Bread and Wine: Why do we do it so poorly at times?

When it comes to the Eucharist I have to say that, aside from the old joke which asks who in their right mind would go out to a place that takes over thirty minutes to stick bread and wine on the table, it seems when it comes to the Eucharist there is often little to laugh about. The reason for this is that a fair number of the churches I have visited over the years appear to have failed when it comes to taking the issue of the elements seriously and this is not right. After all, if we really think this is something important then surely we would do our best to make sure it is done both properly and well.

Let me explain:

The Bread
One of the things I like to do is break the bread, if wafers are in use, as I use the words, 'The body of Christ broken for you...' the emphasis being on the 'broken' BUT I have visited a number of churches where the wafer is something soggy which curls as you try to break it. Disaster: 'The body of Christ curled up and rolled into a tube for you,' just doesn't do it for me!!!

It gets worse when the 'priest's' wafer is soggy because with that resounding 'snap' missing as 'we break this bread to share in the body' I'm left trying to tear the wretched elasticised circular abomination whilst still trying to look like it's not a three ring circus.

Then there's the wonderful wafers that have been dried to the extent that when you break them they go off like a gunshot and fragment. I nearly took someone's eye out a few weeks back with one of these as they knelt at the rail (I kid you not)! 

But as if that wasn't bad enough, the blessed soggy things, when consumed, stick to the roof of your mouth and needed copious amounts of wine (honestly officer - I've just been doing a service (hic)! ) to shift the thing so you could do the post communion prayer. Meanwhile the rest of the congregation, who weren't so fortunate,  struggled on (I watched a couple of the old loves present remove their top set of dentures) to try and remedy the problem!!

Mind you, it's not all about wafers this bread problem. A recent service was going swimmingly and as I picked up the bread roll (or 'bun' as they call them here) I was getting into my stride. 'Take, eat, this is my body broken for you...' (bread is now broken to reveal lumps of chocolate) - yes, really!

It's good idea to ensure that the bread you use is of the finest flour and the best you can get, but the communion I did with sunflower seeds in the bread saw more dentures under attack than that seen in the making of 'The `Revenge of the Curly Communion Wafer'! 

The Wine
Personally I like to use a good tawny regimental port (19% proof) because it tastes good and it doesn't stain the linen. When we add water to it (which we do because we're not out to get drunk, it's nothing to do with blood and water and Jesus' side) it still retains its taste and continues to have an antiseptic property (and remember, the using the purificator is a relatively modern practice - but it does apparently remove up to 90% of germs). 

The problem is that somewhere I went to recently used a cheap and nasty pale sherry which once watered down looked like cat's pee and tasted like (and I'm no expert here) something worse still. When asked there response was that it, 'Saved money!' Bah, humbug is what I say!! I'm all for being a good steward but this isn't the place to be skimping, If you want to 'save money' then cut down on all the wasteful printing and buy cost effective candles and stuff like that but make the Eucharist something special.

Next we have the problem of:

Storage
Try drinking the remnants of a highly dyed and nasty port that's been left in a bottle for a week with the top off and served from a silver container which someone joyfully attacks with some sort of silver polish each week to add that little extra flavour - it isn't a joyful or pleasurable experience at all!

One church I visited last year had the practice of leaving whatever hadn't been consecrated in their lovely silver flagon and that was why the thing leaked around the seams - the acid was eating the treasure away!

So here's a little plea:

Use the best bread you can and if you are a church that uses wafers, keep them dry (you can buy biscuit tins with some sort of hydroscopic cell in them to take away the moisture and keep them fresh) and if they become soggy - BIN THEM!  Do not inflict them on the communicants (or the clergy either - because more often than not the 'priest's wafers are the ones to really suffer) because it distracts from, and diminishes, somethingquite spectacularly important/    

If you use bread rather than wafers - either get a member of the congregation to bake the loaf or roll to ensure it's the right stuff and if that can't be done and it's shop bought - READ THE LABEL!

I really enjoyed Jesus with added chocolate but it wasn't in the right place  and was not how (or what) we should have been doing! The sunflower and sesame seed Jesus I encountered whilst covering an interregnum was nice, but it would have been improved by toasting the bread (or the person who brought it if that was not acceptable) and the addition of just a little butter.

