Lord's Table/Communion bread question

[christianmomof3]

Out of curiosity, what kind of "bread" does your group use for the communion or Lord's Table meeting? Is it leavened or unleavened? Store bought or homemade? One bread broken for all or more than one?
And please put your group or denomination name in your answer.
Thank you.

 

[Apollo Celestio]

As weird as it is, the closest thing I can get to describing it is "pill".

 

[Zecryphon]

Out of curiosity, what kind of "bread" does your group use for the communion or Lord's Table meeting? Is it leavened or unleavened? Store bought or homemade? One bread broken for all or more than one?
And please put your group or denomination name in your answer.
Thank you.

Lutheran here, LCMS. It's a small, round, flat wafer, and has a small cross stamped on it.

 

[PaladinValer]

We use wafers, though whether it is still bread after the consecration, I have no clue. All I know is that it has become the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus the Christ.

 

[InkBlott]

I was raised in the Christian Church/Church of Christ tradition. They used little, individually shaped things that looked like Chicklets.

More recently I attended a Mennonite congregation. They used home-made, leavened bread of whatever type the person making it fancied. We passed a single loaf and tore bites off of it.

 

[heron]

Oh yeah, I've seen the chicklets -- don't remember where.

I've been around, and have seen...

Lutheran --wafers that get stuck to the roof of the mouth. Served with wine. For me, makes communion feel to distant and spirituality too unattainable.

Presbyterian -- cookie cubes (looked forward to these as a kid, but they just don't seem right) -- not really cookies, but they're sweet. Served with grape juice, also sweet.

Non-denominational and AOG -- leavened or unleavened bread, with grape juice. Seems more real to me, and gives me a better sense of the Last Supper.

The others, I've forgotten.

 

[Melethiel]

Out of curiosity, what kind of "bread" does your group use for the communion or Lord's Table meeting? Is it leavened or unleavened? Store bought or homemade? One bread broken for all or more than one?
And please put your group or denomination name in your answer.
Thank you.

Small round wafer, with a cross stamped on it. (I'm Lutheran)
There is also a large round wafer used in the consecration which is then broken into pieces for distribution.

 

[Peaceful Dove]

We Roman Catholics use small wafers.
It is interesting to note that my Pastor told me that they are made by a community of old, retired nuns and this is how they support themselves.
We have, in Southern California Parishes, used unleavened bread baked by parishioners. The problem with this is that we do maintain the Eucharist in the Tabernacle for emergencies and to take to the sick and there are no preservatives in the breads and they can spoil. The wafers do not spoil.

 

[heron]

The wafers do not spoil.

My dad used to set up the communion before the service, and would talk about these things. It's very efficient, less storage space, and easier to handle unexpected numbers with the non-perishable wafers.

I thought about this thread during communion this morning -- we had tiny cubes of sweet leavened bread, that fell apart so easily that someone will be vaccuuming for a couple hours tomorrow. (It was either the sugar or lack of kneading that made it crumbly.)

 

[heron]

An interesting thing about communion -- it's very sacred in every church I can think of. But it was a Passover meal shared with friends when Jesus started it.

Passover -- God protecting devoted people from destruction, setting them free from bondage in one short burst of effort.

 

[a_ntv]

Out of curiosity, what kind of "bread" does your group use for the communion or Lord's Table meeting? Is it leavened or unleavened? Store bought or homemade? One bread broken for all or more than one?
And please put your group or denomination name in your answer.
Thank you.

Matthew 26:17 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the passover?"

For sure Jesus used unleaved bread: that was (and is) the Jewish strict use in the week before Passover.

The Latin Catholic Church uses unleavened bread, made only of flour and water, and usually very subtle

Here pics:

Eastern Rite Catholics use leavened bread.
For the Catholic Church, both leavened and un-leavened bread is a valid matter for the Eucharist.

For you info, here some photos of breads in the Eastern Rites:
Armenian (unleavened):

Coptic-Orthoodox (leavened):

 

[icxn]

Matthew 26:17 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the passover?"

