Ecumenical Communion?
I am currently in my field ed placement at Efland. EUMC participates in an ecumenical worship service with the other Methodist churches, the AME church, the Presbyterians, and the holiness church every Thanksgiving and Easter. I was excited to hear about this, particularly because there are two black churches and two white churches (there may be a couple of other churches too). When I went to the planning meeting this Sunday I was surprised to see that they celebrate communion together. I was maybe even a little more than surprised. I was hesitant (yes, you all do rub off on me even though I fight it kicking and screaming). So having some supervisory time today, I had planned on arguing against this with my supervisor. I went to our position paper, This Holy Mystery, and was surprised again to find that it encouraged ecumencial participation in communion (this paper is full of contradicitions, me thinks)! What do others think? Participate? Or not?
posted by Tom Arthur at 4:52 PM
5 Comments:
I personally found This Holy Mystery dreadfully incoherent. Personally, I think the ecumenical worship and communion only works if there is an acknowledged submission to the authority of one of the Churches for the service and not a blithe obeisance to no one or to no god.
Administrative units.
Wilson, it sounds to me that you would say something like: I'll participate if it is clearly the AME church that is doing communion, or clearly the Presbyterians who are doing communion. But if it was a pasted together communion then you wouldn't? I think that the church that hosts the worship presides over communion. So you would participate or even encourage this?
I believe if there is a clear understanding among the relevant bodies which church is communing together then if the other churches understand themselves as visitors I see no problem and I would participate and encourage it. Ecumenism at its best is each denomination holding each other up to their respective traditions, which for most means a (relatively) open communion (I am countering this with RC, Ortho, and some Baptist). Ecumenism is not about lowest common denominator but faithfulness which breeds unity.
I am not sure why you woudl be hesitant Tom. Most of the Churches are Methodist, and my arguments to the contrary notwithstanding, they believe themselves to be in full communion. So the only oddity is the Presbyterians. Still, I am not sure what the issue is. To my lights, our conversations about ecumenical communion pertain to Chapel which is neither a church/congregation itself, nor a meaningful ecumenical setting. (None of us officially represent our home congregations). So presuming there are no obvious issues of conflict or reconciliation that would falsify the manifestation of the Church, I see no problem.
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