I went to church this past Saturday for the first time in a couple weeks. I usually try to go every week, but circumstances have been conspiring against me. So anyway, as usual, the service was absolutely amazing. This church is much closer to what I think a church should be than the one I go to back home. Church is a place for people to worship together and to encourage each other in the faith. My church back home has become closer to a bible study of sorts rather than exhortation and encouragement. I think that I have grown more in my faith from going to this church for a few weeks more than I have going to my old church for the past several years.
Anyway, this Sunday was communion Sunday. The way that this church practices communion really opened my eyes to what it may have been like to be present at the last supper and makes me feel much closer to the spirit of communion. At my old church, communion was accomplished by the decons passing around the plate of little bread-like wafers and little cups of juice. The pastor would say some words about the significance of communion and then we would eat them. The only reason that communion had any meaning to me was because once, when I passed the plate to a family member, they just passed it on. I asked them why later and they told me that since they couldn't let go of their anger at someone, they weren't able to partake in communion because they had sin in their heart. But communion at this church that I attend now is much different. The pastor said his words about the communion and then he and his assistant held a platter with bread and a cup of grape juice at the front of the church. Everyone lined up and took turns breaking off a piece of bread and dipping it in the grape juice, then eating it. This ritual had so much more meaning for me. Not only did the actual bread give me more of a connection to the first communion at the last supper, but I experience a much greater connection to the church community. It felt like the communion of a community, rather than an individual thing.
My church is on Grant St. It has a steeple, it is pretty hard to miss. Sunday service begins at 11 and they usually have donut holes, fruit and juice in the anteroom for you to snack on a bit before and after service. I invite you all to come.
