Two Sundays ago AHUMC had communion in both worship services. The difference is this time we had communion with the wafers and little cups (Comedian Dane Cook calls the wafers "Croutons-o-Christ" or "Jees-its"). This is the first time this has ever happened in my time at AHUMC, and I was excited about the idea of doing communion in an alternate way.
Then last Sunday AHUMC had communion by the method of intinction. That is each person received a piece of a larger loaf of bread then dipped their piece into a common cup of grape juice and ate the juice soaked bread.
It was after this past Sunday that I realized how messy Communion via intinction is. I have purple stains on my stole, there are crumbs on the floor, there is juice on the floor and rails, bread is torn. Even the "dishes" used (the cup and plate) are rustic pottery which makes it look somewhat messy.
However, the wafer communion was very clean. No purple stains. Not a single crumb. Unused juice remains in plastic cups. Bread is neatly stacked in a tray. The "dishes" are brass and ornate.
Juxtaposing these two images of Communion got me to consider something. The Catholic Church uses crucifixes (which are very messy), but have a wafer communion (which is clean). While AHUMC has empty crosses (which is very clean) but bread torn Communion (which is messy).
Do we just naturally have a need to have both a clean, orderly and sanitized visual as well as a messy, unpolished, and sloppy visual in worship?
What does it mean to have communion in a "clean" way? What about a "messy" way?
Then last Sunday AHUMC had communion by the method of intinction. That is each person received a piece of a larger loaf of bread then dipped their piece into a common cup of grape juice and ate the juice soaked bread.
It was after this past Sunday that I realized how messy Communion via intinction is. I have purple stains on my stole, there are crumbs on the floor, there is juice on the floor and rails, bread is torn. Even the "dishes" used (the cup and plate) are rustic pottery which makes it look somewhat messy.
However, the wafer communion was very clean. No purple stains. Not a single crumb. Unused juice remains in plastic cups. Bread is neatly stacked in a tray. The "dishes" are brass and ornate.
Juxtaposing these two images of Communion got me to consider something. The Catholic Church uses crucifixes (which are very messy), but have a wafer communion (which is clean). While AHUMC has empty crosses (which is very clean) but bread torn Communion (which is messy).
Do we just naturally have a need to have both a clean, orderly and sanitized visual as well as a messy, unpolished, and sloppy visual in worship?
What does it mean to have communion in a "clean" way? What about a "messy" way?