First, being recently retired and moving to a new community, my wife and I have had the opportunity to attend a number of different churches, from independent Bible to more liturgical (e.g., Lutheran) and a local GMC congregation. We both feel that many congregations today have so "downgraded" Holy Communion that it gives the impression that it's an afterthought at best and an interruption to the pastor's message at worst! We leave those services feeling we've missed something very important (God's means of grace through the sharing together of Christ's body and blood represented in the bread and the cup).
Second, being a recently retired GMC pastor, I can be available to congregations who do not have an ordained pastor available to serve Holy Communion - and am glad to do so. I suspect other retired GMC elders feel the same.
Thanks for reinforcing the power and priority of the Sacraments by referencing the Doctrines and Disciplines of the GMC. In contrast to those denominations and independent churches who have almost given up the practice of observing Communion (for all intents and purposes by their mode of observation), we need to restore the table's central place in our worship, hopefully creating a sense of awe and "thanksgiving" (eucharist) for Christ's great gift of himself for our salvation and sanctification!
I am glad my “Treatise” is being read! Yes, Holy Communion is not an “afterthought” in worship. Thank you for making yourself available for clergy-less churches in the GMC to have an officiant present for Holy Communion.
Good piece. Thanks for making the case. We have been reluctant to get into anything very divisive around the sacraments. It has been hard enough for many of our leaders to say no to those who would refuse infant baptism. Now to call for a blanket 'no' to online communion, remote communion, and other less-than-perfect solutions is a helpful move. These conversations need to happen. How is the meal properly had? What conditions need to be met in order for us to do it in right relationship with God? I saw a sect of Anglicans recently put out a piece saying that the bread had to be made of wheat and that there had to be some natural alcohol content in the wine. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I have been pushing to close the table for some time, as I think it is properly seen as a covenant meal, and it makes no sense to have a covenant meal with people who aren't in the covenant.
Anyway, all that to say thanks for sticking your neck out. I hope your voice is one of many that helps the GMC to formulate a proper sacramental theology.
It is a repentant person who is prepared for Holy Communion (1 Corinthians 11). As for the contents of the elements, unleavened bread and wine are historically accurate. Which is holier - to receive and give forgiveness with bread and juice or to abstain until the proper contents of the bread and fruit of the vine are present?
Since it is not my table, it is the Lord's Table, I find the only parameter found in the Bible is the person desiring to participate at the Table be repentant. As a loose interpretation of Susanna Wesley's letter to John regarding the Eucharist being a "converting ordinance," even a non-member of a Global Methodist local church can find time to repent in his/her heart before receiving the elements of Holy Communion.
I have witnessed congregations being told that Holy Communion is open to all. Then, I will watch as individuals will not come to the Table. It seems that self-regulation keeps some away from the Table, either because they are not members of that particular local church or have notions regarding what is going on that further instruction could alleviate any trepidation.
Of course, if a non-member receives Holy Communion, then I would pursue a conversation with the individual so that individual would become a professing member of the local church. It might be that that individual is ready to be baptized and profess faith in Jesus Christ. Or it might be that the individual is coming from another local church. Either way, pursuing their full participation in the local church I am pastoring would be vitally important.
Jeffrey, I always appreciate your comments, writing and Plain Spoken YT videos - thanks for all you are doing to promote, challenge and refine the GMC as we launch this new work.
I agree with your comment/question about "wheat and wine" being necessary for the meal; surely that might be completely foreign and impractical for many (and in some cultures around the world).
However, I would not want to see us "close the table" (to non-members? to whom?). If we believe that the Sacraments are "means of grace" then they can be a source of invitation for a person to come to Christ through the experience of the meal - even more powerful in the presence of believers in the Body of Christ together.
Every time I serve communion I give the "open" invitation; "You do not need to be a member of the Global Methodist Church or any church to come to the table. Only examine your heart, and if it is your desire to live a new life in Christ, then come and receive his gift of grace for you."
This makes it even more important (as I reference in my separate comment below) for us to follow our GMC liturgy with care and reverence for the Sacrament, rather than seeing it as "tacked on" after the "important stuff" (worship music and the pastor's message)!
We can distinguish ourselves as a Conservative/Evangelical/Orthodox branch of the Body of Christ by our recovery of a serious observation of Holy Communion (and Baptism, whether infant baptism or, if appropriate, adult baptism). The larger Church and world need our Wesleyan witness in this!
