In her opening post to St. James West Hartford’s online book study group, Bishop Laura asks, “Where have you smelled or tasted God’s presence?. Perhaps the most obvious answer is in receiving the Eucharist on Sunday morning. It is a time where we stop and try to become more aware of God’s presence in our lives.

I often think . Perhaps the most obvious answer is in receiving the Eucharist on Sunday morning. It is a time where we stop and try to become more aware of God’s presence in our lives.

I often think the phrase from 1 Corinthian’s, “do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” While we may think of this in terms of ‘this’ being the celebration of the Eucharist, I would like to suggest that every meal we have, every drink we have with our meals should be done in remembrance, remembrance not only of the crucifixion and resurrection, but of the simple fact, to borrow a phrase from Godspell, which I’ve been listening to a lot recently, “All good gifts around us are sent from Heaven above”.

This leads to a broader answer to Bishop Laura’s question. The bread we use at the Eucharist might not remind us of fresh baked bread, but there is something divine, literally, about the smell of fresh baked bread, another reminder of God’s love for us.

And the bread that we eat, comes from the grain that is harvested. These days, we many of us many not experience the smell of the harvest. Perhaps we experience it here or there, in the smell of apple cider or pumpkin spiced lattes. Maybe the smell of newly fallen leaves reminds us of the harvest.

The harvest is near. It has a beautiful aroma of God’s love for us.