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I always fail to see how it is possible to give the focus to communion when it is practised weekly. With communion twice a year, preceded by counsel meeting, which focuses on preparing for communion, we have a minimum of four, two and a half hour services dedicated entirely to the purpose and practise of communion. In addition to the four services, there will be some focus on those services coming up. One or two Sundays before counsel meeting and communion, ministers will mention what we are looking forward to. So we do not have the frequency of the observation but probably just as much time, with much more focus on the purpose of the ritual than on the ritual itself.

Josh wrote:Old German Baptist Brethren always use real wine. Typically a brother will gather the grapes and ferment the wine himself.

Any more it's about 1/2 and 1/2 among both the Old and the New. Sometimes we make it, sometimes we buy it. And occasionally there are sisters among the wine makers too, its not always just men.

Neto wrote:In the congregational group of my up-bringing (MB), it was practiced each quarter. Sometimes it was as a part of the Love Feast (Leibensmal, or something like that), but generally it was just added to a regular service, and there was no footwashing as a part of it. But the Amish will pretty much make a day of it, and our congregation takes two services for communion, twice a year. So there are two ways to compare the seriousness with which the Communion of Christ is observed, emphasis by frequency, or emphasis by focus. I do really think that when Jesus said "Do this in my memory, every time you drink this cup" he was referring to the cup of atonement, as a part of Passover, which was basically a 10-day-long observance, the central feast of Judaism. (In my understanding of OT Law.)

What did your Love Feasts consists of, or how were they done?

Heirbyadoption wrote:What did your Love Feasts consists of, or how were they done?

As far as I can remember, they stopped doing it sometime in my early teen years, so I don't have really clear recollections of what all was involved, but it was basically *just* a meal together, with a short sermon by the pastor, then the observance of communion after the meal, while still seated around the dinner tables. The one I remember best was just after I myself was baptized, so it would have been about 1969, before we put up a fellowship hall in 70 or 71, because it was in the old church house basement.
They may have stopped doing it just because the congregation got so large. It was during that time that the community grew rapidly (bedroom community for Tulsa & Bartlesville), and the church began a lot of outreach to non-Mennonite people there. There were sometimes 20 to 25 baptized and taken in as member in a single service, so the congregation saw very rapid growth. We still had potlucks, but the ethnic foods became more of a novelty than just regular fare, as the congregation became increasingly "English".

Do most churches have communion on Sundays and if so, why? Isn't Sunday the day we remember Jesus' resurrection?

GaryK wrote:Do most churches have communion on Sundays and if so, why? Isn't Sunday the day we remember Jesus' resurrection?

Jesus said, "As often as you eat the bread and drink the cup.." There is no limit to the day or time to celebrate his death and resurrection.

gcdonner wrote:

GaryK wrote:Do most churches have communion on Sundays and if so, why? Isn't Sunday the day we remember Jesus' resurrection?

Jesus said, "As often as you eat the bread and drink the cup.." There is no limit to the day or time to celebrate his death and resurrection.

Is communion a time of remembering both the death and resurrection of Jesus or is it about His suffering and death? Maybe this question should be here

gcdonner wrote:

GaryK wrote:Do most churches have communion on Sundays and if so, why? Isn't Sunday the day we remember Jesus' resurrection?

Jesus said, "As often as you eat the bread and drink the cup.." There is no limit to the day or time to celebrate his death and resurrection.

I think it is OK to make a broader application of this, but in the context, it seems to me, at least, that Jesus was specifically referring to the unleavened bread & the Cup of Atonement, which is a part of Passover.

I thought this explanation was interesting- I was somewhat confused about the term 'breaking of bread' if it refers to Communion or to the Agape meal or both- but typically apparently in context refers to what was done on the first day of the week as Christians assembled-

http://www.bible.ca/ef/expository-acts-20-7-8.htm

In Acts 2:42 it this context seems to be the same as when Jesus 'broke bread' as this looks like the assembling together-

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

I really don't read anywhere in Scripture or in the history of the Church from the beginning where they only practiced this at Passover-

KingdomBuilder wrote:

gcdonner wrote:One of the things I appreciate about the Lutheran church that I attend (no I am not an infant baptizer...) is the fact that they use real wine. The bitter aftertaste reminds me that it was a bitter cup that Jesus drank for me. Grape juice (which I like to drink) is too sweet to fill the meaning for me

I like wine better too, for the same reason. It's funny, though, that for many churches in my area, wine was hardly an option. In many areas (especially the South) alcohol sales have been/ are banned on a county by county basis. Grape juice it is!

There’s always an exception for wine purchased for religious purposes. In Ohio, there is a special liquour licence for selling wine for this exact purpose, including being exempt from the 3-tier system.

(Churches that observe the Eucharist often will go through a lot of wine and can get it much cheaper than others can.)