Communion - More Frequently or More Richly? Or Both?
From my online class. I was responding to someone's comment about not having communion every week because it becomes rote and not meaningful...and a question about how to make communion "more rich" for the congregation...
RE: More Richly vs. More Frequently
I'm not sure I've ever understood the argument that more frequent equals rote/boring/etc. If that is the case, why even have worship every week? I mean, doesn't it just become rote? Why have music every week or a sermon? Ah, those elements vary week to week, so they're "new" every week... Yes, but... That may only be an argument against using the exact same liturgy every time you celebrate communion. What if we sang the same hymns every week, heard the same scripture every week, heard the same music, prayers, sermon, children's message, etc. week after week after week? Would we get bored? Probably. But let's not throw it all away (as "modern" "contemporary" "post modern" whatever churches are often accused of doing). Let's understand what we do, why we do it and convey the rich truth of the Eucharist every time we celebrate it. After all, I don't ever get tired of hearing "I love you" from my wife or daughters - even in the scripted moments (like at bedtime - I mean, I know the girls are going to say it, I know they mean it and even if it is EVERY night, it still ends my day beautifully). Yep, there are times they might not mean it with the very depths of their being, but it still impacts me to the very depths of who I am...
So more frequently? You bet. Sure, let's celebrate communion at every gathering - at every opportunity for worship - maybe even, as Pamela suggested, even at meetings (where two or three are gathered) but let's never allow it to become "something we do" but let it be the focal point of the gatherings.
When communion is celebrated in worship, every element of the service should be pointing to this act - this remembrance of Jesus' death for our sin. No, it should NEVER be the denouement - but the very climax of the service. Who cares if I don't get to preach or if there's no "special music" or the greeting time is shorter? Look at what God has done for us! Taste and see that the Lord is good! Come and be PRESENT (your heart and soul and mind and strength) at the Lord's table and know God's love and grace and mercy!
How can we make what God has done any richer? We can't. But we can present it in a way that makes it...boring...unconnected...just another thing we do. We can take This Holy Mystery and reduce it to just bread and juice (or wine) and nothing more. I don't think we can ever celebrate Communion more richly - but we can enter into the richness of what God has done, is doing, and will continue to do when we fully put ourselves into God's presence at the Table.
I have to connect first. I can't lead people where I haven't gone (well, I have been known to do that in Pittsburgh on occasion, and it has always ended badly...) and if this celebration is subservient to any other aspect of the Worship (usually MY stuff - you know, the sermon, the prayers, whatever) I can't really experience the moment for what it is. I'm ashamed to tell you that I have, in the past (but will never again), had a "communion option" during a worship service. That is, I decided that "if we had time" we'd "take communion." What a horrifying thought now. So, I wasn't making the connection. And neither was anyone else.
RE: More Richly vs. More Frequently
I'm not sure I've ever understood the argument that more frequent equals rote/boring/etc. If that is the case, why even have worship every week? I mean, doesn't it just become rote? Why have music every week or a sermon? Ah, those elements vary week to week, so they're "new" every week... Yes, but... That may only be an argument against using the exact same liturgy every time you celebrate communion. What if we sang the same hymns every week, heard the same scripture every week, heard the same music, prayers, sermon, children's message, etc. week after week after week? Would we get bored? Probably. But let's not throw it all away (as "modern" "contemporary" "post modern" whatever churches are often accused of doing). Let's understand what we do, why we do it and convey the rich truth of the Eucharist every time we celebrate it. After all, I don't ever get tired of hearing "I love you" from my wife or daughters - even in the scripted moments (like at bedtime - I mean, I know the girls are going to say it, I know they mean it and even if it is EVERY night, it still ends my day beautifully). Yep, there are times they might not mean it with the very depths of their being, but it still impacts me to the very depths of who I am...
So more frequently? You bet. Sure, let's celebrate communion at every gathering - at every opportunity for worship - maybe even, as Pamela suggested, even at meetings (where two or three are gathered) but let's never allow it to become "something we do" but let it be the focal point of the gatherings.
When communion is celebrated in worship, every element of the service should be pointing to this act - this remembrance of Jesus' death for our sin. No, it should NEVER be the denouement - but the very climax of the service. Who cares if I don't get to preach or if there's no "special music" or the greeting time is shorter? Look at what God has done for us! Taste and see that the Lord is good! Come and be PRESENT (your heart and soul and mind and strength) at the Lord's table and know God's love and grace and mercy!
How can we make what God has done any richer? We can't. But we can present it in a way that makes it...boring...unconnected...just another thing we do. We can take This Holy Mystery and reduce it to just bread and juice (or wine) and nothing more. I don't think we can ever celebrate Communion more richly - but we can enter into the richness of what God has done, is doing, and will continue to do when we fully put ourselves into God's presence at the Table.
I have to connect first. I can't lead people where I haven't gone (well, I have been known to do that in Pittsburgh on occasion, and it has always ended badly...) and if this celebration is subservient to any other aspect of the Worship (usually MY stuff - you know, the sermon, the prayers, whatever) I can't really experience the moment for what it is. I'm ashamed to tell you that I have, in the past (but will never again), had a "communion option" during a worship service. That is, I decided that "if we had time" we'd "take communion." What a horrifying thought now. So, I wasn't making the connection. And neither was anyone else.
Comments