The Holy Meal

WED., AUG. 5, 1992, 6:22 AM
FARM, STUDY

This sacrament of Mine, that I call The Holy Meal, has been a concern of yours during this past week, and you have more responsibilities related to it in the future. Therefore it seems more than appropriate that I offer you some thoughts and ideas for your consideration that relate to this concern. Eventually you shall do a Ruminations on this theme, and what I offer you this morning can be a part of that future Letter.

It is good, say I, that you are now on the worship committee and have some responsibility for the services of Holy Communion. Actually preparing the “elements” was and should continue to be a unique addition to your experiences with this celebration. You were just learning how to do it last week. In the future you must make this preparation a service in itself, opening and closing with prayer and doing the task in a reverent way. Now it still can be a joyous experience. Strive for a condition of joyful reverence… or reverent joy!

I approve of a variation in the actual service in which communicants come up to the front and are served individually. You know that I have encouraged you to respond well to kneeling while receiving the body and the blood, for I do like this form. Yet it would not be right for your congregation. Coming to the front would be sufficient variation for the near future.

The best approach will be to consider some varying ways of taking this holy meal, developing strengths and weaknesses, and then organizing an actual trial. This would have to be announced in advance, both verbally in a previous service and in print. Then on the actual day it would have to be explained, not just the mechanics, but how the variation may be a better way… at least another good way… of experiencing this sacrament. After such an experiment do an honest critique, including the Session in this. Realize that there will be disapproval, by some, of anything “new,” so seek, and then publicize, the positive affirmations.

The matter of wine or grape juice is not one to experiment with… at least not yet. Continue to offer a choice at your congregations New Year’s Eve celebration (and, yes, make it red… though this requires some more organization), and perhaps at next Spring’s Lenten services. In your whole congregation even the choice at a regular service of communion on a Sunday morning would be more divisive than valuable.

Looking ahead, the Lenten services offer the best opportunity for trying variations in the meal, with a relatively small group. You will need to be part of these, so change your teaching schedule to avoid the conflict… and even place your course for this Fall so that you will be part of the Advent services. Communion is not so appropriate, logically, as the services remember My coming and My actual advent into the earth as the baby Jesus. Yet birth, death, and resurrection are fundamentals of the earth experience. Just as the joy of Easter comes after the recollections of Maunday Thursday and Good Friday, so the joy of Advent can tie in with the promise that is inherent in the Holy Meal – eat this bread and drink this cup and you become part of Me, as I become part of you.

And that means that your sins are taken on by Me, and that you can live in a freer, more joyous way, because of My life in the earth, as Jesus.