For sure Jesus used unleaved bread: that was (and is) the Jewish strict use in the week before Passover.

Are you sure about that?

And in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, [is] the passover to the Lord. And on the fifteenth day of this month [is] a feast; seven days ye shall eat unleavened bread. Num. 28:16-17

Observe the month of new [corn], and thou shalt sacrifice the passover to the Lord thy God; because in the month of new corn thou camest out of Egypt by night. And thou shalt sacrifice the passover to the Lord thy God, sheep and oxen in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to have his name called upon it. Thou shalt not eat leaven with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened [bread] with it, bread of affliction, because ye came forth out of Egypt in haste; that ye may remember the day of your coming forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. Deut. 16:1-3

​

It is the week after the passover that the Jews eat unleaven bread. Christ used leavened bread at the last supper. St. Athanasius has a good explanation on this in Patrologia Graeca Vol. 26, in a short essay called "De Azymis," in case you would like to study this better.

 

[Peaceful Dove]

An interesting thing about communion -- it's very sacred in every church I can think of. But it was a Passover meal shared with friends when Jesus started it.

Passover -- God protecting devoted people from destruction, setting them free from bondage in one short burst of effort.

You are right. But remember how sacred the Passover Meal was to the Jews. Every part of it was part of a Sacred Ritual that was followed to the letter. Even today, it is. Jesus was a good Jew and he honored the Feast Days and did from childhood.

Whenever we have done a Sadir in our Church, we stick to the format to the letter.

Some may call this legalism and bondage but if it was, Jesus took part in it. He ordered the Apostles to be part of it. Then he changed it in a profound way. HE became the sacrificial Lamb. He substituted his Body and His Blood. Where the jews ate the flesh of the sacraficed lamb, Jesus ordered us to eat His Flesh, He was the Lamb. It was His Blood that allowed the angel of Death to pass us by. His blood conquored death and he told us to drink His Blood in the Holy Eucharist.

A NEW AND EVERLASTING CONVANENT.

 

[Mary of Bethany]

Orthodox:

Leavened; homemade, but with a specific recipe; one loaf broken for all, in the chalice with the wine, given by spoon into the mouth.

Mary

 

[a_ntv]

Are you sure about that?

And in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, [is] the passover to the Lord. And on the fifteenth day of this month [is] a feast; seven days ye shall eat unleavened bread. Num. 28:16-17

Observe the month of new [corn], and thou shalt sacrifice the passover to the Lord thy God; because in the month of new corn thou camest out of Egypt by night. And thou shalt sacrifice the passover to the Lord thy God, sheep and oxen in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to have his name called upon it. Thou shalt not eat leaven with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened [bread] with it, bread of affliction, because ye came forth out of Egypt in haste; that ye may remember the day of your coming forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. Deut. 16:1-3

​

It is the week after the passover that the Jews eat unleaven bread. Christ used leavened bread at the last supper. St. Athanasius has a good explanation on this in Patrologia Graeca Vol. 26, in a short essay called "De Azymis," in case you would like to study this better.

Yes, sure 100%

For the Jews, Passover is the first day of the week of the "unleavened bread", when it is strictly forbidden to eat leavened bread.
In the Passover Seder (the official meal the first evening of Passover, when Passover starts) the Jews eat only the unleavened bread, said matza.

Anyway it is from a few days before that in all Jewis look for crumbs of leavened bread to fire.

To clean the house from any trace of leavened bread is very important for the Jews: (Ex 12:15 Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away yeast out of your houses,).
From wiki: In accordance with the mitzah of not eating or owning leavened products during Passover, religious Jewish families typically spend the weeks before the holiday in a flurry of housecleaning. The purpose is to remove every morsel of fermented grain products (called chamets) from all the cupboards and corners in the home. The search for chametz is often a thorough one, as children's rooms and kitchens are cleaned from top to bottom and forgotten packages or pieces of cookies or crackers are uncovered under beds and inside closets.

