“At heart level I think the most valuable thing of the Communion …
is being with people and passing bread and wine between us
and acknowledging our community”
The women I interviewed emphasised the huge importance of relationality and community to the value of Communion in their lives. Human connectedness was at the heart of so much that they treasured and valued. Two short quotations:
“when you said ‘communion’, the first thing I thought was like being in a community, in a community of faith”
“actually some people refer to ‘communion; as fellowship together and gathering and something very sacred”
For some of the women church membership and sharing in Communion were intimately engaged with familial, social and personal identity. It meant a great deal to receive Communion in the place where parents had been married, where children had been baptised, where there was a history of belonging.
What was really important to the women, was not so much the individual receiving the bread and wine of Communion, but the shared experience of this with other people.
They emphasised the physical closeness: queuing together, praying together, standing together to receive communion, or passing Communion from one person to another.
One woman told me that the only thing that made her feel uncomfortable about Communion, was sharing the Peace beforehand. She explained,
I think when we all shake hands … it’s better if you hug people, cos shaking hands
is what you do when you meet a stranger! I think it’s nice if you hug one another.
But then I understand people might feel strange cos they don’t want to”!
Many women talked a lot about the importance of exchanging smiles. “I look around this circle of people and I look at their eyes and the smiles and the children and just the sense of community has been a powerful and positive feeling”.
Do you feel the same way as the women I interviewed? Has there been a time Communion was particularly special because of who you were with? or is Communion a more private, individual thing for you?
It would be great to hear your thoughts. Let your voice join those of the women above!
Please post your comments or experiences in the box below…
Women In Communion 
The experience of celebrating the Eucharist together feels most authentic to me when every person in the gathered circle both receives and offers the elements, so that we are truly being fed by/feeding one another. Such a circle, for me, truly becomes the Body of Christ – we become what we have received, in order to go out in the world and give our very selves away to others.
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Demi, I love your insight about both being fed and also feeding one another and I really want to think about this more. The practice of sharing communion within a circle was definitely talked about very positively in my initial research, but I don’t think anyone spoke about what it might signify about the Body of Christ in quite this way and I’m really grateful for your contribution. Thank you so much.
Please do come back and post more if you have further thoughts or anything you’d like to add on the other blog post subjects. I’d be really interested. |
Thanks again, Kim
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