This coming Sunday we have harvest festival, loosely based on the BMS material but with a collection of non-perishables for a local project supporting homeless people and the women's refuge. It is also a communion service, for which I'll be employing the Iona words suggested in the BMS material. Reading these words, watching the DVD clip (and also those from other harvest appeals) made we feel that a lot of what we do at Communion is actually (strong words I know) a theological obscenity - we become so preoccupied with making it look lovely (afterall, it is a very important aspect of worship) worrying about who will receive it and what it all means (as if it is for us to debar or understand) that we miss the point that millions of people will have neither bread not water. This isn't the place for a big debate about communion theologies (though of course mine is right :o) ) nor am I saying that we shouldn't take it seriously and do it properly - just that I have been challenged. So here is my response to my thoughts...
The table of the LORD is spread
A table purchased for this precise purpose
Expensive wood, ornately shaped and finished
Dusted and polished
Placed, just so, central, prominent – here
The table of the LORD is spread
A snow-white cloth carefully selected
Embroidered or plain, crocheted or linen
Starched and pressed
Placed, just so, even, equal – here
The table of the LORD is spread
Gleaming silverware and thimble-sized glass
Specially chosen plates, purpose-made trays
Buffed and filled
Placed, just so, here and here and here
The table of the LORD is spread
Precise cubes of pre-sliced bread
A small loaf, partially cut for fear of crumbs
Tidy and purposeful
Placed, just so, covered by doilies – here
The table of the LORD is spread
Deep red specially purchased ‘wine’
Poured with clinical precision
Drips wiped away
Placed, just so, stacked in trays – here
The table of the LORD is spread
Ritualised remembering
Where well fed westerners seek spiritual succour
Whilst the two-third world seeks bread and water
Untidy, uncomfortable – and not here
The table of the LORD is spread
I was hungry and you did not feed me
I was thirsty and you did not give we water
When LORD, did we see you thus?
Perhaps it is here.
The table of the LORD is spread
A gopak table in a borrowed room
A pottery plate and a glass tumbler
Yesterday’s bread roll and diluted squash
Come one, come all
Glimpses of grace and hopes of glory –
Perhaps they’re here…
For those lovely sacramental Baptist friends who are reading this, no, I haven't capitulated, I know what I mean by my words!! The most profound experiences of communion I've had have been in unexpected places with ad hoc arrangements, which I can't help feeling are somehwat more authentic than the ritualised remembering and construction of liturgical channels encountered in dedicated buildings.