What does your church do with unusable communion bread?

[abysmul]

They would have everyone come up to the altar, then they would would pass around gold plates full of bread cut in perfect dice-sized cubes. They passed the grape juice around in little doll-sized plastic cups, so everyone had their own cup. As far as I know, they throw the scraps in the trash. :o

Wow! That's EXACTLY how they described it in Luke 22!

 

[ViaCrucis]

Wow! That's EXACTLY how they described it in Luke 22!

It's a fairly standard, normative way many of the historic churches have administered the Eucharist. It's called, technically, Intinction. It's less common in the West than it is in the East, but it's still done.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[abysmul]

It's a fairly standard, normative way many of the historic churches have administered the Eucharist. It's called, technically, Intinction. It's less common in the West than it is in the East, but it's still done.

-CryptoLutheran

Yes, I understand that it is a tradition of man.
I've always found it interesting how much passion people attach to the defense of their man made traditions, when viewed in comparison to the Biblical act to which the traditions are associated with.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Yes, I understand that it is a tradition of man.
I've always found it interesting how much passion people attach to the defense of their man made traditions, when viewed in comparison to the Biblical act to which the traditions are associated with.

Like having sixty-six book Bibles printed in a single leather-bound volume, or the singing of How Great Thou Art.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[BlunderAngel]

There exists many examples of communion bread becoming unsuitable for consumption. A piece could have fallen to the ground and become dirty, a piece could go stale/moldy, a piece could have been spit out by an child or elderly person who is unwilling or unable to swallow it, etc.

What would your church do with this bread? Still consume it? Throw it in the trash? Feed it to the birds? Bury it? Burn it?

I personally would just toss it in the trash. Of course, I don't subscribe to the idea that it has transformed into Christ's flesh. I'm curious to see what those who believe in real presence do with non-consumable communion bread/wine.

Keyword, unusable communion bread.
Our church use to chop it into tiny pieces and feed it to the birds behind the church, and squirrels took a taste to it as well.
The members would also take it to the local park where a bird rehab center would release the birds they'd helped, and throw it out there as well.

 

[abysmul]

Like having sixty-six book Bibles printed in a single leather-bound volume, or the singing of How Great Thou Art.

-CryptoLutheran

I like my iPad and Biblegateway better, and never liked that hymn.

 

[ViaCrucis]

I like my iPad and Biblegateway better, and never liked that hymn.

The point is that there's nothing wrong with Tradition or traditions, unless they go against the clear word of God.

Scripture, for example, never enumerates a number of books for a fixed Canon of Scripture. So how do we even have this rather neat, organized list of writings which we have come to receive as the inspired and authoritative written word of God? Well, if have a basic understanding of history and are honest, it's a received tradition. On that I certainly have no intention of doing away with; it's a pretty important one for me.

How one administers the Sacrament of the Table, on the other hand, is a bit less important. I grew up doing the small plastic cup of grape juice and miniature wafer squares, today I'm a bit more partial of going up to the altar rail, kneeling, and receiving the bread and drinking wine from the common cup. That's preference though, and both are perfectly valid. Intinction is another method. Roman Catholics say it has to be unleavened bread, Orthodox say it should be leavened; personally I think that's a moot issue.

Where I do draw the line is when you are able to use bread and fruit of the vine but instead do something to be "cool" like Doritos and Sprite (this happened a couple times at youth events when I was younger). While I'm sure that under certain extreme circumstances, sure; but otherwise it comes across as at best irreverent and at worst it sets a horrid example to others concerning the sanctity of the Sacrament. That's not religious snootery, it's not making a mountain of a "man made tradition" molehill: it's taking seriously that when our Lord said "This is My Body" and "This is My Blood" and "Do this in remembrance of Me" it wasn't just Him speaking worthless bosh, but was actually establishing something for His Church that is to be done, and done with the greatest degree of sanctity possible.

There is a difference between differences in form, and total disrespect of the Blessed Sacrament.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[abysmul]

The point is that there's nothing wrong with Tradition or traditions, unless they go against the clear word of God.

-CryptoLutheran

I agree 100% with this statement.

I really do find it fascinating when people so passionately defend the sometimes very complex rules/steps/whatever involved in their man made traditions... often they seem to raise these traditions up to the equivalence of "the clear word of God", as you put it. Also we'll see people seemingly insinuate that if other Christians don't follow the same tradition then they are somehow in the wrong.

It really fascinates me.