Two points:
First, being recently retired and moving to a new community, my wife and I have had the opportunity to attend a number of different churches, from independent Bible to more liturgical (e.g., Lutheran) and a local GMC congregation. We both feel that many congregations today have so "downgraded" Holy Communion that it gives the impression that it's an afterthought at best and an interruption to the pastor's message at worst! We leave those services feeling we've missed something very important (God's means of grace through the sharing together of Christ's body and blood represented in the bread and the cup).
Second, being a recently retired GMC pastor, I can be available to congregations who do not have an ordained pastor available to serve Holy Communion - and am glad to do so. I suspect other retired GMC elders feel the same.
Thanks for reinforcing the power and priority of the Sacraments by referencing the Doctrines and Disciplines of the GMC. In contrast to those denominations and independent churches who have almost given up the practice of observing Communion (for all intents and purposes by their mode of observation), we need to restore the table's central place in our worship, hopefully creating a sense of awe and "thanksgiving" (eucharist) for Christ's great gift of himself for our salvation and sanctification!
I am glad my “Treatise” is being read! Yes, Holy Communion is not an “afterthought” in worship. Thank you for making yourself available for clergy-less churches in the GMC to have an officiant present for Holy Communion.
Good piece. Thanks for making the case. We have been reluctant to get into anything very divisive around the sacraments. It has been hard enough for many of our leaders to say no to those who would refuse infant baptism. Now to call for a blanket 'no' to online communion, remote communion, and other less-than-perfect solutions is a helpful move. These conversations need to happen. How is the meal properly had? What conditions need to be met in order for us to do it in right relationship with God? I saw a sect of Anglicans recently put out a piece saying that the bread had to be made of wheat and that there had to be some natural alcohol content in the wine. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I have been pushing to close the table for some time, as I think it is properly seen as a covenant meal, and it makes no sense to have a covenant meal with people who aren't in the covenant.
Anyway, all that to say thanks for sticking your neck out. I hope your voice is one of many that helps the GMC to formulate a proper sacramental theology.
It is a repentant person who is prepared for Holy Communion (1 Corinthians 11). As for the contents of the elements, unleavened bread and wine are historically accurate. Which is holier - to receive and give forgiveness with bread and juice or to abstain until the proper contents of the bread and fruit of the vine are present?
Since it is not my table, it is the Lord's Table, I find the only parameter found in the Bible is the person desiring to participate at the Table be repentant. As a loose interpretation of Susanna Wesley's letter to John regarding the Eucharist being a "converting ordinance," even a non-member of a Global Methodist local church can find time to repent in his/her heart before receiving the elements of Holy Communion.
I have witnessed congregations being told that Holy Communion is open to all. Then, I will watch as individuals will not come to the Table. It seems that self-regulation keeps some away from the Table, either because they are not members of that particular local church or have notions regarding what is going on that further instruction could alleviate any trepidation.
Of course, if a non-member receives Holy Communion, then I would pursue a conversation with the individual so that individual would become a professing member of the local church. It might be that that individual is ready to be baptized and profess faith in Jesus Christ. Or it might be that the individual is coming from another local church. Either way, pursuing their full participation in the local church I am pastoring would be vitally important.
Jeffrey, I always appreciate your comments, writing and Plain Spoken YT videos - thanks for all you are doing to promote, challenge and refine the GMC as we launch this new work.
I agree with your comment/question about "wheat and wine" being necessary for the meal; surely that might be completely foreign and impractical for many (and in some cultures around the world).
However, I would not want to see us "close the table" (to non-members? to whom?). If we believe that the Sacraments are "means of grace" then they can be a source of invitation for a person to come to Christ through the experience of the meal - even more powerful in the presence of believers in the Body of Christ together.
Every time I serve communion I give the "open" invitation; "You do not need to be a member of the Global Methodist Church or any church to come to the table. Only examine your heart, and if it is your desire to live a new life in Christ, then come and receive his gift of grace for you."
This makes it even more important (as I reference in my separate comment below) for us to follow our GMC liturgy with care and reverence for the Sacrament, rather than seeing it as "tacked on" after the "important stuff" (worship music and the pastor's message)!
We can distinguish ourselves as a Conservative/Evangelical/Orthodox branch of the Body of Christ by our recovery of a serious observation of Holy Communion (and Baptism, whether infant baptism or, if appropriate, adult baptism). The larger Church and world need our Wesleyan witness in this!