World Communion Sunday, October 4, 2020
Hello dear families and friends, as always, I hope this email finds you safe and healthy. I decided to share some information about how and why our church celebrates Communion. This Sunday Christians from around the world will gather to share in the Lord’s Supper. They may be in a field or a dessert, under a tree or at home, some may gather in a church, but however they gather they will share the special mystery and wonder of Holy Communion.
On the first Sunday of each month our Church School children gather in their classroom once the worship service starts and they complete a lesson before going into the worship service for Communion. Once the Pastor has invited us “All” to the table, she then Blesses the Bread, breaks it and shares it with us and then she blesses and gives God thanks for the juice . The children come to the front of the church where they are offered the bread with a blessing and they may then dip it into the juice before returning to their seats. Sometimes we use small individual cups for each child and they have expressed their delight in having their own cup to take back to their seat and contemplate this process with wide eyed wonder.
We all come to the table hungry but not for food that makes us healthy and strong but food for our Spirit. It is this gathering that fills our hearts with Jesus’ good news. We come to the table with our families and friends to be nourished from the bread and juice offered in Jesus’ name. We are told” Jesus took bread and blessed it and gave thanks- He then broke off a piece and gave it to his disciples and said take and eat, this is my body which is broken for you. Then he drank from the cup and said take this cup it is my blood shed for you.”
Communion reminds us that God never gives up on us, even when we are at home, but God always comes to us with outstretched hands and offers complete and unreserved love, that we in turn offer our praise and thanks to God as we receive his Grace here on Earth loving each other as God loves us.
This Sunday, whether you are at a picnic table, at the beach, on a hike in the mountains or just home watching the Worship service on YouTube, you can take Communion with everyone gathered. If possible, you can invite your children to decorate a table cloth or paper for your own Communion Table. You can take a dry sponge and cut out the figure of a person and then dipping it in colored paint, use it to stamp your table cloth. When you’re finished ask your children who they will invite to join your family for Communion. You can use bread, whether homemade or from the store and you can use any juice that you have at home. Place the bread on a plate and have small cups of juice for each person present. You can follow along with Pastor Gretchen as she offers up the bread and cup or if you want you can watch later in the week.
Here’s a short prayer taken from the first verse of a hymn that you might use after you have shared Communion.
“I come with joy, a child of God, forgiven, loved and free
The life of Jesus to recall, in love laid down for me, in love laid down for me.” #420 Chalice
Kerry Mortland, Dir. Of Children’s Faith Formation “Seek Joy”
East Weymouth Congregational Church Eweyucc.org
