pressed…

And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. …”

Matthew 26:27-28 ESV

A waking dream… began with a black framed picture…

white background… one word… offset to the right…

pressed

It was pristine… unmarred…  crisp… clean…

The dream progressed to a scene in the back of a church… it felt as if people were gathering… preparing for… worship…

But it all looked chaotic… no one properly prepared… in appearance… attitude… or demeanor…

My whole attention was in the back… where people were lolling around… some I knew… some I didn’t… some I was surprised to see…

My attention was on these back row people… and there was no time to look around because I had laundry to do… (I know… I know… weird… but remember… it was a dream…!)

There was a washer just outside the door of this little sanctuary… which felt like anything but a sanctuary…

I loaded towels… bright colored beach towels… into a washing machine…

Stuffed to the top… I knew it was too much… but… in the moment… it was an urgent task to get done…

I heard people around me… but my focus remained on the complacency and confusion in the back…

I’m not sure worship ever began…

But after a while… I remembered the laundry…

I worried the wet towels had been left too long… they surely smelled like mildew…

As I opened the washer… filled with wet towels… my attention was drawn to the previously pristine framed… “pressed”…

But now it looked worn… battered… beat up… the paper with the word all wrinkly… as if it too had been in the washer…

Here is where I woke… with… “pressed”… on my mind…

So that’s where my morning with Him began… seeking out the meaning of… “pressed”…

One Scripture came to mind which I knew referred to the word…

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted; but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

2Corinthians 4:8 NIV

pressed… I went to the original language…

thlibo…1 to press (as grapes), press hard upon. 2 a compressed way. 2A narrow straitened, contracted. 3 metaph. to trouble, afflict, distress.

–Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon

The pressing of grapes reveals an immediate connection…

To make the wine for Communion… grapes must be pressed… pressed hard… to release the juice… which then undergoes fermentation… (a process which further agitates… and transforms it into something else…)

But it all begins with pressing…

We are the fruit-bearing branches on Jesus… the True Vine…

Just as He was pressed to make the wine for Communion… we will be pressed too… if we follow Him…

The lexicon also tells me the word translated as “press”… is akin to another Greek word… tribos… meaning… a worn way… a path… (Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon)

Pressed… a key element… on the path of Communion…

Pressed by the world… with trouble and temptation… we turn toward Him…

Pressed to choose a narrow path of prayer and humble dependence… walking the path until it is worn…

Pressed to a certain call and ministry…

Whatever fruit we bear in His name… will require being pressed… to make it ready for Communion…

Communion with Jesus… identifying with Him… as One who was pressed…

Communion with His people… encouraging… serving… bearing each other’s burdens…

Some meaning of the dream comes into focus…

When we neglect His pressing… resist it in some way… or avoid it all together… chaos ensues… and complacency becomes the order of the day…

Pressed…

Are you leaning into the pressing He’s bringing into your life…? or resisting it…? fighting it…?

Understand… to be pressed… is to be prepared for Communion…

I’m feeling pressed these days… the narrowing of a call fleshing out…

And these words… this picture… encourage me… to lean into… embrace… His pressing…

As for the framed “pressed”…? I’m ready to get out the iron…!

steam and press all the wrinkles… out of His Church…

beginning… first and foremost… with me…!

We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

2Corinthians 4:10 NIV