I spent some time this week thinking about how we celebrate the Lord's Supper. Over the years I have never seemed to find the right pattern when it comes to frequency of observation.
The autonomy of our church tradition gives each church complete freedom to establish its own practice. However without precedent to guide us the Table can be unintentionally neglected. I know, it has happend to to me and my church...more than once. (This is particularly true while the church is without a pastor. In nearly all the churches I have pastored, the church is so excited the first time we come to the Table together. They almost always say, "it has been so long....we can't even remember the last time we did this".)
When I was growing up, my church celebrated the Lord's Supper once a month. Later churches I was a part of celebrated communion quarterly. In theory I felt something between the two would probably be best. In practice I have rarely been able to find such consistency.
Other tensions remain unresolved. How do we keep the worship experience full of meaning without being gimmicky? Should we feature the Lord Supper during morning worship so the most number of people may participate or do we use another service that allows for more flexibility and focus on the table?
In my current setting the situation is complicated by the very large portion of our church and community that has deep Catholic roots. With that in mind, I am resolved to celebrate the Table more frequently, in settings that allow for the most instruction and reflection -- typically Sunday nights.
Here is the order of service we will use next Sunday morning:
Prelude
Congegational Music
Open the Eyes of My Heart
Forever
Let the River Flow
Give Us Clean Hands
Offertory
Video clip of Last Supper
Opening Words of message
Special Music and taking of the Elements
Concluding Words of message
Time of Response
Mighty to Save
The autonomy of our church tradition gives each church complete freedom to establish its own practice. However without precedent to guide us the Table can be unintentionally neglected. I know, it has happend to to me and my church...more than once. (This is particularly true while the church is without a pastor. In nearly all the churches I have pastored, the church is so excited the first time we come to the Table together. They almost always say, "it has been so long....we can't even remember the last time we did this".)
When I was growing up, my church celebrated the Lord's Supper once a month. Later churches I was a part of celebrated communion quarterly. In theory I felt something between the two would probably be best. In practice I have rarely been able to find such consistency.
Other tensions remain unresolved. How do we keep the worship experience full of meaning without being gimmicky? Should we feature the Lord Supper during morning worship so the most number of people may participate or do we use another service that allows for more flexibility and focus on the table?
In my current setting the situation is complicated by the very large portion of our church and community that has deep Catholic roots. With that in mind, I am resolved to celebrate the Table more frequently, in settings that allow for the most instruction and reflection -- typically Sunday nights.
Here is the order of service we will use next Sunday morning:
Prelude
Congegational Music
Open the Eyes of My Heart
Forever
Let the River Flow
Give Us Clean Hands
Offertory
Video clip of Last Supper
Opening Words of message
Special Music and taking of the Elements
Concluding Words of message
Time of Response
Mighty to Save
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1 comment:
Pastor Tim,
We too have a large Catholic population. You can always tell them: they are the ones who stop,make the sign of the cross before moving into the row. So we take a whole service to talk about the Lord's Supper. I like doing that rather than "tacking" it on at the end of a service.
Thanks for the good thoughts.
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