Elements in the Lord's Supper Observance

[Dr. Bob]

Our church uses as close to the elements used in the first supper (Passover-friendly).

(1) We use matzo like the Afikomen (dessert) of the broken middle-piece of matzo that was hidden. Its obvious symbolism is three-fold
>>It was unleavened and leaven is often (not always) a symbol of "sin"
>>It was the middle of three sheets of matzo used in the pesach seder
>>It was hidden at the beginning of the service, buried under a pillow et al, then eaten as "dessert" (and trust me it is NOT sweet

(2) We use wine like the Jewish wine
>>It is unleavened (Welchade or Koolaid has sugars, leaven; fermentation changes all this into "purified" wine not juice
>>It can now be full "real" wine AND have much alcohol content removed (see "Fre'" brands)
>>It is consistent to have "unleavened" bread AND "unleavened" wine

Eidersheim studied the Jewish wine that was kosher (unleavened) from Jesus' day and said it was mixed with 5-6 parts water, to purify the water and water-down alcohol. So a typical wine today at 12% alcohol would have less than 2% when diluted. (Nyquil has 25% for all so-called tea-totallers out there And my wife the doctor has 100 various bottles that all have 20-25% alcohol in mixture to keep contents purified and not tainted or full of germs/bacteria.)

(3) We observe the Lord's table every time the body is together for worship
>>This follows the pattern of Acts 2 of what a church service looks like - prayer, Lord's supper, proclamation of the Word, fellowship/encouragement

(4) We allow any who are born again to partake, even non-members of our fellowship
>>Fathers pass out elements to their family, then give the plate to next father, etc. They judge the testimony of their own family, children, etc
>>Elders give to those without a male 'head' present

I do NOT say any other church is right/wrong/ugly for opting for grape juice, grandma's pie crust and do it once a month, once a quarter, once a year. Liberty.

What does YOUR local assembly do for the Lord's Supper??

 

[rlvaughn]

(1) We use homemade bread that is unleavened.

(2) We use homemade fruit of the vine, or in the absence of that a purchased juice of the grape without any additives.

(3) We observe the Lord's table (generally) monthly (i.e. if there are no divisions; church is at peace).

(4) We allow any who are members of the church to partake.

This is a practice that requires a certain strictness, but there can also be some liberty. We try to move forward in our church by means of unanimous consent, and the above represents what we are able to agree to, even if in some instances someone might prefer something slightly different. For example, I would prefer wine (as the most likely original element for communion), but can be satisfied with "less" since the gospels were careful in its institution to speak only of fruit of the vine -- which, I believe, can encompass either. I personally would add feet washing with at least some of the observances of the Lord's supper (i.e., even if not every time), but this is not something we can unanimously agree upon.

 

[evangelist6589]

Does your church use grape juice or wine in communion? In my experience few if any baptist churches would use wine.

 

[Jerome]

Does your church use grape juice or wine in communion? In my experience few if any baptist churches would use wine.

Something like this:

C.H. Spurgeon's Autobiography

"We use Frank Wright’s unfermented wine at the Tabernacle, and have never used any other unfermented wine. I am given to understand that some of the so-called unfermented wine has in it a considerable amount of alcohol; but Mr. Wright’s is the pure juice of the grape. One person advertized his wine as used at the Tabernacle though we had never used it even on one occasion. So far as we are concerned, we use no wine but that produced by Messrs. Frank Wright, Mundy, and Co."

 

[Bob Farnaby]

We have the communion service monthly, plus a few special occasions as decided by the pastor and diaconate.
For the elements we normally use diced sliced bread from a supermarket loaf and a grape juice, again from a supermarket.

 

[Deacon]

1. Matzo

2. Welches grape juice

3. Monthly and on other special occasions

4. Open communion

The elements are placed on three tables in front. After the communion message we go forward to take them and return to our seats to partake together.

Rob

 

[rlvaughn]

In my experience few if any baptist churches would use wine.

evangelist, I think if you look at it comparatively, the Baptist churches in the U.S. that use wine is probably a small percentage of the total number of Baptist churches. But numerically there is a fair amount of Baptists in the U.S. that do use fermented wine. I think most or all of the Primitive Baptists and Old Regular Baptists do. See, for example, Why do Primitive Baptists use real wine and real unleavened bread in communion? (scroll down to that question). Many of the "non-cooperative" Baptists in the mountains of north Georgia and north Alabama also do so (I've been in some of their services). Landmark Baptists who follow J. R. Graves teachings on the matter also do so. This is probably true of a good number of United Baptists as well.

The elements are placed on three tables in front. After the communion message we go forward to take them and return to our seats to partake together.

Rob, does someone take the elements to those who have mobility issues (if you have any who do)? Thanks.

 

[Deacon]

Rob, does someone take the elements to those who have mobility issues (if you have any who do)? Thanks.

Of course, we're a family! Someone, usually a friend or family member gets it.

Rob

 

[Darrell C]

Nyquil has 25% for all so-called tea-totallers out there

If you run across someone that uses Nyquil on a regular basis (say, nightly, lol), then perhaps you might have a "so-called teetotaller."



As far as Communion goes, it is just my opinion that the elements used are insignificant as compared with what the elements represent, that being the Body and Blood, the twain being ultimately representative of the Lord's Death. Yet seldom do we see the significance of His Death and what that means for us truly emphasized in Communion. One point of the twain is that both speak of the one. Because His death is sometimes overlooked in the elements, this is why I think certain groups end up with heretical understanding of Communion. Because Communion is broken down to "elements," focus on the whole is lost.

We never partake of Communion and utilize just the bread, or just the "wine," for obvious reasons, But, just as some groups place distinctions on the Father, the Son, or the Holy Ghost, even so some groups do so with the "elements."

While we are currently looking for a new Home Church, most of those we fellowship with use grape juice and leavened bread.


God bless.

 

[evangelist6589]

evangelist, I think if you look at it comparatively, the Baptist churches in the U.S. that use wine is probably a small percentage of the total number of Baptist churches. But numerically there is a fair amount of Baptists in the U.S. that do use fermented wine. I think most or all of the Primitive Baptists and Old Regular Baptists do. See, for example, Why do Primitive Baptists use real wine and real unleavened bread in communion? (scroll down to that question). Many of the "non-cooperative" Baptists in the mountains of north Georgia and north Alabama also do so (I've been in some of their services). Landmark Baptists who follow J. R. Graves teachings on the matter also do so. This is probably true of a good number of United Baptists as well.

Rob, does someone take the elements to those who have mobility issues (if you have any who do)? Thanks.

This I did not know.

 

[Jerome]

We use wine like the Jewish wine
>>It is unleavened (Welchade or Koolaid has sugars, leaven; fermentation changes all this into "purified" wine not juice
>>It can now be full "real" wine AND have much alcohol content removed (see "Fre'" brands)

Oops, that FRE brand you use is actually a mix of dealcoholized wine and grape juice.

The company explains that they add in unfermented juice in the last step:

www.frewines.com/fre-info/our-process/how-it-works

"...passed through the column again, at a higher temperature to remove the alcohol.
5. The flavor and aroma essences are recombined with the dealcoholized wine and blended with unfermented varietal grape juice (to replace lost volume), creating a delicious beverage with less than 0.5% alcohol by volume."

 

[Dr. Bob]

Compromisers!!