Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Eating Jesus
‘ola mi amigos!
I am going to momentarily slip back into old-Bubblegoose vibe. That means I am going to talk about something other than girls and music for a change. You can prime yourself for my entry by reading my latest comic strip here. If you are uninterested in Christian churches (and I don’t blame you), just read the cartoon and call it a day. The rest is sort of meant for the choir, so to speak.
Do you go to church? If so, do you do communion at your church? How often? What is it like?
We Protestants love our Jesus Eatin’. We’ve let this issue be one of the major contentions leading to the infinite splintering of our churches. Who can take communion? How often? Does the bread literally become Christ’s flesh? When should it done during the service? How is it delivered? Real wine or grape juice? Unleavened bread is a whole loaf, or little prepared S&M Communion Bread brand communion nuggets?
It is a shame that the Protestant church is as divided as much as it is. It is a further shame that divisions come from such ridiculous sources. For a sect of churches that claim to “speak where the Bible speaks, silent where the Bible is silent,” there seems to be some blindness.
In most contemporary (and large) Protestant churches, we have switched to the use of tiny, Tic-Tac sized nuggets of communion bread. They are poured into a tray/plate and passed from parishioner to parishioner. Everyone touches only their piece (ideally) and the Host is passed around the flock in record time. The only thing that moves faster than the Host is the offering plate.
But using these nuggets has always upset me. It ruins the whole imagery of communion. I realize that large congregations sort of create new demands on practice, but even the communion meditations do little to throw light on the imagery of communion taking.
In our churches, the communion meditation is often given by a lay-member or a deacon/elder. Many use this time to sermonize. In my church, it seems as if the guys are auditioning for “holiest/smartest lay person” award; dropping poorly pronounced Greek words and outlandish (read: incredible in the true sense of being not-credible) illustrations. You wouldn’t believe the topics (and lengths) of some of the meditations I have heard. Week to week I cross my fingers, hoping that the guy (yes, only guys seem to be allowed to talk about the Lord’s Supper) just reads the scriptural account of Christ establishing the communion.
The point of the communion is to reaffirm that we are a part of one God. The imagery reminds us of His martyrdom, and therefore our redemption. But the real imagery is that we all receive these things from one unified source. My hand and your hand break pieces from the same loaf. There is an intimacy with sharing food. It brings a feeling of family, of kinship between strangers.
We all feed from the same body. This should be a message that heals division and doctrinal conflict. Instead, little illusion is ever made to this. In a case where church demands on serving time require Eucharist Chipper Minis (self reference, read the comic link above), the focus should be on reforming the meditation time. Make the guy stay on task. Make him talk about communion’s purpose and what the symbolism is. Maybe even visually break a prepared loaf so that the image is fresh in our minds.
The biggest threat to the internal validity of Protestant churches is our inherent attitude of rugged individualism. We left England. We split from the Catholic Church. We built America. We wrote the laws. Most of us refuse to establish hierarchies or creeds or mission statements. We split into so many independent churches and sub-denominations that every church is somewhat unique. We talk a lot about relativism and personal relationships with God. We talk about freedoms and rights and self-expression. Even our hymn books contain different songs, if we use hymn books at all.
All of this is deeply imbedded in the American experience, and it began with these religious separatists. And the ideas are passed down to each new generation. What we are ignoring is the corporate part of Christianity, and life in general. There is a certain amount of conformity and uniformity and self-denial that is integral to being a good Christian (actually, this extends beyond religious talk… there is a certain amount of conformity and uniformity and self-denial that is integral to being a good human).
We are called to look at ourselves as God’s children; all of us. It does the Kingdom no good to think of our churches in terms of services (early vs. late), church fellowships (Church of Christ vs. First Christian vs. Westside), denominations (Baptist vs. Presbyterian), locations (country church vs. Willow Creek), or any other dividing factor. When God looks at His church, he sees the Catholic, the early service attendee, the contemporary worship participant, the minister, the secretary, the deaf, the Hispanic, the child, and so on. To Him, all of “us” are from the same loaf. The only true individuality that is demanded from us is our accountability… and even this is somewhat out of our hands (we are told that we need the intervention of the blood of Christ to even stand a chance).
A God that has 40 billion individual covenants is not a Biblical God.
We are not individuals in Christianity. And the practice of using these Unleavened Chiclets only reinforces this awful individualism. The Protestant Church is heading in a poor direction as it is, and it needs to reform. It needs to reexamine why it is splintered, why we lack unity (even within one building), and what exactly our theology and mission is. A great place to start is with each Protestant church examining its practices and traditions. Traditions are not bad, but they do have meaning. And the tradition of the speed communion, coupled with the random lay-sermonette, is sending the wrong message.
If the church hopes to root itself in truth, and is sold on believing that the ultimate source of truth lies in the words of Christ, then we need to be better about honoring His words. Think about this the next time you take communion.
Horn’s Up
PS – The new Mindless Self Indulgence CD is awesome. There, now I am back to the new-Bubblegoose vibe again.
I am going to momentarily slip back into old-Bubblegoose vibe. That means I am going to talk about something other than girls and music for a change. You can prime yourself for my entry by reading my latest comic strip here. If you are uninterested in Christian churches (and I don’t blame you), just read the cartoon and call it a day. The rest is sort of meant for the choir, so to speak.
Do you go to church? If so, do you do communion at your church? How often? What is it like?
