What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • Fencing the Table

    Now, Christians – wise up. I want some answers. I’d like to return to this question about what it is that entitles someone to receive communion.

    We had quite a chat about it when I asked whether one sacrament needed to come before another one.

    Lots of people seem to think this really matters a very great deal indeed.

    Consider, if you will, the following invitations and exclusions from the table of the Lord. All these are real and are quoted either from service sheets printed by congregations or noted from the spoken invitation to communion given by the person presiding. The first two are quite interesting because they each have a comment in both English and French and it is noteworthy that there is not a direct translation in either case.

    • Le pain consacré et distibué au course de la messe a une haute signification pour les catholiques: c’est le Corps de Jésus-Christ leur Seigneur et Dieu. Si vous ne partagez pas notre foi en sa présence, nous vous demandons de ne pas vous joindre à la procession de communion.
      The bread distributed during mass has a high significance for Christians: it is the body of Christ, their Lord and God. If you do not share our faith in the living presence of Christ in the eucharistic bread, we ask you not to join your neighbours at communion time.
    • L’hospitalité eucharistique est offerte à toute personne, quelle que soit sa confession ecclésiale.
      All are welcome to share in the banquet of the Lord’s Supper. Please come to the altar at the direction of the ushers. It is customary to kneel at the rail (as you are able). Receive the bread (wafer) in the palm of your outstretched hands with the right over the left. Receive the wine, which follows, by drinking from the cup as it is extended to you. Ladies, please blot your lipstick.
    • Everyone who loves the Lord Jesus Christ as their own personal Saviour is welcome to receive the bread and wine in this church.
    • All baptised Christians of trinitarian churches are welcome to receive communion in this church.
    • Those who are in good standing in their own churches are welcome to join us in receiving the bread and wine at God’s table.
    • This is the table not of the Church but of the Lord. It is to be made ready for those who love him, and who want to love him more. So, come, you who have much faith and you who have little, you who have been here often and you who have not been for a very long time, you who have tried to follow and you who have failed.
      Come, not because it is I who invite you: it is our Lord.
      It is his will that those who want him should meet him here.
    • Everyone is welcome to receive the bread and wine at communion in this church. If you do not wish to receive the bread and wine, please come forward with everyone else for a blessing, holding a service sheet in your hands.

    Now, my brothers and sisters. What do we think about all this?

    Isn’t it interesting how many churches believe that not everyone should be able to receive communion. And yet, isn’t it interesting how wide the discrepancies are in the terms of the deal, even in the seven churches quoted above. Some say that you are unworthy if you’ve not been baptised. Some that you are unworthy if you don’t believe the right thing about a point of doctrine, some that you are unworthy because you’ve not been initiated properly yet, some that you are not worthy if you are “not in good standing” with someone or other because of something or other.

    Is it not incredibly interesting that 2000 years on from the first Last Supper, God’s people really have not managed to agree what the terms of the invitation are?

    Now, what do you think?

    , , ,

4 responses to “How shall we pray for our elected representatives?”

  1. Meg Rosenfeld Avatar
    Meg Rosenfeld

    I’m reminded of a remark which Senator Dianne Feinstein (D- California–which happens to be my home state and political party) made regarding our current President, to the effect that it would be better if we could help him to be a good president than if we merely got rid of him. Oh, my, did that ever provoke angry outpourings! At the time, I was attending a parish retreat, so it seemed appropriate to mention during a group discussion that this nice elderly Jewish lady was actually quoting Scripture and saying that “God desireth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live.” This didn’t go over very well, but there you are. God bless our elected politicians, indeed.

    Reply
  2. Gordon Avatar
    Gordon

    Amen. We don’t usually pray for the Queen, but we often pray for politicians and leaders. Good challenge about MEPs and those who make international government – EU, Council of Europe, UN etc – work.

    Reply
  3. Kathleen Jowitt Avatar
    Kathleen Jowitt

    Amen. I’m wondering whether this point works in reverse, as well: “If collectively, as a people, we had been more thankful for the EU, would we have prayed more for its welfare?”

    If, collectively, as a people, we had prayed more for the welfare of the EU, would we have been more thankful for it? Might we have felt more like a part of it? It’s difficult to know the answer to either formulation.

    Reply
  4. Rob Avatar
    Rob

    this Sunday I was the lay intercessor at morning Eucharist at our church. In preparing the prayers, I looked at the last ones I had done, in Mid November, and used this one virtually unchanged as it seemed as relevant now as then.

    “In our country, political leaders are struggling to agree terms for our exit from the European Union. Our politics seem ever more polarised and confrontational, and it seems that any possible outcome could cause further strife and division.

    Almighty Father, we pray for all who have important decisions to make, and especially for our own country at this time.

    Guide the decisions of those who govern so that they may strive for justice, freedom, peace and the common good.

    Give those of us who are governed wisdom, love and courage, and the resilience to find ways to grow and flourish, whatever the future may bring.

    Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Previous Posts

  • Dalrymple

    To Edinburgh last night to hear William Dalrymple at the Book Festival. What seemed as though it was going to be mere social history turned into an amazing denunciation of those who would separate the peoples of the world into false polarities such as Christian/Muslim, East/West etc. Beginning from the wills and private correspondance of…

  • Preaching Angst

    I was rather depressed last week looking through some old sermons. They were the o­nes that I preached when I was a curate in Perth. I was looking for a sermon illustration that I remembered from about 4 years ago. I was depressed because the sermons seemed to me to be quite good – I…

  • SCOC – Come mourn with me awhile

    Have spent part of the afternoon reflecting o­n the life and death of SCOC, the Scottish Churches Open College with Jayne Scott, its Principal. I was involved in it, by convening the committee which oversaw the degree programme. It is so sad that the college is being closed this year. I still believe in the…

  • Learning to Blog

    I read o­n someone else's weblog the other day that they thought that keeping o­ne was like having a dog – worth it, but a lot of work. I guess that is true. The number of page views is increasing as each day goes by and I have hardly told anyone about this yet, which is…