Probably Jesus Last Supper was a Passover Seder (Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus), and so absolutly without even any crumbs of leavened bread, but also if it was the dinner of one or two days before, for sure no leavened bread was used.

Probably many centuries before Chirst, probably before the Babilon exile), Passover and Unleavened Week were two different feasts (perhaps in different days). But at Jesus time Passover was (and still is for the Jews) the first day of the Unleavened Week. And, as I told, even if the last supper has been one o two days before, we can presume the strict use only of unleavened bread.

There are better sources for the ancient Jewish uses than St Athanasius

 

[Thekla]

Yes, sure 100%

For the Jews, Passover is the first day of the week of the "unleavened bread", when it is strictly forbidden to eat leavened bread.
In the Passover Seder (the official meal the first evening of Passover, when Passover starts) the Jews eat only the unleavened bread, said matza.

Anyway it is from a few days before that in all Jewis look for crumbs of leavened bread to fire.

To clean the house from any trace of leavened bread is very important for the Jews: (Ex 12:15 Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away yeast out of your houses,).
From wiki: In accordance with the mitzah of not eating or owning leavened products during Passover, religious Jewish families typically spend the weeks before the holiday in a flurry of housecleaning. The purpose is to remove every morsel of fermented grain products (called chamets) from all the cupboards and corners in the home. The search for chametz is often a thorough one, as children's rooms and kitchens are cleaned from top to bottom and forgotten packages or pieces of cookies or crackers are uncovered under beds and inside closets.

Probably Jesus Last Supper was a Passover Seder (Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus), and so absolutly without even any crumbs of leavened bread, but also if it was the dinner of one or two days before, for sure no leavened bread was used.

Probably many centuries before Chirst, probably before the Babilon exile), Passover and Unleavened Week were two different feasts (perhaps in different days). But at Jesus time Passover was (and still is for the Jews) the first day of the Unleavened Week. And, as I told, even if the last supper has been one o two days before, we can presume the strict use only of unleavened bread.

There are better sources for the ancient Jewish uses than St Athanasius

IIRC (and mine is a faulty one), Christians in the east use leavened bread per the account of the Gospel of John ... there is some variance in the Gospel accounts ...

 

[icxn]

Yes, sure 100%

For the Jews, Passover is the first day of the week of the "unleavened bread", when it is strictly forbidden to eat leavened bread.
In the Passover Seder (the official meal the first evening of Passover, when Passover starts) the Jews eat only the unleavened bread, said matza.

Anyway it is from a few days before that in all Jewis look for crumbs of leavened bread to fire.

To clean the house from any trace of leavened bread is very important for the Jews: (Ex 12:15 Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away yeast out of your houses,).
From wiki: In accordance with the mitzah of not eating or owning leavened products during Passover, religious Jewish families typically spend the weeks before the holiday in a flurry of housecleaning. The purpose is to remove every morsel of fermented grain products (called chamets) from all the cupboards and corners in the home. The search for chametz is often a thorough one, as children's rooms and kitchens are cleaned from top to bottom and forgotten packages or pieces of cookies or crackers are uncovered under beds and inside closets.

Probably Jesus Last Supper was a Passover Seder (Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus), and so absolutly without even any crumbs of leavened bread, but also if it was the dinner of one or two days before, for sure no leavened bread was used.

Probably many centuries before Chirst, probably before the Babilon exile), Passover and Unleavened Week were two different feasts (perhaps in different days). But at Jesus time Passover was (and still is for the Jews) the first day of the Unleavened Week. And, as I told, even if the last supper has been one o two days before, we can presume the strict use only of unleavened bread.

There are better sources for the ancient Jewish uses than St Athanasius

Funny you say that because St. Athanasius points to the practices of the Jews at his time - not to mention the scriptures, some of which I pointed above - that unleavened bread is not made/eaten until after the passover which begins on the 14th of the month. This means that the seven days of eating unleavened could begin any day of the week. At the time of Christ's crucifixion this day happened to be the Saturday after His death.

