I didn’t go to church today.  I knew it we were having communion today.  My church does communion quarterly.  I was raised in a church that had monthly communion, although they would have never referred to it as anything as The Lord’s Supper.

I think my uncomfortableness with communion goes back to my childhood.  I was raised that you had to be right with God to partake.  I struggle, so I don’t feel right.  I have been to a Disciples of Christ church where the minister said communion was a new beginning.  Each time it was admitting our weaknesses and trying to become better.  That seemed less overwhelming, and I did not feel uncomfortable there.

1. Rosemary Says:
   August 29th, 2010 at 5:10 pm

   When I was growing up in the Church of Christ we had communion every week. I think it was less often when I visited my dad’s Assembly of God church, probably monthly. I liked it weekly. Well, you know how I like rituals. That was the first significant church ritual I knew (besides that you sit down after someone says “Amen”–that was a very common one even in churches that claim to reject ritualism). I think at the Church of Christ they called it communion, but I could be wrong. I know they are very big on not doing anything not addressed in the New Testament and I don’t remember it being called communion in the Bible, so maybe they called it the Lord’s Supper as well.

   Now at the Episcopal church we call it the Eucharist and it is the center of our Sunday morning service. In fact the whole service is usually just called Holy Eucharist. Some parishioners call it Mass, mostly the ex-Catholics, I think. They don’t emphasize that you have to be right with God to partake at our church, though I do remember that at previous churches. It’s more emphasized as a way TO get right with God, I think.

   I love it because it’s a lovely ritual, but that’s me and my thing for rituals.

   I also like what my priest says at the end of service sometimes: “Go into the world with joy, feed those who are hungry, comfort those who are sick.” I think there’s more to it but I can’t remember at the moment. I’ll have to pay better attention next time.

2. Rosemary Says:
   August 29th, 2010 at 5:11 pm

   I hope Judith hops on here and shares her unique perspective and history with communion.

3. Judith Says:
   September 7th, 2010 at 12:08 pm

   I’m not sure what you’re hoping for here, Rosemary, possibly my upbringing as a “foot-washing” Baptist? (Although I never knew that term as a descriptor until much later in life.) My church had communion only once a year. (Memorial Day weekend if I remember correctly. I wonder if it had any connection to that holiday? Never thought of that before.) It was held after the church service and was only open to members. Because of the foot-washing component, we lined up in chairs across from each other, men and women separate. I don’t remember being terribly moved by the spiritual significance of it because, as a teenager, there were much more important concerns like who you were sitting across from (a friend or an old lady?) and the pre-communion preparations like removing pantyhose. In later Baptist church experiences I got that message that Anne got–examine yourself and refrain if you need to. No instructions on what that actually meant. Communion is not central to my spiritual life and practice, but I like the communal (as in community) aspect of it. I told Anne in a previous conversation how much I loved communion time at one of my previous churches. There were four stations, but no rules about when and where to go, so people just got up and went whenever and wherever with some musical interlude. I always thought it looked like beautiful chaos. We had a friend at that church who later died of MS. I particularly remember another friend bringing the elements to him in his wheelchair–my most poingnant communion memory.

4. Rosemary Says:
   September 7th, 2010 at 12:38 pm

   Yeah, I was thinking of the foot-washing. My mind was boggled when I heard about that, but I’m also someone who doesn’t like having her feet touched and I once quietly snuck out of a meeting when they mentioned we were about to wash each other’s feet.

   I wonder if you’d like the communal way we usually do it at our church, Rosemary. We all go up to the front and stand around the altar, so we’re standing in a sort of circle around the priest and the eucharist items. Then we go into line and take the eucharist. I am not always sure I like that we drink from the same cup, but it’s a neat communal thing, too. (Or sometimes two cups when more people are there.)

5. Felica Pulkkinen Says:
   September 12th, 2010 at 5:01 am

   I was reading something else about this on another blog. Interesting. Your linear perspective on it is diametrically opposed to what I read to begin with. I am still mulling over the various points of view, but I’m inclined to a great extent toward yours. And no matter, that’s what is so good about advanced democracy and the marketplace of ideas on-line.