Another 40 day opportunity to reflect, explore, connect and contemplate as we choose to place ourselves in the ancient continuum of the Lenten Journey. In our 21st century way, we tread in the footsteps of generations of pilgrims before us who have claimed this season of Lent as their own. And I'm trying to imagine what they would make of something called a "blog" -- much less an "online Lenten Study Group" -- facilitated by a woman priest -- from a place called All Saints Church in Pasadena -- where whoever you are and wherever you find yourself on the journey of faith there is a place for you.
There's a lot about the church we live and move and have our being in that those ancient pilgrims wouldn't recognize. But one thing they would -- the bread and wine made holy in the ancient practice of Holy Communion ... of The Sacred Meal.The words might be different. The person behind the altar might be confusing. But the core elements that make up the act of blessing, breaking and sharing the bread and the wine -- those they would know. That they would recognize. And so that ancient practice both links us to those ancient pilgrims who are our spiritual ancestors and calls us into God's future as we partake of the bread and wine made holy.
And that's what we're here to explore together this Lent through the lens of Nora Gallagher's book "The Sacred Meal."
So as we begin, I want to start with a confession. (What with it being Lent and all.) I'm not quite sure how this will work or where it will go.
I've never tried to facilitate a discussion like this in a format like this. And so one of the Lenten disciplines I'm taking on this year is putting my control needs in a little purple box right along with the "J" on my Myers-Briggs profile (that's the part of me that likes lists, outcomes, quantifiables and products) and "trying on" being open to how this will evolve and unfold.
I've broken the book down into what I think are manageable "chunks" for the next weeks. (Listed on the sidebar to the right.) I plan to post a summary/reflection piece each Wednesday for the week ahead. And then I thought I'd post up during the week a few quotes from the book that struck a chord with me and why ... hoping you will do the same.
So to start today -- this Ash Wednesday -- I thought I'd start the way I would if we were sitting in a circle of chairs in a Sunday School classroom -- or around a table in a parish hall or meeting room. And that would be to ask you to begin (in the comment space below) by telling us who you are. And then to share an early -- or earliest -- memory of the Sacred Meal ... of Holy Communion ... of The Eucharist.
Welcome! Let's get started ...
I'm Susan Russell. I'm a priest at All Saints Church in Pasaadena and a native of the Diocese of Los Angeles. My earliest memory of communion was that it only happened once a month, it made the service longer and I didn't get to participate in it. I grew up in the Episcopal Church back when many (most? almost all?) congregations did Morning Prayer most Sundays and Holy Communion monthly (or so) and so coming to the table was not part of my early formation in the church. Not the way the music and the prayers and the coffee hour were.
ReplyDeleteAnd I love that I've gotten to watch it change in my lifetime. I love that when I baptize babies here at All Saints I know I'm baptizing them into a community where they'll never remember NOT being welcome at the altar rail ... never remember not being part of the Sacred Meal.
( figured out the google post thing)
ReplyDeleteI'm Sharyn Delahousie Lewis, almost 5 year parishioner at All Saints, Covenant I and II accepted into the Episcopal church in May,2006. I come from a long line of Louisiana Creole Catholics, my first memory is of finally tasting the wafer after a long period of Saturday Catechism classes. I cherish the fact that at All Saints the Eucharist is not held away as a prize to be earned but nourishment for the journey and an invitation into a closer relationship.
Our Methodist communion, too, was a once-a-month ritual, with thumb-nail sized cups of grape juice taken from, and placed back into a tray made specifically for that purpose. I thought the wafer followed by the juice one of the most wonderful tastes I could experience, but from a child's limited gastronomical, not spiritual, perspective. I think I can look back now and recognize that even then, without realizing it, the I was part and parcel of the community.
ReplyDelete-Edna Trigg, All Saints member three months, now.
I'm Dee Miller, I started coming to All Saints November of last year. I remember going to Catholic church with my grandmother and communion was mysterious to me. I've been attending the Confirmation class. Zelda did a guided Eucharist and now communion makes more sense to me. The first time I heard Ed Bacon say everyone was welcome to participate in the communion, I was shocked and pleasantly surprised. My 5 yr old loves going up to "get the cracker" as she puts it.
ReplyDeleteGloria Rousseau here. Here is West Point in the Sierra Foothills east and a little south of Sacramento. I spent my adolescence in the Methodist Church having communion once a month with tiny cups of grape juice and little squares of (so appropriate) Wonder Bread. I left the church in disillusionment over values that to me seemed unchristian. I engaged in what I'll call solo spiritual practices for 45 years. Two years ago I began to long for community and visited two local churches where as a lesbian,I was either unwelcome or welcomed as a sinner among sinners. When I partook of communion I was aware that I did not see myself as a sinner for being lesbian and had no intention of changing that aspect of myself. I wasn't even sure I could be considered Christian. Yet communion awakened my relationship with God and others at the table. I volunteered at a local youth center cooking family meals and started reading. After the bible came Armstrong and Pagels. I read J.S. Spong and Marcus Borg with joy. A year ago I started going to an Episcopal Church where I was welcomed as a saint among saints.
