Brian would smile and talk about his girlfriend, Beth. Soon enough, Brian grew fond of Miss Pink Flamingo, as whenever he saw her he thought of Beth.
In 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (NIV), we are told that “The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
Jesus wants us to remember Him and from this passage, it is clear that He wants us to do so through the Communion service. The bread represents His body that was broken for us. The cup reminds us of His blood that was spilled for us. When we eat the bread and drink the cup we proclaim the Lord’s death until His promised return. Nowhere else in Scripture does Jesus Himself take emblems and ask us to remember Him by that thing. The bread and cup are important because they are reminders that God loves each one of us so much that He gave His son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins. By accepting Jesus as our Savior and believing in Him we are saved. Jesus never wanted us to forget His sacrifice on the cross and how much He loves us, so He gave us the bread and cup to remember Him.
Once his semester in Australia was finished, Brian returned to Beth. They ended up getting married. On their bed between the pillows sits Miss Pink Flamingo, a reminder of their time apart and their new adventures together. When we celebrate Communion, we remember the cost of our salvation and how much God loves us, but we should also look forward to the day that we celebrate Communion in heaven with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Lyndsey Elsey is an English major at Union College. Her interests include doodling dinosaurs and taking long walks on the beach.
