Caveat: In this poem I am not saying that the way my church (and many other churches) performs communion is wrong; what I am saying is in the poem.
Thoughts on Attending Mass 9/5/2011
next on the program:
distribution of communion,
take a bit of his blood
and pass it on,
a thousand little cups
for a thousand members
around the Table
one cup per soul
gets it done
a little of Christ
for everyone
Is it one cup that we drink?
One for each?
Or one for all?
the Church is one
for Christ is one
he is here in the bread
he is here in the wine
and this is how we drink the cup
as one
the blood of Christ and the germs of our neighbor
as one
not at all safe, not at all clean but
as one.
I'd always wanted to go to a church where they share communion out of one big cup. I mean, it's 'communion', the word means association or fellowship. But you'd have to pass a barrel or something to make that work at Grace. :)
ReplyDeleteI like this. :) One thing I liked about a couple of the churches I attended in Israel (Anglican and Presbyterian) was having communion with one cup. It is not as "safe and clean" as we tend to like to have things...but it's probably good for us. It reminds us that we are remembering a death, and a brutal death at that. It reminds us that when we choose to follow Christ, it is not a safe, clean choice. There is danger. And it is, in some way, more communal. More like a family.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments, those are good thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I think our use of one cup for each person is a reflection of our individualistic view of our relationship with Jesus. We emphasize our personal relationship with him (which is a good thing) but almost at the expense of our common, unifying relationship with him.