At the end of a brief reflection on a conversation he led at the state gathering of Disciples of Christ in Tulsa, OK recently, Alan Roxburgh made this observation about his communion experience:
One final observation of a personal nature - it’s a bit of a strange one. For the past several years I’ve been part of an Anglican church. We go forward together at communion to receive the bread and wine (a real chunk of bread and real wine). I sometimes find my self standing in this little line as we move toward the altar with my little grandchildren beside me - it’s one of those moments when you are rooted in the ordinary and everyday in the midst of the mystery of God. Today, as we had communion I was aware of sitting in a pew as the plastic cups of grape juice were passed along followed by little pellets of hard bread. I suddenly felt quite alone and isolated in this moment of the body of Christ.
Roxburgh's important observation should cause those of us in the Churches of Christ, as those who share Stone-Campbell DNA with our brothers and sisters in the Disciples, about our own practice of the Lord's Supper.
How does our practice of the Supper impact our theology of the Lord's Supper?
Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? In other words, how do our exegesis/theology of the Eucharist and our experience dialogue with, interact with, and transform one another?
Does our practice of the supper actually reinforce the idea that faith is a private experience and interaction between and individual and God or does it connect us to the greater Body of those "in Christ"? Are we "alone and isolated" or "together and unified" when receiving and experiencing the Supper?
How does our LS practice shape us to be the people of God in the world?
Do we receive the hospitality of God in our experience? Do we truly receive the O/other?
Alright, just a few questions that popped into my mind while reading Roxburgh when taking a break from reading student exams this morning.
1 comment:
Ah, the confluence of theology and praxis...
It is my experience that many of our actions concerning the Lord's Supper have colored our theology.
Our emphasis on remembrance often causes us to reflect upon the death and Christ, and yet during the last supper, the disciples had no idea of the death that was to come, nor the resurrection.
Our tendency to vilify all alcohol consumption and the concept of non-alcoholic wine in the Bible comes largely from the American temperance movement (find me a European-or Eastern-based church that uses Welch's!!)
I think that our method of partaking in the Lord's Supper (each of us, one at a time taking the plate and passing it to the next person) does in fact encourage the idea of a privatized faith. It may encourage the acknowledgment of the Other, is severely limiting in that when with others, we have a better, and more full picture of the Other.
What I have written is not really exhaustive of my thoughts, but to do that would require more effort and study... and we both know how likely it is that those things will spring up out of me unbidden!
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