communal Communion

I post this in reaction to two sources.

First this song:

I've this sinking,

feeling,

I'm before Your throne
and these songs I,

have been singing,

well they're empty in my throat
as this plate comes by I realize I'm close to the fire but I'm still cold
and what once was juice and crackers now becomes my only hope
this cup is not enough I must be washed in Your sweet blood
and stale bread it just won't do tonight
oh and in my unworthy state i kneel before Your loving grace
and wish that i could see Your face in mine
I am reeling,

realization,

I'm before Your throne
and deserving,

condemnation,

You make mine your own
could this be my true communion You and i here face to face
if I'm dreaming let me dream, oh let me never ever wake

Second, this book.

What happened to the community of communion? The Lord’s Supper got put in such a back seat somewhere along the way. On average it takes a Church 10 or 15 minutes to get through communion. We pass this tray and look down and try our hardest to forget everyone around us. We do not celebrate what we claim to be our main source of joy. The following is my perfect picture of communion in a Sunday worship service.

Out at BG, one Sunday a month, we have a pot luck lunch. I wish for the sake of communion we had one every Sunday, and I wish that communion was woven in it. Somewhere in the midst of this meal a president would stand and say some thing like this: Welcome to the Lord’s Table. I am happy to share this meal with you. It is time in our meal to remember what the Lord has done for us.

I envision a time when people don’t even stop eating the meal, but only slightly hesitate remembering the utter joy of Christ as King. We don’t pass little shots juice and crackers, but true bread and a full cup. Stale bread it just won’t do tonight.

See this entry from Katie’s blog to get another picture that I think captures what I’m thinking.

In BG we have about a hundred folks normally, so I know this isn’t practical for your average church. Tell me what you think something like this would look like in your church.

Furthermore, I am making a serious move to have every meal I eat be Eucharistic. I don’t know what this will look like. I have doubts of carrying a good portion of bread and juice around with me, but I do want to take this seriously. Tell me what you think.