The Eucharist is an important - no, it is THE MOST important - of the things we do together in Church - make it look and feel like that by taking the elements seriously when buying them, storing them and sharing them - Is this too much to ask I wonder?

Soap box away - it's safe to come out from your hiding places now!!

This could be going just a little too far perhaps!
And as the bags not one of resealable types...

Symbols, Colours and Objects - Two of the things we do

I've had a couple of interesting questions regarding symbols and objects. The first relates to candles on the altar (table) and what they signify because when they asked whether the candles signified anything they were told they were there because 'Jesus is the light of the world'.

Now I'm probably going to get into some heavy weather with some out there but as far as I know (and that's probably little) the reason we have candles (two or more) on the table (altar) is down to the fact that without them it's pretty difficult to read the service when it's dark! Basically candles were lit for purely practical reasons BUT of course it doesn't take long before someone adds some spiritual or other context to the blesséd things and they become part of something they were never intended to be.

I recall a lecture on liturgy, worship and the things we do in our services where someone read out something about the candle being a trinity where the candle, the wick and the flame represented God, the believer and the Holy Spirit. In the same lecture we were told how, with regard to the epistle and Gospel sides of the table (altar) - which (looking at the congregation) is apparently left and right respectively - the candle was lit on the Gospel side first (that's reversed for the person lighting because they do it from the front!). To make it more interesting, if you were into multiple candles you'd light them left then right and then repeat for as many pairs of candles you had (extinguishing them in the reverse order).

The only candle that represents the light of Christ remains the Paschal candle.

The second 'interesting' question relates to adding water to the wine when we celebrate the Eucharist (Communion). When asked the person asking me was told that it's all about symbolism as it speaks of the blood and water that flowed from Jesus' side when He was pierced by the spear.

Sadly I think this might be one of the great sounding explanations that fall just a little short of the reality and yet has made it into law! I know I was told that when I first realised the bloke up the front was watering down the red stuff - wasn't him fiddling the books or making the wine go further after all - there was this cool sounding spiritual explanation.

Truth is that it was the Greek custom for water and other stuff to be added to the wine and Israel having been part of Hellenistic and then Roman culture had been exposed to such practices and also made them theirs. It was what they did. BUT one of the reasons I was given (accompanied by a defence of the Eucharist by one of the Early Christian Fathers+) stated that it wasn't some licentious booze up (my words) but something else and that this could be demonstrated by the fact that the wine was watered down. Another explanation I had came from an RC friend who spoke of bread, wine and water forming a trinity and then went on (at length) to explain how it brought God, man and Church into a oneness - have to say I wasn't convinced and so find myself going along with the contemporary practice of the time and the 'not boozing' scenarios. But I'm happy to have someone who knows lead me further forward.

So there we are  - two questions and two (as brief as I can be) answers - a ten minute splurge - hopefully something sound and of worth here.

Pax

Evangelism - it's just telling people they're sinners!

I have had the most entertaining email from someone (who will remain anonymous) who wanted to 'put me straight' on the 'twaddle' (their word) I have written recently (something I always welcome) on the issue of evangelism.

Apparently (and I quote) the lifestyle evangelism methods (servant and friendship evangelism) form 'part of the pathway to hell' and by my sponsorship of them I am merely making people believe they are Christians and 'setting them on the path to hell!' The reasons for this thinking finds its roots in the belief that: 'The only true evangelism is that which tells people that they're sinners and bound for hell... It is this that brings people into the kingdom, for it is the righteous fear that the Bible speaks of!'

I have to be honest and say that whilst I understand the writer's concerns I do think that they are just a little misguided for I know of people who have become Christians because of relationships with Christians that caused them to stop and rethink their attitudes. They were in the company of people who spoke about Jesus, prayed in His name and sought to live in the way the Bible commanded.

The very best person to tell someone that they are caught up in sinful thoughts and acts is that person themselves. Prompted by the example of others and the move of the Holy Spirit, this is the self-discovery that leads to the discovery of a new self in Christ.

But this is, as my correspondent tells me, not the way to 'save souls'. What is needed is to, 'Get them so petrified at the thought of damnation and hellfire that they come running to Jesus and a place of safety.' Whilst I do believe that we need to warn people of the effects of their living outside of that which God calls them to be, I find the idea of getting people to come to Christ as a life raft rather unappealing. After all, I want them to come to Jesus as a Saviour and friend - not a means to a better end.

