A thought on communion


Today was communion and I’m afraid I had a very mischievous thought at the way it’s done at KHR. It was prompted by a particular wording of the prayer I was saying near the start of the service. I was speaking about the bread and wine as visible reminders of the body and blood of Jesus. Only, as I said it, I realised that they weren’t actually there. At KHR they’re brought out just prior to the sacrament and removed again just after. In my home church they’re out for the duration of the service.

It got me wondering why it was done like this (in either place) and I guess that ritual is often historically inherited, but sometimes it’s the liturgical emphasis that’s needed.

Anyway, my mischievous thought – do we just ‘wheel out’ Jesus when it suits us and tuck Him away when we’re done? Actually, given one of the points in today’s sermon, it’s maybe not such a trivial question.


2 responses to “A thought on communion”

  1. It’s not so mischievous !
    The people in the pews usually have the ‘help’ view of prayer. They don’t always invite Jesus into the ‘ordinariness’ of life. So, there is a tendency to ‘wheel Jesus out when we need him’.
    I was hoping to raise in folks minds the need to have Jesus there all the time (which you noted – others did too !)
    The practice of bringing the bread and wine in at KHR is an inherited procedure, and traditions like that are hard to change. (That’s not to say that they shouldn’t)

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