Running with the Lord: Little Rock church to minister to marathoners, spectators with ‘Communion on the Run’

March 2, 2019 at 4:30 a.m.

by Francisca Jones

The Rev. Anne Holcomb (left), a retired pastor and member of Quapaw Quarter United Methodist Church in Little Rock, gives Communion in the form of tiny cups of grape juice during the 2018 Little Rock Marathon along with the Rev. Keith Coker, Quapaw Quarter’s pastor (center). The church will offer “Communion on the Run” for all who wish to partake on Sunday from 8-10 a.m. at the intersection of 16th and Main streets in Little Rock during this year’s marathon, according to Holcomb.
The Rev. Anne Holcomb (left), a retired pastor and member of Quapaw Quarter United Methodist Church in Little Rock, gives Communion in the form of tiny cups of grape juice during the 2018 Little Rock Marathon along with the Rev. Keith Coker, Quapaw Quarter’s pastor (center). The church will offer “Communion on the Run” for all who wish to partake on Sunday from 8-10 a.m. at the intersection of 16th and Main streets in Little Rock during this year’s marathon, according to Holcomb.

Judith Faust first heard the United Methodist Church's slogan "Open hearts. Open minds. Open doors." in 2005 at Quapaw United Methodist Church, where she'd taken her mother for a worship service.

"I thought, 'Boy, if I'm going to be part of a church, that's the sort that I want to be part of,'" said Faust, who has worshipped at Quapaw Quarter ever since.

Faust recalled that her mind wasn't as open last year when the Rev. Keith Coker, Quapaw Quarter's pastor, proposed offering Communion -- the symbolic Christian rite of taking in the body of Christ -- to spectators of the Little Rock Marathon.

"I remember thinking -- and no doubt saying -- 'Well, I can't imagine that runners in the middle of a marathon would stop to take Communion,'" Faust said.

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