ReplyDeleteFrom a "sinner amoung sinners" to a "saint among saints" is quite a journey. God continue to bless you.
ReplyDeleteWonder bread?! Does it still build strong bodies 12 different ways?
Hello. First, thank you, Susan for doing this and for posting a link on Facebook.
ReplyDeleteI am Larry Gaissert from Elm City, NC. I also grew up in the Methodist church (in Alabama.) We had communion every three months, with those small wafers and shot glasses of grape juice. I remember looking forward to "Communion Sunday." Somehow I knew, even as a small child, that something special was happening. I've been an Episcopalian for about 25 years now and feel like I am even now just beginning to scratch the surface of understanding what that "something special" was.
I'm Jim White - been a member of All Saints Pasadena for nearly 25 years (started coming in the Spring of '85, did the Covenant class and was confirmed as an Episcopalian in Eastertide of '86). I grew up in the Presbyterian Church and like Edna, Gloria and Larry recall, communion for us consisted of little mini-shot glasses of grape juice and perfectly cubed pieces of Wonder Bread, but in the Presbyterian Church it only happened once a quarter. I'm not sure I remember completely, but I don't think I was allowed to participate until I "became a member" of the church at about age 12 (still have the Bible I was presented as part of that service). But even before I could participate, like Larry, I always looked forward to that service.
ReplyDeleteEven when I first started coming to All Saints, we didn't have communion every week: the first and third Sundays of the month were Morning Prayer and the second and fourth Sundays were Eucharist. So even within my "Episcopal lifetime," things have changed significantly. It's hard now to imagine not feasting on the Bread and Wine Made Holy every week. One of my favorite lines in one of the Eucharistic Prayers (that we don't use very often at All Saints) says, "Deliver us from the presumption of coming to this Table for solace only, and not for strength; for pardon only, and not for renewal." It's that strength and renewal that I look forward to every week. Some of my favorite services at All Saints are the noonday Eucharists, held every weekday at 12:10 in the chapel. Sometimes only 3 or 5 or 8 people are there, but it's always a wonderful celebration of God's gift of love to us and I love the quiet intimacy of those services.
I'm looking forward to participating in this group - seems to be off to a good start.
I'm Kate, and I grew up in an adamantly agnostic household. On the rare occasions I ended up in church, communion was by far the most stressful part - I never knew whether I was allowed or supposed to go up to the rail, and I was pretty sure the air raid sirens would sound if I did the wrong thing. It always made me feel very separate and different from everyone else there.
ReplyDeleteWhen my husband and I started going to All Saints, at first we stayed in our pew, but eventually we got in the habit of taking communion - probably because of the very sincere statement of welcome that precedes it. I love that moment of personal connection with whoever is passing out the bread and wine. I still wonder occasionally, however, whether I'm "doing it right" - hence my interest in this book and small group.
I'm Terry. My parents thought it important to send my brothers and me to church every Sunday when we were young. They never attended. My mother, a lapsed Catholic tells me now that her notion of parish was the local church, so we were sent, sometimes driven to the local church. She had no strong sense of denomination. So, though I started in the Anglican church, each time my family moved, the churches changed (there was Lutheran, Mennonite, Baptist, Unitarian, and Mormon) until I reached the age when I could decide myself to attend with friends.
ReplyDeleteMy first memory of "the Lord's Supper" was in a Baptist church where we were served Welch's grape juice and a tiny uniform cracker. My response was "Why so little?"
Years later as a young adult, I took a job as section leader at an Episcopal church south of Pasadena, and took my first communion as an adult in a parish steadfastly using the old prayer book. I remember most clearly hearing the words: "We are not worthy so much as to pick up the crumbs under thy table" and realiziing I might not be the only one there who felt as though he didn't deserve God's love and blessing.
via email:
ReplyDelete"Thanks for selecting this book for your on line study group. I bought it yesterday and started reading it last night. I awoke at four am this morning and finished reading it. Great style of writing and so many great ways of connecting the reader to this sacrament.
I was raised Southern Baptist and communion only happened every quarter when we got new Sunday school books. It wasn't until I became an Episcopalian at age twenty that it took on any real meaning for me. Now I feel so close to God and also my deceased family members when I partake of the Eucharist. I imagine them present kneeling with me during the service."
Hello, I am jimB. Like many here a convert, I grew up in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. I recall 'the Lord's supper' as a quarterly event for adults. Coming to TEC was coming home. I am enjoying the book.
ReplyDeleteFWIW
jimB