This is an issue to do with the receiving of Communion, and in this case the reception of the bread.
Now one person has raised the comment that at other places and with other ministers they take the bread from the plate, rather than have it placed in their hands.
Now I have always in formal communion services received the bread from others, and also in most informal services the same has happened.
So this has got me thinking, and I’ve been working out why I see that receiving is preferred to taking the bread. And this is the conclusion that I’ve come to.
We do not gain salvation by our own efforts but through the grace of God which is freely given. However we have to respond to this gift by receiving it. As our Communion meal is one of the Means of Grace, then in part here we are not just recounting and re-enacting the Last Supper, but are also showing in action and response part of the greater narrative of salvation. So that in receiving the bread; it is a symbol of receiving the God’s grace. Something that is freely there for all, and from which no outstretched hand shall be turned away.
Any one got any thoughts on this?
revjamespb 