Pastors, what do you do with the excess elements of Holy Communion after a worship service?
Thursday, October 25, 2007
After Holy Communion
Pastors, what do you do with the excess elements of Holy Communion after a worship service?
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At our church the leftover bread is broken into small pieces and spread out on the lawn for the birds.
I don't know what happens to the leftover elements. They disappear after the service. Hmmm....
We use hawaiian bread so there's not any left after the kids go at it.
ohh, I so want to celebrate Communion at matt's church!
I have to say that this is the very reason why I think wafers are a good idea. What is not used goes back into the box, and the left-over juice either goes back into the jar or is finished off. Having been raised Catholic, I guess I have this thing in the back of my mind which tells me that the elements must be handled reverently. I've been a part of churches in which kids ran after the bread and virtually demolished it. Clearly they are are clueless, but I sometimes wonder if we grown-ups are any better informed or contemplative.
Kids at our church get all the bread. It causes some consternation when they charge the communion table after the service.
In my home there is a very old and very small Episcopal Church that is in practice a sort of museum. They have a sort of ornamental drain in the sanctuary that the excess wine is poured into, and it goes onto the lawn. When I toured the church I was told that the priest was required to eat all of the left-over bread, but they didn't want him to do the same with the wine (since they use real wine), so they invented a way of disposing of it reverently...
home town
Not, obviously, in my home :)
The leftover bread is spread out on the ground for the birds and the juice is poured out at the base of the oak tree out front.
The juice is usually drunk by the kids during post-church coffee. SOmeone takes the bread for cooking with or for the birds.
If the bread is really good, I share it with people. I pour the juice outside, usually in a flower bed or at the base of a tree. Sometimes I tear the bread into small pieces and leave them on the ground for the birds.
Both bread and Juice spread out over the grounds while I say a sentence or two prayer of thanks.
I'm not a pastor, but your question brought up a vivid memory. Several years ago, our Saturday night service was led by a "Christian rock" band. Following each Communion service, the band members would attack and devour the remaining bread - it was gone in seconds, before the congregation had even cleared the building. (We were using Hawaiian bread at that time.)
Hmmm...
"wine" drunk up
water combined
then that is drunk up
Leftover Bread is eaten by priest and extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist, (crumbs put into the "wine" cup before consumption...
or it is reserved in a ciborium
within a tabernacle
...maybe even exposed for adoration
Ok, its official, I'm definitely Catholic. :)
I'm not a pastor, but our pastor makes a trip to the nursing home where we have members and offers them communion. After that I'm not sure what happens.
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