In recognition of World Communion Sunday today, we served the sacrament to the congregation as they sat in the pews. Usually everyone comes forward to receive the bread and the cup by intinction. We have not done communion in the pews in a long time, and unfortunately we did not do it well. The fault lay with us pastors. We should have planned and discussed the process ahead of time. We all ended up trying to do a dance we did not know the steps to. It was confusing, to say the least.
People sitting farther from the front were spared the sight, thankfully, but the choir had a front row seat to see the disorder. It felt as though I were taking part in an odd Kabuki dance, wearing a clown outfit, juggling marshmallows.
In the middle of the chaos, though, as I was standing by the right side of the altar, suddenly I noticed the pianist was playing one of my favorite pieces of music, George Winston’s variations on Pachelbel’s Canon. I must have been distracted before then. The music began to wash over me. I started to sway. A strong urge rose in me to dance. I wanted to dance like the Charlie Brown characters do when Schroeder plays the piano for them. I didn’t dance, which is a good thing. But I smiled. It was an unexpected and undeserved moment of grace.
As I swayed, a thought came to me. It is not such a bad thing to flub the serving of communion. In a way it is a fitting symbol for communion itself. Communion does not tell us we are flawless, perfect beings, executing the steps in a dance without a miss. No, the bread and the cup tell us us we are misfits who more often than not miss the beat and do not get our steps right in the dance, but God’s grace comes to us in spite of ourselves, even when we least deserve it.
So even though communion was the very definition of confusion, it became for me a holy moment, one I will long remember.
I had a similar World Communion Day experience, Chris… Except for the reverse was the case. We usually serve people in the pews, but today I invited people forward. Only problem was, this, also, was a dance we didn’t really know the steps to
. I hadn’t communicated very well with the musicians who had been planning on having a congregational song while the elements were distributed. The end result was people coming to the front in silence…
Like your situation, though, there was undeserved grace. The hushed refrain, “the body of Christ… the blood of Christ… broken, shed… for you” echoed through the silence. Even though it felt like I had missed the beat, it was a holy moment.
Thanks for giving me a good theological lens through which to interpret this morning’s service.
…i did’nt know it was world communion day yesterday but it wouldnt have made any difference for me since im forbidden to recieve communion at the Orthodox church i attended without ‘joining’ which involves a long arduous rigormarole of sorts…curiously though i am permitted to partake in the offering…. :/
Thanks, Ryan. It is so frighteningly easy to forget the most basic things about worship. You as a pastor have a thousand things in your head, and you neglect to do one thing, and then things go awry. But under it all there is grace. It felt to me that I heard the gospel in a fresh way yesterday, in a way that would not have happened had we not stumbled and bumbled our way through communion. I think God was chuckling at me.
Mike, I am sorry you are not allowed to receive. That makes me sad. World Communion Sunday is really a Protestant thing, especially for those churches that do not celebrate communion weekly. The Orthodox and Catholics, of course, have the Eucharist weekly, but then they tend to be very strict on who gets to receive. There is a spirit of exclusion there that I do not fully understand. Peace to you.
Yes, I am continually amazed at how I can forget the most obvious details of a worship service… Under it all is grace… and humour. How good (and true).
Re: “a spirit of exclusion there ”
I have never heard of such a thing in the Roman Catholic Church, and I am doubtful that the Orthodox believes in that either.
I did hear constant anti-Catholic jabs while I was in the PCUSA, from the pulpit and in seminary. This sounds like one of those jabs. These jabs were part of what one might call an old protestant denomination’s bigotry. One moment they would boast of their open minded inclusiveness, and in the next moment make an anti-Catholic bigoted slur. They also slurred evangelicals, and although more careful, they slurred Jews. When they said of themselves that they were inclusive, and that others were not, it was of way of claiming moral superiority. It is, of course, an absurd claim.
I believe the Lord’s table should be open to all who want to receive, and churches that do not practice such openness are in the wrong. But that wasn’t the point of the post.
