Holy in the Daily

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Traditional or Spicy–What Flavor of Communion Suits You?

communion cup and bread on a post at Holy in the Daily

Communion can either be traditional (however that looks to you), or it can be spicy. Last Sunday I was asked to set up communion before service. No problem. I’ve been in ministry for 36 years and setting up communion is rather a traditional, non-thinking type of duty.

I arrived early. Poured the wine (woops, I mean grape juice) into the chalice, and went looking for the bread to grace the plate. No bread. No flat bread either. No crackers that I could see. Not good.

Improvising, I asked Holly Hospitality if I could use a few of her plain bagels for communion bread. That worked, and the communion elements elegantly took their place on the red tablecloth.

Fathers House communion practice is to make the red table with the plate of bread and chalice available to any who would like to partake during worship. Since my friend Vickie was back in church after a few weeks of illness, we decided to take communion together.

Humble prayers graced our time together, and the small piece of bagel dipped in grape juice felt holy as we partook. Yet no sooner had the bread slipped over our tongues when fire rippled through our heads.

It wasn’t the fire of God. Holly Hospitality’s jalapeno bagels spiced up traditional, and communion burned within me through the rest of service.

I doubt they’ll ask me to prepare communion again.

What is your most unusual communion experience? We’d love to hear about it.

In Him together, Susan Gaddis

 

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This Post Has 6 Comments

  1. This is hilarious. 😉 I’m still laughing about it a week later! Very nice. 🙂

  2. Beth Piepenburg

    Haha! Steve and I wondered about the bread. It sure didn’t go well with the grape juice. Maybe some wine would have added more to the surprise, LOL

    I have used the artisan breads with the olives in the bread.

    We do communion on the side and periodically have group communion. When we do group communion, sometimes I will place olive oil in a dish so everyone can dip the bread into it. I will serve 1/2 cup of grape juice with a large piece of bread. Of course, we have a small church and we meet around tables. But I like giving people an ancient Mediterranean feel of what Communion might have been like 2000 years ago.

  3. Pati Gordon

    A friend of ours was ordained years ago…we had communion with salsa and chips…
    and, I have been known to have communion at the Diner with saltines and grape jelly more than once…
    I think the meaning is the same…and when from the heart, wherever and however it is, there is great blessing.

  4. cindy king

    this brings back memories of setting up our table at church ,the bread didnt get there ,in desperation i searched the cupboards with only 20min to go the only things left was the sunday school kids multicolorded little fish crackers . i threw them on the plate and was thankful we are a small county church .said lord bless these little crackers for its in rememberence of you .

  5. cheryl

    kneeling at the communion rail and I take a swig of the grape juice and there was a bug in the chalice which now was in my mouth. Now I had to very discretly try and remove the bug from my mouth at the communion rail

  6. Susan Gaddis

    Oh Cindy, I didn’t think to check out the children’s supplies! Great idea–and I could picture the response of the parents as they received communion. Very funny story.

    Cheryl, that kind of “natural” communion would have really bugged me too. 🙂

    I remember a rather different communion in high school somewhat like the one you mentioned, Pati, only it was coke and chips instead of wine and bread. Somehow that didn’t mean the same to me. I think the youth pastor was trying to be a little too “hip” and lost me in his attempt–I didn’t feel any heart in it, only hipness. (Is that a word?) Your heart seems able to turn water into wine in any setting, Pati, and I can see you easily adjusting to new ways of doing communion.

    Love the Mediterranean feel you provide your folks, Beth. We’ll have to try that sometime. Flat bread is my choice of communion bread when I’m thinking “be prepared.” For me it ties in well to the Passover meal which was what Jesus was eating when he first introduced communion. However, I really like the big, round loafs of bread when sitting around a table for communion.

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