Chips Ahoy drove me to Anglicanism

Well, not me actually. That’s the interesting testimony an Anglican friend told me the other Sunday.

He played in the worship band at a large evangelical church (one which hasn’t been mentioned on this blog). One Sunday, they were having communion when they ran out of crackers. So the servers grabbed some Chips Ahoy cookies and used those.

As he received his Chips Ahoy, he was provoked, knowing that just wasn’t right. He told me he knew then and there that he needed to move to a more reverent, more sacramental church. And he eventually found an Anglican one.

A commenter on this blog had a similar experience:

I am not a theological hairsplitter by nature and won't ever be. I'm not sure what you would call my understanding of the Real Presence. Maybe I am just one of those "is means is" types. What I do know for sure is that the breaking point with [a previous] church was the day when they distributed communion as an afterthought, like a snack, at the doors after a night service. No prayers, no preparation. I just knew then that it was just too important a thing to pay lip service to. If you think its important then you should treat it as such. I knew that I had to find a church with reverence for Body & Blood of Jesus no matter how they understood it.

And she’s now a happy member of an Anglo-Catholic parish.

I find it interesting that the treatment of communion played such a pivotal role in driving both to Anglican churches.

Communion has always been handled reverently at my previous churches. (Well, I can think of one exception at Big Dallas Bible, two churches ago. But there’s no need to revisit that.) So that wasn’t a factor in my move.

What was a factor was my growing dissatisfaction with worship consisting almost exclusively of singing a number of songs in a row, then listening to a sermon. The sermons were great, but the singing got tiresome. I thought, isn't there more to worship than singing? And my throat often can’t handle a lot of non-stop singing well. Then when my previous church persistently had us standing for more and more of the singing time –- often more than 15 minutes (My legs have never handled that well.) and when the lead vocalist’s voice was always overamped, hurting my ears and drowning out a usually excellent band (in spite of my twice telling the music leader afterwards there was a problem), I really got tired of it. It became a hindrance to worship. For a while there, I even made a point to show up to church late so I wouldn’t have to endure too much of the worship time.

Yeah, I know. Probably not the best way to handle things. But that’s how unhappy I was with the worship.

Now in other respects, I was quite happy with my church, and it is excellent. So I wasn’t at all seeking another church until I knew I would be moving. Then when I visited Christ Church Plano, I was overwhelmed with how excellent the worship was. And, although I wasn’t at all unhappy with how communion was done at my church, I did appreciate how reverently and prayerfully it was handled at Christ Church. And you know the rest of the story – from Bible Churcher to Wannabe Anglican to Newbie Anglican.

I think most evangelical churches would do well to note the small but significant evangelical exodus to Anglicanism and rethink how they worship. I’m not saying every church needs to have the liturgy, ceremony, and traditional music I’ve come to love. But God and his people deserve better than overamped singing marathons every Sunday and Chips Ahoy.

Well, maybe there's some truth in this, but before we all get too high and mighty about the Anglicans vs. Evangelicals, remember that until recently this was posted on the national ECUSA website:

"A Women’s Eucharist: A Celebration of the Divine Feminine

We gather around a low table, covered with a woven cloth or shawl. A candle, a bowl or vase of flowers, a large shallow bowl filled with salted water, a chalice of sweet red wine, a cup of milk mixed with honey, and a plate of raisin cakes are placed on the table.

When all are seated on the floor and comfortable, one of the women lights the candles saying,

"Mother God, Giver of light, let this flame illumine our hearts and minds. May its warmth remind us of the love in which you embrace us all. We thank you, Mother, for light."

Placing both hands on the fabric covering the table, one of the women says,

"We thank you, Mother, for the hands that wove this cloth. May her life be rich and full. We thank you for the colors, the textures, and the patterns that cover our sacred time and places. We thank you for the wisdom of the weaver’s art, the glory of the interplay of thread and cord. May we be woven together with cords of love and trust as we weave the vision of our lives."

Gathering the flowers to her face, another woman says,

"Blessed are you, Mother God, for the fertility of this world. We thank you for the sight and scent of flowers, for the way their shape evokes in us the unfolding of our own sexuality, and for their power to remind us of the glory and the impermanence of physical beauty. May our days of blossoming and of fading be days spent in your presence."

Dipping her fingers into the bowl of salt water, one of the women says,

"Sisters, this is the water of life. From the womb of the sea, Mother Earth brought forth life. From the womb waters of our own bodies our children are born. In the womb shaped fonts of our churches, we are baptized into community. This is the water of life." Touching the water again, she continues. "This, too, is the water of our tears. Our power to weep is an expression of God’s love in and through us. We weep in sorrow for that which we have lost. We weep in anger for the pain of others. We weep in hope of healing and wholeness, and we weep in joy when our hearts are too full to contain our feelings."

Dipping her fingers in the water, each traces a tear on the cheek of the woman beside her saying,

"Remember, sister, tears are the water of life."

