Leading Communion

A simple yet powerful proclamation of what Jesus has done for us.

I enjoy communion. There’s something about everyone being on the same level, taking the same sacraments, eating and drinking together. Even though the bread and juice might not constitute as a filling meal, it is still eating and drinking together, which is a powerful proclamation as to what God has done for us.

The other week I was asked to lead communion. In this there is no real problem, in fact I enjoy it. Normally the leader of communion will give a 3-5 minute ‘thought of the day’, in which a couple of bible verses are shared and what God has said or taught the leader that week. I enjoy giving these kinds of talks. Long enough to get a point across, but not long enough to end up boring people or having to prepare something substantial. However, there is another side to the leading of communion that I don’t enjoy – the choosing of the servers; those that will hand out the sacraments to the congregation.

I feel quite an amount of pressure in this department: I don’t feel it would be right to choose people that I am too close to, for fear of showing favouritism, and yet you need to pick someone that you trust and who knows the order and route in which to hand out the bread and wine. It might not seem right to pick non-Christians, and it would seem odd to me to pick the leaders of the church. You’ve also got to think about the male-female divide: not all women and not all men, and I’m sure there’s lots of other things that you’d have to take into consideration…

So I spent a lot of time during the worship thinking about all these influences and who I should pick for serving. I stand up at the front, share my thought for the day, and begin asking people that I trust to serve (this is somewhat normal to ask in front of everyone rather than beforehand). A couple stood up, began shuffling their way across their row…when I noticed a glare from my Pastor. “I’ve already picked the servers” he whispered… Somewhat embarrassed I had to ask the couple I’d just asked to sit down and the pre-asked servers to join me at the front.

I was nervous, worried even, about the choosing of the servers for communion, when the people had already been decided. It was outside of my control, yet I owned responsibility for it, even though I wasn’t supposed to.

Sometimes in life there may be times when we worry about a situation. In my experience however, I have found that the worry I had is unfounded, that the person didn’t raise a particular issue, or that a problem has already been sorted.

Matthew 6:27 “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”.

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