On indiscriminating love
This reflection was originally written for my home parish newsletter.
During Communion at a parish near the U.S. Capitol Building, the rector tore piece after piece of a loaf of bread as he distributed it to the group circling the altar. As he did this, crumbs tumbled onto the raised platform.
One of my friends turned to me with trauma in her eyes, “that is Christ’s body all over the floor!” she said horrified.
Having seen some interesting communions—including a rainbow-sprinkled sweet loaf at a youth conference this summer—I was not so startled, but it seemed a bit impetuous to me as well.
By the end of the service, the smooth green carpet was freckled white, and my friend was determined not to return; she perceived their practice as utterly disrespectful.
In the parable of the sower (Matthew 13.1-23, Mark 4.1-20, Luke 8.1-15), God’s word is the seed spread all over the ground, including places where it will have no chance at life. The birds gobble-up a bit; rocks catch some in their barren crevices; thorns choke the few that are able to sprout; and the remainder produces copious amounts of grain for a bountiful harvest.
As one of my professor’s noted in a sermon, the seed is so abundant that it is spread everywhere. The sower does not make organized rows of seeds, carefully planting each one in good soil; hoping to yield as much as possible, he throws them on his path, knowing full well that most will not flourish. God’s word is that abundant too.
Only the prepared will understand, but all may receive.
Perhaps this rector’s apparent disregard for the bread is a statement about the availability of Christ’s body for the world. This parish practiced open communion, as does Good Shepherd; any person who wishes to may receive the bread and the wine.
Setting aside debates about open communion, the act of building a lesson of God’s abundant word in such a vivid manner during Sunday morning worship is an extremely powerful one. Had I considered this possibility during the service, I might have taken in the beauty of such a deliberate representation of God’s grace and bounty.
And if the seed is the word of God, and the word of God is the Gospel, than we are not merely called to be the fertile soil; we are in fact commissioned by Christ to be the sower.
We are to indiscriminately spread the love of God and Good News of Jesus Christ everywhere.
“Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”
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Well, if the priest had followed the rubrics, this would not have happened. You break the bread after the Lord’s Prayer and before the invitation to receive communion. Contained to the top of the altar, it would have been easy to clean up.
Maybe there is something practical in the rubrics after all?
No matter what your opinion of the presence of Christ in the sacrament, trying to make something spiritual out of plain, simple sloppiness isn’t necessary or desirable. If you were having a meal with this priest at home–maybe soup and salad?–and bread was broken over the kitchen floor (and especially left after the meal), what would you think about this person’s skills at housekeeping?
If nothing else, this was a selfish act, creating a mess and leaving it that way to the altar guild to clean up.
Whether or not the communion bread was wasted on anyone receiving (“Only the prepared will understand, but all may receive.”) is not trusting God and the sacrament. None of us know how it benefits the person receiving.
A friend recently told me this story. One of our professors used to be a monk in the Roman Catholic church. He was familiar with a ‘condition’ called “particulitis.” One of his brothers was very concerned with collected any crumbs off of the floor after Communion. One day, he had a handful of crumbs when the brother superior called him over. The brother superior blew in his hands, dispersing the crumbs everywhere and said, “Christ came to save you, not the other way around.”
On one hand I agree with you, but it is regular practice at this church to use a real loaf of bread and break off a piece for each person while distributing, and there is something beautiful about it.