I have often struggled, as I have said before, at those who come to Christ because of the benefits that such a decision brings. There are places around the world where the profession of faith brings housing, jobs, schooling, health care and the like; bit there are places in the world where becoming a Christian spells the very opposite and invites oppression, persecution and death too!

I don't want people to come to Christ because of fear: Not fear of God - Not fear from God - Nor fear for eternity and hell.

Jesus brings a perfect love and this love, we are told (1 Jn 4.18) 'Casts out fear!'

I don't want to stand out there on the streets telling people that they are doomed and destined for hell (and why is it that the person who wrote to me, like those who often push this view, used the KJV?). I want to stand out there on the streets and tell people about how they are loved. Loved so much that they were considered worth dying for - what a thought, Jesus thinks that each of us (individually) is truly 'to die for!' - and this makes Him worth living for.

Evangelism is (in the words of Charlie Spurgeon) merely 'One beggar telling another beggar where there is bread!'. It takes the words of Galatians 6.1:

'Fellow Believers, suppose you find someone who is caught doing something wrong. You who have God's Spirit should set them right, but in a spirit of humility, keeping an eye on yourselves so that you won't be tempted to use righteous anger, condemnation or pride. For after all we all sins and can compound the sins around us by joining in and treating others wrongly'

Evangelism - it's done and dusted with that statement and the subsequent reading:

Evangelism = love, example, humility, acceptance (to them and from Him)

It really doesn't get any simpler than that does it?

Fresh Expressions - Stale Church, protectionism and misunderstanding

One of the most obvious things in the whole of Christendom has to be what we call a 'Fresh Expression' of Church! One of the most depressing things has to be those people who consider them to be of limited value or a means of gathering people together so they can be shepherded into 'proper' church', especially when they consider themselves to be missionally minded.

Fresh Expressions provide an opportunity for people who 'aren't Church' to become 'Church' and this means that it happens when, and where, those who aren't can make be there. Not only that but it also does church in a way that those you're doing it for can understand it and make it theirs, as you lead them to a place where God makes them theirs!

Now there appears to be some who have misunderstood these Fresh Expression in that, using 'Messy Church' as an example, they see it as outreach rather than church and this is wrong, the Fresh Expression IS church and therefore, being a Cranmer fan, includes .bath and bread. - yes I defy people, the aim of the Fresh Expression is to build a sacrament entity - that's why it's called church!

So a few foundational thought and the erasure of a few lines that some appear to have drawn:

1. All clergy are pioneers - would that they were, but of course they should be in terms of hearts desire and in the equipping and enabling department too (which means supporting 'Mission Shaped Mission' course to their members and perhaps even signing up yourself!).

2. Fresh Expressions are hard - but they are valid and effective. They take time and should have as the subtext the understanding that it is Church that's being built, not some parachurch club!

3. It's all well and good being an 'entrepreneur' but that's not permission to be other than Church and something where it's hard to identify what you're doing as less than Christian. We do what we do in the name of Christ and if we neglect to proclaim Him or preach His crucified and risen we have to ask what we're doing and why?

4. Missioners, Pioneers and church-based Clergy are part of the same Church with the same goals and should see that we can only be effective when we are effective together - take a quick reminding glance of 1 Corinthians 12 - then realise the strength of the Church is in the engaged and effective, and deployed, laity

5. Mission, and especially Fresh Expressions, are best done across parish and denominational boundaries - stop making Parochial ( in its worst sense) and start being Kingdom minded.

So there we are - Monday is with us
let's need the difference where we are this week - be blessed out there :-)

Paying the Share (1): À la carte church

Thinking of ways in which churches might raise money yielded some interesting ways forward. Here's the first in a series of (at least one):

The 'a la carte' church

(Click on the image for full-size version)

I think this might be one of the most innovative ways of raising your Parish Share - look at the benefits:

No more tedious and trying sermons on tithing or being a cheerful giver!

Meets the Consumer Churchgoers where they feel most comfortable!

No more complaints about Church after the Service - You Want it? You Got it!

(If this doesn't get me a pointy hat I don't know what will*)

Pax

* showed it to the wife and she thinks it'll get me a straight-jacket and soft walled room!!!