is communion under one kind forbidden?

[FireDragon76]

May I ask, what is your obsession with avoiding wheat? Wheat is after all very healthy and good for you.

It's not healthy if you can't physically tolerate it.

 

[GracetotheHumble]

You are telling me that you can't physically tolerate a tiny wafer? What can you eat? Are you on a liquid diet?

Maybe the Pastor could find something he could substitute?

 

[Tangible]

Not if you have celiac disease.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coeliac_disease

 

[FireDragon76]

I actually react far worse to dairy than to wheat. Before I gave up eating wheat and dairy, I also had really bad fibromyalgia. I first noticed the intolerance to wheat a few years ago when I took Flagyl (a very harsh antibiotic) because the doctor suspected I had bacterial overgrowth related to irritable bowel syndrome. I quickly developed an intolerance to wheat. When I'd eat cream of wheat I could barely hold it down, it felt like I was eating glass.

I do not have a celiac diagnosis. I got a colonoscopy and blood testing that came back negative. But I do have the HLADQ2 gene haplotype (I found this out courtesy of 23andme), as do a lot of northern Europeans, and the overwhelming majority of people with Celiac disease. The doctors have no other explanation other than I have a food intolerance to wheat and dairy.

There are wheat-free breads out there, though they cost 3-4 times a regular loaf of bread. My favorite is Mrs. Katz's challah bread, it's the best wheat-free bread I've found.

I eat a lot of traditional Hispanic and Asian food. I live in a predominantly Hispanic area and its not a problem to get lots of wheat-free food like tostones (pressed, fried cassava), carnitas (fried pork and corn tortillas), yellow rice, or tamales (corn and meat). On Sundays after church we sometimes go to the local Vietnamese restaurant downtown- Vietnamese food is all rice, vegetables, and meat of various kinds (and fish sauce). The rest of the week I eat at home. I buy some Luna snack bars and Chex makes some gluten-free oatmeal.

I have experimented a little with eating ancient species of wheat like Einkorn or Spelt and it doesn't seem to bother me in small amounts, but its still not something I feel like eating every day. The only kind of dairy I can tolerate is goat or sheep, cow milk has some kind of protein that makes my stomach upset, so mostly I use soy or hemp milk.

 

[GracetotheHumble]

So ask your Pastor to give you wheat free bread for communion.

 

[Arcangl86]

The message that the ELCA sends is that they do what they want when they want; and that is fine because I will do what ever I can to avoid crossing the threshold of any of their Chruch door ways. The fellowship agreement with the Presbyterian Chruch sends the message that it does not matter if one even receives Christ's body and blood.

I got the opposite impression reading the Formula of Agreement actually.

In the Lord's Supper the risen Christ imparts himself in body and blood, given up for all, through his
word of promise with bread and wine. He thereby grants us forgiveness of sins and sets us free for
a new life of faith. He enables us to experience anew that we are members of his body. He
strengthens us for service to all people.

 

[bbbbbbb]

May I ask, what is your obsession with avoiding wheat? Wheat is after all very healthy and good for you.

Wheat, indeed, is very healthy and good for most people. Thus, it is the primary ingredient in bread, which has many scriptural allusions.

That said, there are some individuals who suffer, to varying degrees, from various food allergies. In certain cases, the food, if eaten, can be fatal. If one is allergic to wheat, then it would be most unwise to force that person to eat wheat. We are fortunate today to have alternatives to wheat which can be prepared for use in communion.

As an aside, there are cultures where wheat is not a staple in the diet so the biblical allusions to bread are meaningless. This then presents a conundrum - do you insist on using bread and wine in communion which is entirely scriptural or do you go with something culturally meaningful and representative of the body and blood of our Lord?

 

[FireDragon76]

This then presents a conundrum - do you insist on using bread and wine in communion which is entirely scriptural or do you go with something culturally meaningful and representative of the body and blood of our Lord?

It's not a conundrum for Lutherans and most other Protestants in the Reformed/Anglican heritage. Not all things in Christianity can be freely contextualized. Coca-Cola and rice cakes can't be the body and blood of Christ, because there is no scriptural mandate for them to be so. Since we are not talking about mere symbols but also a sacrament or holy mystery, the matter used in the sacrament makes a great deal of difference.

Bread can be made out of many things, not just wheat. In fact I don't think the Gospels specify what kind of bread was used, although wheat is likely. But it was not the only grain that Jews ate that could be turned into bread.

One thing I don't like about some of the gluten-free wafers used, they resemble potato chips more than the usual wafers. Roman Catholics use wheat starch to make special celiac-safe wafers, and the texture is no different from the regular wafers. But these would not be acceptable for those with wheat allergy (on the other hand, someone with real wheat allergy probably should not be drinking out of the common communion chalice, either). Celiac or gluten intolerance are not true allergies, they are unrelated immune conditions.

Personally, I would rather receive communion under one kind than mess around with something that is different from the rest of the bread everyone else is receiving.

 

[Korah]

You are telling me that you can't physically tolerate a tiny wafer? What can you eat? Are you on a liquid diet?
Maybe the Pastor could find something he could substitute?

Back in the 1970's I identified that I could not tolerate gluten--even in (a doctor supervised gluten challenge of) oats it would drastically lower my body temperature and make me feel dreadfully sick. When I (mostly) stopped gluten in 1976 my stomach distress stopped, my backache ceased, and after a few months my depression lifted.
In 1969 I had been baptized as an RC convert, and I figured that a tiny wafer could not harm me, so I took regular Communion for years even after 1976. Until I realized that I couldn't. Until I left Roman Catholicism in 1992 I rarely took communion, and occasionally wine was made accessible to me.
My ELCA parish (same as the Episcopal Church from 1992 to 2004) lets me take a gluten-free wafer that seems to me indistinguishable from the wafer I used to get as a Roman Catholic.
I also exercise my option to take (white) grape juice instead of red wine, as even a Communion dose of red wine can give me a headache (completely apart from and unrelated to my gluten intolerance). Only if I have donated blood within a week or two before do I risk drinking the wine (blood donation seems to give me a temporary exemption from migraines). I regard my afflictions as among many disproofs of RC, as it disproves Transubstantiation (and yet allows belief in Lutheran doctrine).