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Tony Campolo jokes that his West Philadelphia neighborhood was so rough that his high school newspaper had an obituary column. When the church they attended succumbed to white flight, his parents shifted to the nearest, almost entirely African-American Baptist congregation. Now retired as an Eastern Univer-sity sociology professor, Tony is best known as a speaker who passionately integrates evangelism and social justice. He manages to inspire while taking critical aim at officials and Christians on both left and right.

Sitting with my parents at a Communion service when I was six or seven, I became aware of a young woman in the pew in front of us who was sobbing and shaking. The minister had just read the Scripture that says, "If anyone eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily, that person is guilty of sinning against the body and the blood of the Lord" (1 Corinthi-ans 11:27). As the Communion plate with its small pieces of bread was passed to the crying woman, she waved it away, lowering her head in despair.

My Sicilian father leaned over her shoulder and, in his broken English, said sternly, "Take it, girl! It was meant for you. Do you hear me?" She raised her head, nodded, and then took the bread and ate it. I knew at that moment that some heavy burden was lifted from her heart and mind. Since then, I've always known that a church that could offer Communion to hurting people was a special gift from God.

Adapted from Letters to a Young Evangelical (Perseus, 2006) by permission.

Copyright © 2008 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Lord Jesus, as I take communion, help me to experience the full benefits of your sacrificial death.

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