We Protestants love our Jesus Eatin’. We’ve let this issue be one of the major contentions leading to the infinite splintering of our churches. Who can take communion? How often? Does the bread literally become Christ’s flesh? When should it done during the service? How is it delivered? Real wine or grape juice? Unleavened bread is a whole loaf, or little prepared S&M Communion Bread brand communion nuggets?
It is a shame that the Protestant church is as divided as much as it is. It is a further shame that divisions come from such ridiculous sources. For a sect of churches that claim to “speak where the Bible speaks, silent where the Bible is silent,” there seems to be some blindness.
In most contemporary (and large) Protestant churches, we have switched to the use of tiny, Tic-Tac sized nuggets of communion bread. They are poured into a tray/plate and passed from parishioner to parishioner. Everyone touches only their piece (ideally) and the Host is passed around the flock in record time. The only thing that moves faster than the Host is the offering plate.
But using these nuggets has always upset me. It ruins the whole imagery of communion. I realize that large congregations sort of create new demands on practice, but even the communion meditations do little to throw light on the imagery of communion taking.
In our churches, the communion meditation is often given by a lay-member or a deacon/elder. Many use this time to sermonize. In my church, it seems as if the guys are auditioning for “holiest/smartest lay person” award; dropping poorly pronounced Greek words and outlandish (read: incredible in the true sense of being not-credible) illustrations. You wouldn’t believe the topics (and lengths) of some of the meditations I have heard. Week to week I cross my fingers, hoping that the guy (yes, only guys seem to be allowed to talk about the Lord’s Supper) just reads the scriptural account of Christ establishing the communion.
The point of the communion is to reaffirm that we are a part of one God. The imagery reminds us of His martyrdom, and therefore our redemption. But the real imagery is that we all receive these things from one unified source. My hand and your hand break pieces from the same loaf. There is an intimacy with sharing food. It brings a feeling of family, of kinship between strangers.
We all feed from the same body. This should be a message that heals division and doctrinal conflict. Instead, little illusion is ever made to this. In a case where church demands on serving time require Eucharist Chipper Minis (self reference, read the comic link above), the focus should be on reforming the meditation time. Make the guy stay on task. Make him talk about communion’s purpose and what the symbolism is. Maybe even visually break a prepared loaf so that the image is fresh in our minds.
The biggest threat to the internal validity of Protestant churches is our inherent attitude of rugged individualism. We left England. We split from the Catholic Church. We built America. We wrote the laws. Most of us refuse to establish hierarchies or creeds or mission statements. We split into so many independent churches and sub-denominations that every church is somewhat unique. We talk a lot about relativism and personal relationships with God. We talk about freedoms and rights and self-expression. Even our hymn books contain different songs, if we use hymn books at all.
All of this is deeply imbedded in the American experience, and it began with these religious separatists. And the ideas are passed down to each new generation. What we are ignoring is the corporate part of Christianity, and life in general. There is a certain amount of conformity and uniformity and self-denial that is integral to being a good Christian (actually, this extends beyond religious talk… there is a certain amount of conformity and uniformity and self-denial that is integral to being a good human).
We are called to look at ourselves as God’s children; all of us. It does the Kingdom no good to think of our churches in terms of services (early vs. late), church fellowships (Church of Christ vs. First Christian vs. Westside), denominations (Baptist vs. Presbyterian), locations (country church vs. Willow Creek), or any other dividing factor. When God looks at His church, he sees the Catholic, the early service attendee, the contemporary worship participant, the minister, the secretary, the deaf, the Hispanic, the child, and so on. To Him, all of “us” are from the same loaf. The only true individuality that is demanded from us is our accountability… and even this is somewhat out of our hands (we are told that we need the intervention of the blood of Christ to even stand a chance).
A God that has 40 billion individual covenants is not a Biblical God.
We are not individuals in Christianity. And the practice of using these Unleavened Chiclets only reinforces this awful individualism. The Protestant Church is heading in a poor direction as it is, and it needs to reform. It needs to reexamine why it is splintered, why we lack unity (even within one building), and what exactly our theology and mission is. A great place to start is with each Protestant church examining its practices and traditions. Traditions are not bad, but they do have meaning. And the tradition of the speed communion, coupled with the random lay-sermonette, is sending the wrong message.
If the church hopes to root itself in truth, and is sold on believing that the ultimate source of truth lies in the words of Christ, then we need to be better about honoring His words. Think about this the next time you take communion.
Horn’s Up
PS – The new Mindless Self Indulgence CD is awesome. There, now I am back to the new-Bubblegoose vibe again.
Comments:
Carl,
I think you are absolutely wrong on this. God will recognize christians and christians only on judgement day. There won't be catholics, presbyterians etc. going into heaven, only christians. I think you have totally lost your focus completely.
Rich
I think you are absolutely wrong on this. God will recognize christians and christians only on judgement day. There won't be catholics, presbyterians etc. going into heaven, only christians. I think you have totally lost your focus completely.
Rich
Rich--
I think you are completely missing the point of what Carl is saying. In talking about a catholic church, he is talking about the Church as God sees it. And that church crosses all boundaries that we could place upon it. God, in the end, is the judge of man's hearts and their relationship with Him, not the name on the sign on the outside of their church building.
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I think you are completely missing the point of what Carl is saying. In talking about a catholic church, he is talking about the Church as God sees it. And that church crosses all boundaries that we could place upon it. God, in the end, is the judge of man's hearts and their relationship with Him, not the name on the sign on the outside of their church building.