In a href=”https://amzn.to/3xa29yA” target=”_blank”>Exploring the Worship Spectrum, Sally Morgenthaler makes the statement that “The celebration of the Eucharist is not simply a private participation in God’s saving work through Jesus Christ; it is an intensely horizontal, bonding, communal rite.” (p. 51) My church shares communion at least once a month; and I often ponder the question of how this can become a more shared experience… Some aspects of the various ways that we enact this practice may make it a more communal thing for some people, less so for others. In my church, we do not do it the same way each time. On one day, we pass the elements from one person to another. On another day, we share them at stations around the church. On another day, we might go forward and partake at the altars…
On the days when we move around to take communion, servers are available to bring elements to people who cannot move from their seats. I often do not choose to move around when we use stations or go to the front. There are several reasons for this. I travel with a dog guide; and while she would likely behave well at the communion station, she experiences some odd intimidation in my church building that causes some difficulty in working through certain areas of the sanctuary. I also have moderate arthritis; and getting up and down can be painful for me at times. I appreciate the servers as much as do some of the elderly people.
Having said this, I also experience a down side to this arrangement. It is not communal worship for those who remain in their seats. We are served the elements; but partaking is a private matter. This is especially the case for me, as I cannot connect visually with others in worship. (More on that in another post.) Communion has become a very precious part of my faith; but it would be more so if it was an experience that was three-dimensional. I believe that when Jesus shared the bread and the cup with his disciples in the Upper Room and spoke the words, “This is my body … my blood … for you,” he spoke of the community for which he sacrificed his life as well as the sin. When we share the bread and the cup, we remember that sacrifice, made for the community and the sin–the community that would come to live differently because of the salvation Jesus brought. It is something to experience that in my personal life but something else entirely to experience it in community, and something else to celebrate it and commit to that kind of life as a community.
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