What do you think?
I have a friend Who posted this on his webpage...I believe he wrote it. I am proud to say that he was one of "my" students when i was in "full-time ministry". I think Chad is on to something. What do you think?
Communion, rather, is intended to be a replication of The Last Supper where the disciples ate with Jesus, facing each other, eating a meal. Together they were asked to ‘do this in remembrance’ of Christ. The experience of a meal at a table is fundamentally different than the passing of an emblem among rows of chairs. Is Christ to be remembered, as he lived, in a community, or as a ritual that commodifies the experience of remembrance? Perhaps communion was meant to be more than we have allowed it to be, perhaps it could be more lifelike, perhaps it could include more accountability, and perhaps it could be more joyful and celebratory; remembering Christ with people instead of merely in the presence of people. [Added 3/01/2005]
http://www.gagarinreport.com/statement.html
Communion, rather, is intended to be a replication of The Last Supper where the disciples ate with Jesus, facing each other, eating a meal. Together they were asked to ‘do this in remembrance’ of Christ. The experience of a meal at a table is fundamentally different than the passing of an emblem among rows of chairs. Is Christ to be remembered, as he lived, in a community, or as a ritual that commodifies the experience of remembrance? Perhaps communion was meant to be more than we have allowed it to be, perhaps it could be more lifelike, perhaps it could include more accountability, and perhaps it could be more joyful and celebratory; remembering Christ with people instead of merely in the presence of people. [Added 3/01/2005]
http://www.gagarinreport.com/statement.html
posted by Tim @ 8:33 PM
1 Comments:
At 3:18 PM ,
Bob said...
He's definitely on to something--and it's something I've heard other places as well. You hear the term "celebrate communion" but, in practice, it always looks more like taking cyanide or something. When you think about it, in most services, communion is more of a time of synchronized individual reflection rather than corporate worship. Instead, it should be like Chad said, "remembering Christ with people instead of merely in the presence of people."
But how do you make communion look like this in a room with a stage, rows of seats, and 100 or 1,000 or 10,000 relative strangers?
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