On Friday night the community gathered in the cramped choir of the Abby Church at Iona. The order of service seemed similar to ours: familiar prayers and hymns were included; after the sermon, the feast. Following a communion hymn, a few members got up and brought to the table the ewer, the loaf and two chalices. The celebrant began with familiar words, “O taste and see that the Lord is good.” After the Great Eucharistic Prayer, he turned, breaking the loaf and having eaten of it, passed halves in two directions. Each person in turn passed each piece on to the next, and it continued until all were fed. After eating, he raised the ewer with the familiar words, then poured into each of the two large chalices. No one moved from his or her place. Everyone served each other.
Few of us had experienced communion in this way but for centuries the church in many reformed parts of the world did this regularly.
At St. Giles’ High Kirk, Edinburgh, the service proceeded as in the order we are accustomed. The prayers and hymns were familiar in type and style yet some of the words were fresh—some dosed with a Celtic burr like my grandfather’s.
Then came the communion hymn and in marched four people, one with the offering plates stacked on a silver tray, one with a large ewer, one with two chalices, and last with a tray with loaves of bread. Each one presented their offerings to the minister who placed them on the Holy Table. After the Great Eucharistic prayer with parts sung by the whole of the congregation, the minister called to the congregation, which then gathered in a circle around the Holy Table. The minister took one of the loaves and broke it and ate from it and then passed half to one side of the circle and the other half-loaf to a starting person opposite. After each had received from the minister they in turn offered it to the person to their right and the loaves passed person to person. When the bread had started to move along, the minister returned to the table and poured into each of the two chalices and after supping from one himself, offered each in turn to the two starting members of the circle gathered; and then each in turn served their neighbour to the right. When each element had completed the half circle, the minister gathered the bread and the chalices and returned them to the table. Then he invoked the Peace—each participant shared the peace and returned to their place in the church—and then a second circle gathered, and a third and a fourth. During each of the successive distributions, the choir and congregation sang, seated, offering praise to the God of Grace who gives us grace to live.
Here again this Canadian experienced communion in a new way in the old world for the second time. The St. Giles’ service served about 600-700 people and was not much longer than 75 minutes—not bad for serving that many, and so smoothly.
How do you serve one another? Is it pompous or seems so? Is it efficient in time and ease? In preparation? And cleanup? If frequency of communion is increased at your church, keeping the manner of celebrating it meaningfully is a challenge; this may require new ways that keep the essentials and dismiss the show. Liturgy is the work of the people; good liturgy is simple, inclusive, and meaningful to all—after all, God is the host, not the minister or the elders!
