What would you do if you wanted to receive Holy Communion, but you couldn’t get to church? At my church we are lucky to have two readers who do a great job of taking Communion out to the sick and house-bound. But what about those who don’t know of that ministry, or don’t live in our parish? What can they do? The Open Episcopal Church has come up with its own solution to this dilemma – Post the Host . This is a new ministry, launched last week, which provides mail-order consecrated wafers, “Hosts”, to anyone who asks for them (and pays the postage). Being enthusiastic about innovation, I thought I’d give it a try:
Now you might think that you need a priest to be present for you to receive the body of Christ – to say the Eucharistic Prayer for you; but they’ve thought of that. By the magic of the internet and the services of youtube , Archbishop Jonathan Blake can be present in your own living-room to say Mass, just for you. He even offers a choice of services to suite all tastes. The more traditional can select a Catholic Mass , or even a Latin one. For charismatics there is a Pentecostal Mass where he says the Eucharistic prayer in tongues. You can choose a “radical ” Mass, an “inclusive ” Mass, a Trinity Sunday Mass ; there are two outdoor versions, complete with authentic bird-song and police sirens in the background. A music lover can select a singing Mass (not exactly a sung Mass – he uses choruses and modern worship songs rather than singing the Mass itself) or the teenager might like to select the “Street Mass ”. This last version is something very different from the Anglican experience. I still can’t watch it without laughing out loud (that’s “lol” to those who will be using this version). It lasts less than three minutes, and features a confession that goes “Alright God, Sorry if we messed up. Trying 2 sort things out but cummon, give us a break” followed by the absolution “OK. Hang on in there”. (The full text can be found on the Post the Host website.) Perhaps the closest to my own tradition is what he calls the "ornate Mass"
The Hosts are supplied using the internet payment service paypal (Internet Explorer only) , (or you can send a cheque if you prefer ). The cost is £2 for any number of Hosts from one to 100. I ordered one to try it out, but due to a mix-up with the orders I was actually sent 100 consecrated wafers. Also enclosed was a card with the Image of the Devine Mercy and a mini-edition of “I Am With You” by Fr. John Woolley . They are dispatched by first class post, so they arrived 36 hours after I ordered them and I had them for the weekend. Early on Saturday morning I settled down in the comfort of the sofa in my own front room to receive the Body of Christ. My seven-year-old son, Gabriel, was very interested and wanted to join in. Gabriel is not confirmed and does not normally receive communion, but considering the highly inclusive nature of this new ministry, I didn’t feel that I should deny him. So we snuggled up together with a laptop and watched the “Singing Mass ”. After about 8 minutes ++ Jonathan tells us “please now receive the consecrated Host”. So we did – it was a lovely moment.I am in two minds about this project. My first reaction to it was to laugh; and that’s been a fairly common reaction from people told about this. There has been a fair amount of cynicism and sarcasm about it in the press and on Christian bulletin boards I’ve read. The main objections seem to be that he is putting the body of Jesus in danger by leaving Him to the mercy of the postal service (++Jonathan denies this ); and that Holy Communion only makes sense as part of a Christian community. To do it as a private devotion, by mail-order simply doesn’t work. Against this, it can be argued that reserving the Sacred Mysteries for the benefit of faithful churchgoers only is putting Jesus in a box, when He should be out in the world. Archbishop Jonathan’s enthusiasm is hard to ignore. He is quite sure that he is providing a much needed ministry. So I’ll let him have the last word in his video addresses below.
Gabriel’s first reaction was “it tastes like Ready brek”!
4 comments:
the truth of the matter is, this is an abomination to the sacrament. his orders are illicit, he has no right to do what he does. so in actual fact what you received was simply unconsecrated wafers. They have not been validly consecrated. The whole thing is crass and abominable.
I am always intrigued when someone under the cloak of anonymity presumes to lecture us on something they clearly have no grasp of themselves. Illicit is a distinctly Roman Catholic concept and goes hand in hand with the word valid. You cannot have someone in illicit orders unless they are also valid orders, which in Roman Catholic terms would mean that the wafers were indeed validly consecrated according to the understanding of that Church. If Bishop Jonathan did not hold valid orders then he could not be described as illicit either. But the real crux of the matter is that Bishop Jonathan was not ordained as a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church but rather in the Open Episcopal Church, and as such his orders are neither illicit nor irregular (an Anglican term). Such terms apply to those who would pretend to be Roman bishops or Anglican bishops respectively but who were not ordained as such by those churches. Bishop Jonathan pretends no such thing and is ordained according the the Canon Law of the Church to which he belongs and professes. As such, he has the full authority of this Church and the "right" to consecrate bread and wine on behalf of the Church
Valid consecration of the communion bread, or wafer, has different meanings depending upon your theological persuasion. To suggest that any attempt to reach out to people with the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is abominable is to misunderstand completely what Jesus was and what He did for us and to misunderstand completely what communion is about. You may disagree with our approach, you may disagree as to whether the hosts are "valid" in this tradition or that or whether they are merely "wafers", but they are most certainly consecrated and to describe them as an abomination is just plain silly!
Bless me, David! You gave poor Anonymous a bit of a trouncing! I doubt if he'll stick his head above the font again for a while. You do sound like a right Bishop, with your "presumes to lecture" and "just plain silly". I expect you "thunder from the pulpit", do you? Marvellous!
Anyway, what I meant to say was that I'm with you when it comes to flogging wafers to the faithful. I've been doing it for some years at
www.hostinthepost.co.uk
However, I should warn you that business is not likely to be brisk until Christmas and Easter. You may have to lay on extra staff. Still, as they say, "It's a crust."
Good luck with the Open Episcopalian thing. Your Supremo certainly knows how to get noticed, doesn't he! Still, I'm a bit surprised that you lot think now's the time for a new church. I got the general impression that christian churches were trying to get back together. Still, I suppose you know best.
Well Steve, you certainly have a point about knowing how to get noticed. But that aside, and ignoring your suggestion that we are "flogging wafers", which is certainly not the case, you are wrong about us being a "new" church. As Apostolic Churches have a laying on of hands from bishop to bishop traceable right back to the first Apostles it makes it just as incorrect to call the Open Episcopal Church new as it would do to call the Orthodox Churches new. We are Old Catholics who split from Rome almost 200 years ago
As for the churches trying to get back together, the reality is that churches are seeking unity, not union, and we all try to work together for the common good. The Open Episcopal Church plays its part and is ecumenically active with other major denominations and is in membership of the World Council of Churches. The difference is that it maintains an open communion table and its bishops, priests and deacons are non stipendiary "tentmakers"
Bless you indeed!
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