Historicus, that's exactly the kind of information I was looking for.
Do you know how common that is across Methodism? Is it something that, for instance, is in canon law or other governing documents?
Also, is the handling of the elements something significant enough that mishandling would be handled through defined disciplinary measures?
(Again, just seeking to learn.)
What Historicus described will be true in some places, yet it is not universal. In my congregations, the left over juice is often returned to the bottle from which it was originally poured. The bread (when it is from a loaf) might be scattered for the birds or it might be taken home by a family to be consumed as household bread. (When it is one of those hard biscuits or wafers that sell it specifically to be used as communion bread, it is generally returned to the box it came from for use later.)
Anything in the life of a pastor could become significant enough that "mishandling" it could be result in some sort of disciplinary measure. I have never heard of that happening with regard to the handling of the communion elements. Still, if a congregant observed a pastor doing something that caused the congregant to get bent out of shape over it, what might seem like a molehill could become a mountain -- this true with anything a pastor does from song selections to the clothes he/she wears, and most certainly includes the handling of communion. My grandmother used to get so upset at her UM pastor for "lifting up the elements like the Catholics do." She
asked me, "You would never do something like that, would you?" I do.
True story: A pastor who had founded a church retired after 30 years service. The last big project he tackled before retirement was to remodel the old sanctuary as the congregation had grown significantly and they needed to expand it. Having completed this, he retired and a new pastor assumed leadership in the church.
He hadn't been there too long when he asked for a special Pastor-Parish Relations Committee to be called to assess how things were going -- you don't replace a 30-year founding pastor without expecting there to be more than a few hiccups in the road. To his surprise things were going exceedingly well. They appreciated his sermons and his ability to blend more contemporary worship that appealed to some of the new and younger folk while maintaining the integrity of the more traditional overall worship the congregation generally preferred. He had done exceedingly well in quickly getting to known names and connect them with faces, not only in the church setting but out in public. They were pleased with his presence in the community and how he continued on the outreach ministry of his predecessor. His leadership of committees was quite frankly a breath of fresh air and seen by many as an improvement over one of the few weaknesses of their former pastor. Indeed there was just one thing that they hoped he might hear as a matter of concern, and that was the way he did communion.
It seemed that the former pastor had always taken a moment to go behind the communion table and place his hands ever so reverently on the radiator beneath the cross. The slow way in which he so deliberately did so spoke to the congregation of the awe and reverence with which one needed to take communion, if he could only add that he would be perfect. Indeed, one of the reasons that people were willing to say good-bye to their former pastor was concern that perhaps old age was creeping up on his was that he had frequently forgotten to do so himself after he had completed the remodelling of the sanctuary. And they just hated to see that left out of the service.
So, the new pastor agreed to do this, though he could think of no reason why it had become the pattern of the former pastor. But, if it had meaning to the congregation, since he could think of nothing inherently wrong with it, he could certainly accommodate that one change. Still, he was curious as to why the former pastor had done it, so one day he called him to ask why?
When the retired pastor heard the question at first he didn't even know what the new pastor was talking about. He had added nothing to the service that was different from what was in the Book of Worship. When he recalled he burst into hysterical laughter. The old sanctuary had been carpeted. And he found out as a young pastor that his gait was such that suffling along to deliver the communion elements he sometimes built up enough static electricity to give some of the people a bit of a shock. So, he had taken up the habit of getting rid of the excess charge by laying his hands on the radiator before serving them. The reason he was seen as so slow and reverential was that it often was quite a shock and he was preparing himself for the jolt. As to why he "forgot" in the newly remodelled sanctuary. Well, they had chosen to put down marble in the chancel area and his only act of forgetfulness was that after 30 years of doing the other, sometimes he did forget and simply continued what had become a habit when he didn't need to anymore.