The chalice of sweet red wine is raised and a woman says,

"Blessed are you, Mother God, for you have given us the fruit of the earth. Red as blood, warm as life itself, sweet and intoxicating as love. We thank you for wine. We bless you for the power of this drink to remind us of our own power. We praise you for the strength and beauty of our bodies, and for the menstrual blood of womanhood. We embrace the mystery of life which you have entrusted to us, and we pray for the day when human blood is no longer shed and when woman’s blood is honored as holy and in your image."

The cup is passed hand to hand and all drink from it.

The cup of milk and honey is raised and a woman says,

"Thank you, Mother, for the abundance of life. Thank you for the rich, full, pleasing, and life giving milk of our bodies. Thank you for the children who drink from our breasts for they bring sweetness to our lives. We drink this cup as your daughters, fed from your own bosom. May we be proud of our nurturing and sustaining selves. May we honor our breasts as symbols of your abundance. Thank you for the milk and honey of your presence with us."

The cup is passed and shared by all.

The plate of raisin cakes is raised and a woman says,

"Mother God, our ancient sisters called you Queen of Heaven and baked these cakes in your honor in defiance of their brothers and husbands who would not see your feminine face. We offer you these cakes, made with our own hands; filled with the grain of life -- scattered and gathered into one loaf, then broken and shared among many. We offer these cakes and enjoy them too. They are rich with the sweetness of fruit, fertile with the ripeness of grain, sweetened with the power of love. May we also be signs of your love and abundance."

The plate is passed and each woman takes and eats a cake.

When all have eaten, they say together:

"We thank you, Mother, for revealing yourself to us in the mystery of our womanhood. We thank you for the water of life in which we swam in the womb and which gives us the power to weep. We thank you for the blood of life which flows in and from our bodies and which makes us creators in your image as we give birth to new life. We thank you for the milk and honey of life which we receive from our mothers and which we give to our own children. And we thank you for the rich, sweet, and savory taste of life found in the grain of the earth and the fruit of the vine -- the gifts of your body shared with us. May we cherish it and ourselves always, and may we live in your peace." "

Here's one I found online:

Ingredients: (per batch)

1 cup - wheat flour (Do not heap flour. Must be a level cup).

1/3 cup - cold water (may have to add an additional tablespoon of water).

Kosher Salt (crushed to the size of table salt).

Olive Oil or any kosher oil (For anointing the wafers. May be brushed on).

Instructions: (Read all the way through before beginning)

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F. , and place a baking sheet in the oven so that it will become preheated. The heavier the baking sheet the better, so as to retain heat).

Dust a clean work surface and a rolling pin with a little flour (a sifter is recommended).

Measure the flour into a mixing bowl, and then set a timer for 16 to 18 minutes maximum.

Start the timer when you begin to mix. Gradually add the water to the flour, stirring rapidly with a fork. Form the dough into a ball, and knead for about 30 seconds until the dough is smooth. This mixing should take under 2 minutes.

Divide the dough into 4 equally sized pieces. Form each piece into a ball. Flatten the ball between your hands, then place on the lightly floured surface.

Lightly dust flour on top of each piece of dough as necessary. First roll each piece into a 5 inch pancake shape, and then increase the size of each piece one inch at a time until all pieces are approximately 8 inches in diameter. Note: By rolling each piece in stages, you will give the gluten in the dough a chance to relax between rollings and make it easier to roll out.

Quickly and uniformly prick each piece of dough 25 times (all over) with a four tine fork, turn each piece over, and prick another 25 times. Be sure to make holes, not just indentations. This will help to keep the dough from fermenting as it bakes. Remove the preheated baking sheet.

With approximately 5 minutes left on the timer, quickly but gently place the flattened rounds of dough on the preheated baking sheet, and place on rack near the top of the oven (keep visible through window). Bake for 2 minutes on each side until the matzah is lightly brown and crisp. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Cooking times will vary with type of stove and accuracy of thermostat.

Anoint with olive oil, and salt generously (like a cracker).

Here's one I found on the internet. It's probably the one used at the church above:

Nabisco Chips Ahoy Sacramental Bread

1 1/2 c Shortening
1 c Brown sugar
1 c Sugar
2 ts Salt
1 1/2 ts Vanilla extract
1 ts Baking soda
4 c Flour
1/4 c Holy Water
12 oz Miniature chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325. In a large mixing bowl, combine the shortening and sugars and blend with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the salt, vanilla and baking soda. While beating at low speed, slowly add the flour. Then add the Holy water. Mix thoroughly. Stir in the chocolate chips. Form the sacramental cookies by breaking off bits of dough and patting them out with your fingers into 2" rounds about 1/4" thick. Place the sacramental cookies on ungreased cookie sheets and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown on the top and around the edges.

Serve with Welch's frozen concentrated grape juice.

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