is communion under one kind forbidden?

GracetotheHumble said:

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

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

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.

bbbbbbb said:

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?

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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.