 

[heron]

At the time of Christ's crucifixion this day happened to be the Saturday after His death.

I heard a speaker say once that the time Jesus was crucified would easily have corresponded to the day of the Passover celebration that the lamb was prepared for the meal.
(Perry Stone? The same teaching also described the Messianic symbolism in each Seder element.)


New Corn connotations...

'abiyb Strong's #024 from an unused root (meaning to be tender)

1. [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Geneva][/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Geneva]
   [*]fresh, young barley ears, barley
   [*] month of ear-forming, of greening of crop, of growing green Abib, month of exodus and passover (March or April)[/FONT]

Observe (8800) the month of Abib, and keep (8804) the passover unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth (8689) out of Egypt by night.

Some may call this legalism and bondage but if it was, Jesus took part in it. He ordered the Apostles to be part of it. Then he changed it in a profound way. HE became the sacrificial Lamb. He substituted his Body and His Blood. Where the jews ate the flesh of the sacraficed lamb, Jesus ordered us to eat His Flesh, He was the Lamb. It was His Blood that allowed the angel of Death to pass us by. His blood conquored death and he told us to drink His Blood in the Holy Eucharist.

Definitely.

Seder is a full meal, with bitter herbs etc., with each element of the meal representing part of God's deliverance of His people. God asked that the people remember His involvement with them and intent for good, with power to deliver -- in this way, for all generations. When we forget to recall the ways God delivers us, we lack faith for future rescues.

From I Corinthians, it sounds as though the believers came together for a commemorative, symbolic sit-down meal, possibly a frequent (off-schedule) Seder meal with readings.

It was a big deal to them, to see they symbolism of Christ's death and resurrection, and they must have understood how it tied in with the Passover. It was like a gospel message each time they partook of it.

1 Corinthians 11

21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. 22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not ? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.

26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.

33 So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 34 If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you will not come together for judgment.


I might be leading the conversation off track, but the OP is about what products are used in various churches, so it's good to reflect on earlier church practices too.

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[revanneosl]

We United Methodists don't have a uniform practice across the denomination. In various churches you'll find a big single loaf of leavened bread, or a big single loaf of unleavened bread, pre-cut cubes of wonder bread, wafers, "chiclets", or those eensy weensy little thingies that are hard as bullets.

For the cup you'll find grape juice some places and wine in others (not many othes, but we're sloooooowly making our way back) In some places it will be in one big chalice which we'll all dip our bread in, in other places it will be in little plastic half-shot glasses for individuals to drink from. In a very very few places, people will all drink from the one chalice.

In some of our congregations communion is served by passing the elements to the congregation while they remain seated in their pews. In others, everybody comes forward to the altar rail & receives the elements while standing. In still other congregations, we kneel at the altar rail and are served the elements there.

Some congregations use all of the above methods, and switch them up from week to week or month to month.

 

[a_ntv]

Funny you say that because St. Athanasius points to the practices of the Jews at his time - not to mention the scriptures, some of which I pointed above - that unleavened bread is not made/eaten until after the passover which begins on the 14th of the month. This means that the seven days of eating unleavened could begin any day of the week. At the time of Christ's crucifixion this day happened to be the Saturday after His death.

Well, St Athanasius did not knew well the uses of the Jews of his time.
In the same way you dont know well the uses of the Jews at present, even if there are lots of Jews in the US.

Scripture is not the main source for the Jews detailed uses at Jesus time. There are better sources, as the Mishna, a collection of comments of the Scripture dated III-IV century that list with an extrem precision all these particular uses.
Passover was (and is) the first day of the Un-leavened Week feast, and it is not related to the day of the week, but it falls always the 14 of Nissan, whichever day of the week it is.
And no leavened bread was used at the Passover sedar, nor in the next week, nor the days before.

PS: also the Catholic Church used in the first centuries leavened bread for the Eucharist. And the CC started to use unleavened bread simply because it is easier to keep for many days after the consacration.