So, I'll be Totally Random Tonight...
I'm taking this online class on Communion. You'd think that after pastoring for almost ten years I'd have a handle on communion - but, you'd be wrong. Here's a quote from a posting that someone made in the class (commenting on a Communion service):
But wow! There is communion but no Eucharist! Where is the ananesis? the distinctly Jewish Christian way of remembering the work of the Trinity in creation, redemption and anticipated consummation? Where is the epiclesis? the invocation of the Spirit on the assembly and on the sharing of bread and wine?
Um...ananesis? epiclesis? Communion but no Eucharist? Um...consummation? (okay, I know what that last word MEANS - but I'm not even sure that I get the whole sentence).
Please understand, I am in no way mocking this poster. He has a depth of understanding communion that I don't and he's not trying to show off, or look important or whatever. Those are words and phrases that he associates with communion - and there is some serious depth there (theological and spiritual).
So, it turns out, I have a lot to learn about communion. Oh, I'll still probably celebrate it "wrong" - but I'll know why it's "wrong" and why I'm doing it that way. I know all the rules for grammar (heh, I know my writing wouldn't show it) but I routinely break the rules - with a purpose. I was just at a seminar on worship and digital media and the presenter was talking about composing images for worship and he said that we need to learn the rules of composition because they give you the tools to present an image in worship that will have the intended effect (like leading the eyes to the most important part of the image and the "rule of thirds") but there will be times that you need to break the rules and that's okay, because sometimes breaking the rule can be very effective and powerful but we have to remember that if you break the rules once in a while, it moves people to where you want to them to look but if you break the rules all the time, well, that's just bad design. How's that for a runon sentence? Heh, reads like the Apostle Paul in Greek (well, in form, not content, because there's really nothing innately spiritual about good and bad design or even, for that matter, run on sentences...oh, there I go again...).
More randomness later...
But wow! There is communion but no Eucharist! Where is the ananesis? the distinctly Jewish Christian way of remembering the work of the Trinity in creation, redemption and anticipated consummation? Where is the epiclesis? the invocation of the Spirit on the assembly and on the sharing of bread and wine?
Um...ananesis? epiclesis? Communion but no Eucharist? Um...consummation? (okay, I know what that last word MEANS - but I'm not even sure that I get the whole sentence).
Please understand, I am in no way mocking this poster. He has a depth of understanding communion that I don't and he's not trying to show off, or look important or whatever. Those are words and phrases that he associates with communion - and there is some serious depth there (theological and spiritual).
So, it turns out, I have a lot to learn about communion. Oh, I'll still probably celebrate it "wrong" - but I'll know why it's "wrong" and why I'm doing it that way. I know all the rules for grammar (heh, I know my writing wouldn't show it) but I routinely break the rules - with a purpose. I was just at a seminar on worship and digital media and the presenter was talking about composing images for worship and he said that we need to learn the rules of composition because they give you the tools to present an image in worship that will have the intended effect (like leading the eyes to the most important part of the image and the "rule of thirds") but there will be times that you need to break the rules and that's okay, because sometimes breaking the rule can be very effective and powerful but we have to remember that if you break the rules once in a while, it moves people to where you want to them to look but if you break the rules all the time, well, that's just bad design. How's that for a runon sentence? Heh, reads like the Apostle Paul in Greek (well, in form, not content, because there's really nothing innately spiritual about good and bad design or even, for that matter, run on sentences...oh, there I go again...).
More randomness later...
posted by Pastor Bill at 7:18 PM
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