Receiving Communion at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
For Adults and Children—
Who, How, When
The central rite of the Christian community gathered regularly on Sundays is Holy Communion, also known as Holy Eucharist, the Mass, the Lord’s Supper, that is, the sharing in the blessed bread and common cup of wine.
We welcome you to St. Luke’s: those seeking and those who wish to deepen belief, young and old, with or without children, married or single, gay or straight, with or without any previous relationship to the Episcopal Church, conservative and progressive, no matter the color of your hair, the clothes you wear, or the piercings you have. In other words, we welcome YOU.
Adults:
The Episcopal Church welcomes all who have been baptized with water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We make no distinction whether this was done when you were an infant, child, youth or adult. Baptism is the basic way of joining the body of Christ, which transcends geography and denomination. So we welcome all who are from a Roman Catholic, Protestant, or Eastern Orthodox background to receive communion whether on a Sunday or at special events such as weddings and funerals.
Some significant discussion is ongoing in the Diocese of Massachusetts and the larger church about whether the invitation should be even wider in nature—to anyone who is drawn to the table to receive the blessed food whether baptized or not. The policy at St. Luke’s is to give communion to anyone who comes forward. If you do so and are not yet baptized, you are invited to consider approaching the rector for instruction and admission through baptism.
Children:
Children are welcome to receive communion as soon as they begin holding out their hands to receive. The rationale is that this is the family table and so all are fed who come to the table. Parents of the youngest children are asked to supervise your child if s/he has received the bread, to ensure that s/he or you eats the bread.
Some parents, by conviction and tradition, wish their children to refrain from receiving communion until they are older and can better understand the special nature of the food, to make a ‘first communion.’
At St. Luke’s we set aside the second grade year of Sunday School (which meets at 10 a.m. Sundays of the regular school year, excluding Sundays prior to any Monday school holiday) for study of the sacrament of Holy Communion. This class prepares the children for a first communion for those not yet receiving, and the children already receiving for a more mature understanding of the ritual in which they have already been participating fully. In the spring the rector will meet with the second grade students for two-three sessions of review; these meetings are designed to augment rather than be a substitute for the Sunday School class.
On a specific, announced Sunday, all of the second grade class students will be recognized, commissioned, and celebrated. Those who are to receive a first communion are admitted to do so at this ceremony. Customarily this happens two or three weeks after Easter during the 10 a.m. Sunday Eucharist not in conflict with school vacation times.
How to receive communion:
We distribute communion at the altar rails in the front of the church.
The ushers will invite your pew to go forward. Stand or kneel along the altar rail. Hold out your hand, palm up, one hand cradled in the other, to receive the bread. Help guide the chalice to your lips by grasping the base. Some choose to receive only the bread. Regardless, please wait until the person on your left has received the wine before departing the altar rail; this avoids any unintended jostling.
Handicapped: While almost all of St. Luke’s is handicapped accessible, reaching the altar rail still entails dealing with steps. If anyone is unable to walk up steps we want to bring communion to you. Please let the usher know of your situation and the Eucharistic ministers will come down to you at the end of the distribution.
Options:
Intinction: you may dip the bread into the wine. The reason to do this is if you have an illness and you do not want to share it others. HOWEVER several scientific studies (from both the era of tuberculosis in the early 20th century and AIDs concerns of the late 20th century) have been done that show that with the metal of the chalice, the alcohol content of the wine, and the wiping and turning of the chalice by the administrator after each person, no germs can be transmitted. If you do not eat or dip the bread into the wine, but instead hold it out in your palm, the chalice bearer will take it from you, dip it in the wine, and place it into your open mouth with slightly outstretched tongue. (You may also receive the bread directly into your mouth, although in the Episcopal Church that is not a common nor standard way of doing so.)
Blessing: instead of receiving communion, some choose to receive a blessing instead. To indicate that intention rather than hold out your hands in a receiving position you will cross your arms across your chest. The most common reasons for doing this are either a gluten allergy or a desire to come forward as part of the larger congregation but personal reservations of whatever nature of actually receiving the blessed bread and wine.