This from last Sundays bullitin/program:”WELCOME.We would like to welcome our visitors with us today.We invite you to follow the Divine Liturgy which begins on page 92 of the red service book.WE REGRET THAT THE DIVISION OF CHRISTIANITY DOES NOT PERMIT US TO OFFER COMMUNION TO NON-ORTHODOX OR THOSE OF THE CHURCH WHO ARE UNPREPARED.However please come forward at the end of Divine Liturgy to venerate the Cross and recieve the Antidoron-blessed btread-as a ytoken of love and fellowship…”
Ken, I don’t think these comments are jabs — but honest reflections and reactions to what has been experienced.
When we were married, I was working at the Motherhouse of a local Dominican congregation and the Sisters were all invited to our wedding. Communion was important to us, but we knew that was impossible with a 50% Roman Catholic and 50% Protestant congregation — someone was going to be uncomfortable and/or left out no matter how we celebrated. We needed a ritual, though; and so we wrote a liturgy that we smilingly referred to as “The Fruit Thing” — in which we recognized God’s actions in our lives and our relationships and we passed baskets of fruit and nuts and everyone ate this symbol of God’s fruitfulness in all our lives.
Afterward, many Sisters said to my husband and myself — “Wow — we managed to have communion together!” They were as thrilled as we were.
Unfortunately, the PCUSA and other old protestant denominations are full of prejudices towards Catholics, evangelicals and Jews. None of these groups has a “spirit of exclusion.” It is ugly to accuse them of it. I saw this prejudice expressed repeatedly in the ministry and seminary.
The theology in the PCUSA requires no special preparation for communion. The theology of other denominations does. That preparation is part of the rite, and the rite is open to all through that preparation. Protestants generally have a much different understanding of communion than that found in the Roman and Orthodox traditions.
Protestants are historically intolerant of the Roman tradition. Many protestants, like Chris admits, “do not fully understand.” And yet, like Chris, they attribute ugly things to these other Christians, as well as to evangelicals and Jews.
Prejudice never seems like prejudice to those who harbor it. It always seems like truth. As Chris puts it, it seems like the others “are in the wrong.”
Roman Catholics, Evangelicals or Jews don’t hold any prejudices towards “old” Protestant denominations? Let’s not just throw the PCUSA into the fire — let’s all jump in….because in reality we’re all guilty. Come on in, Ken – the fire’s fine and there’s room for all.
Ken, the Presbyterian Church USA restricts the Lord’s Supper to baptized believers and to baptized children being instructed in the faith. I believe this restriction is wrong. It is at odds with the portrait of God in the Parable of the Sower — God whose extravagant grace is spread widely, available freely to anyone. It is curious that there are no restrictions to hearing the gospel preached. The tangible sacraments merely confirm the gospel.
Lindy Lou, thanks for the memory of the Fruit Thing.
Chris, I remember that the Book of Order or Worship said that all who are baptized and faithful are welcome to participate. Where I was, this was not strictly interpreted. I remember one of my mentors, and the tall-steeple pastor of the church where I interned, who would say before serving communion that all who trust in Jesus as their Lord and who are sorry for their sins are welcome. (Maybe he regarded that as the equivalent of baptism.)
I don’t know why in the PCUSA Book of Order or Worship baptism is supposed to precede communion. I guess I don’t know why that would be common in protestantism. I cannot think of a place in scripture that would be the basis for it, although I imagine there must be – Calvin would have it no other way.
In practice, I imagine the restriction to ‘baptized only’ is not widely enforced. In my experience, any who want to receive are allowed to. I am thinking, though, of someone who does not have a Christian upbringing but who comes to a PCUSA church on a particular Sunday; they hear the gospel in the sermon and are moved by it, and later in the service they feel drawn to receive the bread and the cup. The official rule would exclude them from the table, but I am grateful that it likely would not be enforced. How could it be, anyway?