Bread and wine

It was communion at my home church at the weekend. It's funny, but over the last 3 years, I have had communion probably more times than the previous 10, due to young church commitments among others. Maybe that's why there were some things which struck me on Sunday which I hadn't noticed or thought about before.

Oh, where to start? Lets begin with the bread and wine. Did I read anywhere in the bible of grape juice or (worse) blackcurrant cordial being used in the last supper? No can't recall that at all. So why oh why do churches do this? Non-alcoholic wine for those who are stanch "don't drink and drink" people I can just about understand, but unless they are a lightweight like my Mum, the half-full thimble isn't going to cause issues. I also know there's an argument that having grape juice opens up communion to former alcoholics, but to my knowledge they tend to avoid communion for this reason. That rational would only work if the fact grape juice was used was common knowledge.

And, as for the thimbles. I thought communion was symbolic of God's love poured out for us through the death and resurrection of Jesus? A love which is beyond measure. But this is the Church of Scotland and, well, we can't have extravagance. So, we generally use wee thimbles for communion which are half-full. It's such a generous symbol.

Now, since Spot and I began baking our own bread and rolls, I have become a bit of a bread snob. There's nothing like tasty bread, fresh from the oven. Unfortunately, the bread offered for communion on Sunday was nothing like that. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect the person responsible for bringing the bread to bake bread, but to be confronted with a plate of slightly stale (when was this cut?) of horrible white bread cut into 1cm squares. To make matters worse, the minister used a lovely (could have been homemade) unsliced, wholemeal loaf when blessing the elements and to pass among the elders. So, lets get this right, the elders on communion duty get the good stuff and the plebs in the pews get the poor substitute. Okay, it's only symbolic, but it doesn't look good when the elders look to begin treated differently from the rest of the congregation. And yet again, the symbol of the outpouring of God's love in stale bread.

Oh, and while I am here, why do the elders get communion first? Is it my church or the norm? If elders are supposed to lead by example, to be servants first, should the plebs on the pews not be served first? Or is there a theological rational behind the practice?

As I said at the start of this post, I've had more experience of communion these last 3 years. Most of those times, I have really felt something different in the atmosphere - a deep and genuine feeling of Jesus' presence in the sacrament. When that's happened, it's been when the group has shared the meal. The common cup and bread. We have served each other and all been served. I don't feel Jesus presence the same way when communion is handed out by the elders with dour faces. But maybe that's just me!

So, when I get into ministry (God willing) everyone is going to get the same type of bread. Spot or I will try to bake it. As for the wine, well, we do make our own. But there is no way it will ever be blackcurrant cordial!