Communion

Imagine if you were hosting a dinner party and you knew you had people coming who had specific allergies, or who didn’t eat certain things. Would you, as the host, decide to ignore that and make things you knew your guests could not eat? Or would you, instead, try and make a meal in which everyone was eating and sharing the same food? I suspect the second scenario is the more likely because that is one of the responsibilities, and one of the gifts, of being a host.

Last spring the staff made the decision to begin using gluten free bread during communion. We made this decision for several different reasons. However, for me, one of them was the most important. During the communion liturgy when we raise the bread and break it we say that we all become one body because we all partake of the one loaf. This is not the case when we offer two different breads because we are not all partaking of the one loaf. We decided that it was important symbolically and theologically that we change this so that we could all be using the same bread, that we could live into the words of the liturgy and we could welcome all.

Repeatedly throughout scripture Christ is criticized for welcoming and eating with people that others wanted nothing to do with, those who were outside the “norm.” Jesus welcomed and invited everyone to his table, and so we want to make sure that we are doing the same at Christ’s table for communion. Although the church may appear to be the host of communion, that is actually incorrect, because it is the Lord’s Supper. Christ is the host and the invitation comes from Him.

Now I know that there have been complaints about the taste as well as the consistency of the bread. To be honest I don’t think it tastes all that great myself. But, I do not feel that it is an imposition on me to have to occasionally take a small piece of this bread so that we can all partake of the same bread together. Instead, I feel it is something I undertake joyfully knowing that Christ is the host, and just like when we host in our homes, Christ wants everyone to feel welcomed and invited.

We have also heard rumors that there are some who are refusing to either receive the elements or who come forward but then do not eat the bread. This troubles us, but I pray that we will all remember that communion is not about us as individuals. Instead, it is a communion, which literally means a “sharing.” It is a communal exercise. It is about us as a body of Christ remembering Christ’s actions on our behalf, and also about us being re-membered, that is once again becoming one body because we all partake of the one loaf.

We continue to search for a recipe which will give us the best tasting bread we can have, which also remains gluten free. If you have a recipe you would like us to try, or if you would like to help us bake communion bread, please be in touch with either Pastor Joel or myself. And then let us, each and every one of us, as we gather together this Sunday to celebrate World Communion Sunday, break one loaf and become one body.