I was standing in the back of the gym we use for our church service. I looked at the tray of oyster crackers in my hands. A dozen of us were about to walk up the aisles and pass trays. It’s like an offering, except you take instead of give. You pick up a cracker instead of putting in money. You get tiny bits of bread instead of dropping hard-earned bucks.
It seems odd, this ritual. Bread and juice linked to life and death.
What I know about the people reading these words that you may not know is that we don’t agree about how it works.
That group of you sitting there, you are a little uncomfortable with me serving. That bread and wine become death, become life. It takes preparation to handle that kind of dynamite.
Next to you, [yes, you] look at that bread and wine and see that the bread and wine are simultaneously bread and body, blood and wine.
For you, next to my parents, the bread and juice (never wine) are a reminder, a solemn symbol.
And you, you’re not sure where to sit in this little meeting this morning.
I’m not here this morning to try to resolve those questions.
But what I realized as I was holding that tray, looking across at my friend Chris on the other end of the row, is that Jesus didn’t set up a buffet table in the upper room to let them serve themselves. Instead, he passed around a cup to people who didn’t understand, who weren’t sure they trusted the guy next to them who was also taking a drink, who didn’t understand exactly why Jesus did what he did.
Taking the Body involves community. Jesus knew people are a pain.
That is the whole point.
300 words a day 
Diana Trautwein
Oh my, yes. People are a pain. And a wonder. Offering the sacraments was the pinnacle of my pastoral life. And attending a church, during the months right after my retirement when we visited lots and lots of different places – attending a church where a paper plate of cracker pieces and small pitchers of juice with paper cups were set up at 3 different places around the room, with no words of introduction and no one offering you the elements – well, that just about broke my heart. I so love the image of receiving the bread, receiving the cup – as opposed to taking it. The hands of Jesus – and the hands of all the others at the last supper table – touched the chalice as he gave it around the circle. It’s designed as a community offering and wow! do I miss that piece of my former life. Thanks for these good words, Lyla. As always, so thoughtful and filled with insight and grace.
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Diana Trautwein
Wow – I wondered why I had to fill out all my info again. It really pays to PAY ATTENTION. Sorry I called you Lyla – I followed her link from FB and made a very wrong assumption. Nevertheless, everything I wrote still fits, I hope.
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Jon Swanson
Diana… though i’m not lyla, :), this is a very helpful reflection.
I completely understand the idea of stations. The opportunity to stop and reflect and not be rushed, the opportunity as a family or a small group, to minister to each other around the cup, those are great reasons. However, for someone visiting, for people not having connections, this approach to self-serve has risks.
Thank you for helping me think through this even more.
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Diana Trautwein
Yes, I actually prefer stations to passing trays – as long as there is someone there to offer the elements and even to say the words. Self-serve is just strange for me. Holding either chalice or platter as people come to receive bread or to swirl the bread in the juice/wine – that intinction stuff is my personal favorite for both offering and receiving. It’s the buffet table approach that rocked me, I guess.
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Lyla Lindquist
Diana, how I’d love to have Jon’s wisdom and grace. But alas.
Your perspective here only deepens my appreciation for what he shared.
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Jon Swanson
Lyla, thanks for linking to this. And thank you for your gracious comments. Jon
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Jennifer Bush Dorhauer
Oh, I love this. No buffet. It gives me new thoughts on our feast to come in heaven. (I came over through Lyla’s FB page! Glad I did.)
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Jon Swanson
Jennifer – thanks for taking that jump to the coming feast. It too, I’m guessing, isn’t going to be a buffet.
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Paul Willingham
This title caught my eye on Lyla’s blog. Thanks for the insight and the reminder that we are in this together but also remember Paul’s admonition to examine ourselves.
I grew up in an evangelical church which observed the Lord’s Supper every Sunday. The bread and wine (actually juice, never wine) was passed by deacons and elders in those days and the congregants each partook of the elements as they were passed.
In recent years and as a member of a different evangelical group (and only meeting at the table monthly), the practice has been to hold the elements and partake together as a congregation. I’m comfortable with either method. On those rare occasions when leadership has introduced alternative methods, I personally have not been as comfortable.
Paul W
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