I called up Dave Hayton today and we dialogued for a while concerning our conversation that was brought up through Nate's article on communion and is there a certain setting that it needs to take place in.
We started to discuss the issues concerning the actual elements themselves. The major question at hand is, how important are the actual elements chosen (bread and wine)? Next, could they be substituted in certain situations (i.e. on the mission field in the western part of Zambia where they've never even heard of a grape or wheat, much less wine or bread)? If it can, to what degree can you change it (i.e. the staple food in Zambia, nshima and/or water instead of wine)? If not, what is the significance of the specific elements? What about in our American context? I don't think that we grasp the concept of 1. unleavened bread with our little waffers 2. wine with welche's grape juice 3. the idea of it being like a meal with our horse de'vours and shot glasses. Are we changing/have we already changed the picture of real communion supper from how it's supposed to be done?
I have heard from some people that you shouldn't have it at all if not all the proper elements are available (then again after pondering on this for a while, as mentioned before, are we using the proper elements?). I feel very uncomfortable with this, especially when we are talking about other areas of the world where the elements don't exist. The Lord's Supper is a command, not a great idea. The question then posed is, how often does it need to be done? More than every couple years, I believe, which is the only way it could happen in a bush missions context. I would lean more towards weekly looking at the Corinthian model. It seems (at my first and uneducated glance) that this is a very regular thing. However, I wouldn't say that's the only way to do that.
What are your thoughts?
1 comment:
Good thoughts, Dave. I agree that,though we do use similar elements to those which the early church used, we have lost some of the cultural significance of communion, especially in reference to its connection with the Passover meal. I don't think that's an excuse not to do it though. The point is to focus our thoughts through these objects on the union we have with Christ and with each other. So use whatever you can in Africa, but along with that some teaching about how it was done in first-century Palestine would probably help to increase the vividness of the picture in the sacrament.
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