Posted on 05/16/2005 6:52:49 PM PDT by sionnsar
Well, not me actually. Thats the interesting testimony an Anglican friend told me the other Sunday.
He played in the worship band at a large evangelical church (one which hasnt 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 wasnt 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 shes 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 theres no need to revisit that.) So that wasnt 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 cant 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 vocalists 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 wouldnt have to endure too much of the worship time.
Yeah, I know. Probably not the best way to handle things. But thats how unhappy I was with the worship.
Now in other respects, I was quite happy with my church, and it is excellent. So I wasnt 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 wasnt 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. Im not saying every church needs to have the liturgy, ceremony, and traditional music Ive come to love. But God and his people deserve better than overamped singing marathons every Sunday and Chips Ahoy.
Christ Church isn't too far from one of those BiG Bible Churches. My Trad church had a number of families leave for Christ Church because they were more touchy-feely, program oriented.
The growing trend in conservative Episcopal churches is contemporary service with Praise, Baby, Praise. The odd thing is that the liberal churches are sticking with the Traditional Mass. (I'm speaking of the Dallas Diocese)
Of course, since the elements are (1) not proper matter; (2) not properly consecrated; (3) by a priest in the valid Apostolic Succession . . . they're right! < g >
Seriously, I think the majority of Protestants (and even some Episcopalians of the lower church persuasion) believe at most that Communion is "symbolic", and at the least that it's merely a communal fellowship meal. So I can't get too upset when they don't treat saltines and Welch's with respect . . . because that's all they are.
Forgive an ignorant Catholic.... (Oh My God, prepackaged Jesus.)
I'm assuming you don't believe that it's the Body and Blood of Jesus? Is that true? -- (not proselytizing just curious.)
Thanks, but it was business and not vacation. Though if KLM had failed in fact to fly me out of Stuttgart on Friday, I would have had a day or two of vacation because all seats on all airlines were full for the weekend (holiday).
Most (if not all) Protestants believe the elements are representative of the Body and Blood of Jesus.
Thus, it is the commemoration, rather than the actual substances that are significant.
I believe that we in the Spirit participate with the Lord when we observe communion.
I believe that Spiritual things are real and that Jesus' words to us were "spirit and life."
Communion is a commemoration, but it is not "symbolic"...rather, it is spiritual.
I agree, point well taken.
It still gives me the jim-jams, though. Can't help it.
Thank you for answering my question.
I tried in a short time and short space to give a real answer to you.
I stand between the hardcore low church position (It's just symbolic) and the Catholic position (transubstantiation....as I understand it.)
I probably fall closer to the Catholic side because regarding communion I do believe that spirit is real, and that there is a spiritual presence of the Lord and a participation with the Lord. (1 Co 10 & 11)
Communion is full of real power to the extent that the Apostle Paul said that those who receive unworthily can bring sickness and even death upon themselves.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.