"Communion" or "Pin the Truth on the Heretic"
Yes, I've got a little time (if you don't count all of the things I could be working on), and I haven't blogged for a while, so I'm throwing some serious blog action on here. So..
I've been having this thought for a while about how we church people practice The Lord's Supper.
Basically.. what's up with the closing of eyes, bowing of heads thing?
I just.. I don't know. But I'm not liking it.
Sure hope that's not heresy!
But I just keep thinking about it. Thinking about even the words that we use.. "Communion" .. "The Lord's Supper"... well, okay.. to me those seem like "together" words. Words that would indicate participation, rather than segregation. I read the biblical account.. I try to apply what theological training I have.. I'm not seeing what says I'm wrong about this. (it's very possibly there.. but I'm not seeing it yet..)
But when the bread and juice come around, what do we do? We grab our stuff, and then WHAM!! ..down come the walls, slicing us off from the rest of the body. Well.. I don't want to close my eyes. I don't want to remember Jesus hanging on the cross. I don't want to confess my sins so that I don't partake in an "unworthy" manner.. I'm afraid that we're all doing it in an unworthy manner! I want to share a meal with my brothers and sisters.. I want to remember who Jesus is.. not how he died. I want to participate in the life of The Body, and remember the life of The Head.
So are we doing it wrong? Have we made The Supper something Jesus never intended it to be? Are we partaking in at least an ineffective or misguided, if not unworthy, manner?
G'head. Pin the Truth on me, people. I'm just asking.
posted by caparoon @ 12:26 PM
7 Comments:
"participation"
that's a good word we protestants aren't too cozy with here...though we should be
1 Cor 10.16-17:
"Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf."
To high-churchier types, the Eucharist is where the assembled singular individuals become the Body.
I suspect that our usual understandings of salvation, authority, the Church and Communion are linked together. (might be something to protestantism, modernity, autonomy too) What these may lack is indeed "participation." (RO in the background here...)
CS
"participation"
that's a good word we protestants aren't too cozy with here...though we should be
1 Cor 10.16-17:
"Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf."
To high-churchier types, the Eucharist is where the assembled singular individuals become the Body.
I suspect that our usual understandings of salvation, authority, the Church and Communion are linked together. (might be something to protestantism, modernity, autonomy too) What these may lack is indeed "participation." (RO in the background here...)
CS
Yep. Chris has pinpointed the issue.
I had a guy offer a communion meditation last year who said, "This isn't about you and your neighbor or you and your spouse or you and your friend, this is just about you and your Lord." When I asked him about it, he was pretty ironclad in his conviction...
...and I'm afraid that's where a lot of folks are at. (I'm there sometimes myself.) Other times I sense that it makes some people uncomfortable when I'm looking around during Communion. Oh, well...
We treat it sacramentally in many RM churches - low church as we are. I know more than a couple folks who fear for their mortal souls if they haven't partaken on the Lord's Day. We've distilled the New Life down to getting immersed then choking down a cracker (that's too small to feed a pigeon) and washing it down with a thimble full of grape juice.
(Don't tell anyone, but I often partake more than once a week - mostly because I'm participating with a different bunch of folks each time.)
Sorry for getting slightly tangential. This is a hot-button topic for me.
Hey, hot-button away, man. Apparently you're among friends.
I read a really good article while doing my final project for my degree that was about the participatory nature of God himself--the participation within the Trinity--and how that related to our participation both with God and all of the rest of creation. Kind of brought to mind a dancing circle..
Before that, I used the word "community" a lot. I still do. But since then, I've found "participation" fills a lot of gaps in a way that few other words do.
Uh, yeah: "communion" community + union
Contrasted with: individual, chiclet-sized cracker things.
This makes no sense. I was thinking it'd be cool to bring everyone together for a meal, recognizing that Jesus is waiting on us for his next big banquet-party.
Tonight: It's pancakes and toast and bacon and stuff. I won't score a seat at the table, because I'm usually late in the food line, but that's okay. The living room floor is fine.
I'm not sure if this captures it, but after a lifetime of Chiclets and "this is between you and God" - it's like fresh water.
Brant
well.. ! How-dee-doo.
I was thinking a little more about this last night, and the whole "celebratory feast" thing came to mind. You know, what with the first communion being during the celebratory feast of the Passover..
Occured to me that maybe this was a new celebratory feast, intended to replace the Passover in the same manner that Jesus himself replaced the passover lamb. Just an additional thought that I had.
Thanks, guys, for speaking up on this one. I appreciate it.
I don't mind you being late to the party, man. I'm just glad you're here. : ]
Maybe we should have a seperate time, in corporate worship, for reflective time. Maybe at the end, or the beginning. Just a thought.
I kind of want to say that the time for that personal reflection would be.. all the other time when we're not gathered together. It's kinda like inviting a bunch of people over for dinner and then going to your room and reading a book while they eat... but... most of us still need some reflective time, because we don't/can't squeeze it in anyplace else in our overstuffed lives.
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