Over the last few days I've assisted administering communion during the chapel service of the girls school which uses our church.
In doing so I've been reminded of two things...
First, a lot of people (not just the girls during the week) say thank you when receiving the elements. I wonder who the person is thanking. The person serving them or God? I hope it is the later.
Second, with tradition dictating that those who help serve communion are elders or lay leaders of the church, how should the "assistant" be viewed?
It can be viewed as a place of, for lack of a better word, pride or importance. You are up the front of church.
But, in theory, it should be a place of humility. The communion table is not primarily a meal provided by the church, but by God. It is His table which people are going to.
When we view communion in a meal context, the honour goes to the host, namely God.
The most important people are the guests, in this case the congregation.
Those at the table are helping serve the hosts meal. They are at the bottom of the pecking order.
I wonder if this goes through the mind of those who are holding the bread or the cup???
5 comments:
"I wonder who the person is thanking. The person serving them or God? I hope it is the lat[t]er."
Why not thank the person serving?
If I am at a wedding reception, I thank the waitstaff when they serve me my drinks and meal, even though it is (generally) the parents of the bride who are providing them.
It's polite to say thank you for someone who serves you something, whether they're a servant or the host.
I too think it is the appropriate thing to be thanking the person serving, as well as thanking God which we should do constantly. It is physical food, it is an outward sign of an inward grace. The fact that we are human and are physical beings and are humans who interact is important. Otherwise we fall into Gnostisism which has been a problem since the early church and leads to people being too heavenly minded to be any earthly use. Don't get too "spiritual" and intense about these things, just accept that people are being polite.
I'm fine if the thanks is about being polite, but I wound also like it to be extended further.
Ironically, I once again helped serve communion today and there seemed to be a much better balance of God-recognising thanksgiving.
I guess the point I was hoping to raise, as latest comment said, was the AS WELL part of the appreciation.
Graham, like Alanys Morriset, you need to go and look up a definition for "irony". There is nothign ironic about helping to serve communion again.
Isn't it a little ironic that we sometimes view, what I think, should be a position of humility with honour?
But it's not on par with "having a black fly in your chardonnay or a death row pardon two minutes too late."
Post a Comment