Kept the folded grave clothes where thy body lay...

One of the most remarkable things about presiding at Holy Communion is that I get to dwell near the empty tomb each and every week.

This past Sunday as I was resetting the Table following the Meal and unfolding the veil, the line from the hymn Thine is the Glory echoed through my head: "...kept the folded graveclothes where thy Body lay."

Many of the linens used for Holy Communion bear names that make us think of death: pall, corporal, veil. How fitting that as we celebrate the One who died and is risen, as we taste his flesh and drink his blood, that we do so mindful of the place where He "trampled down death by death": the empty tomb of Easter morning.