One of the great losses we have experienced in this time of distancing has been the separation of our physical community from one another in Sunday worship, centered around the gifts of God’s grace at the Table and the Font. This Sunday during our digital service, you will be invited to gather your own bread and cup at home, and as Pastor Ed consecrates the elements as part of our worship service, you will be celebrating in this holy meal in your own home, but together with our body of Christ gathered in this particular time and place. We will not celebrate at the Outdoor Worship service at this time.

Please know that this is an invitation to join in this Meal in this particular way, and just like when we gather in person, no one is compelled to dine. If you long for the bread and cup, but want to wait until we gather in person once again, that is fine. If you choose to remember this Meal by a posture of adoration and gratitude without partaking, that is fine. If you choose to have bread and cup in your home and share with those around you (or by yourself), that is fine. This is an invitation, not a requirement.

If you would like to share in this Meal in this way on Sunday, you will need to have bread and some kind of wine/juice when we begin our celebration.

  • For the bread, you can choose something you already have at home, or bake something special for this particular meal. Simple is preferred over an elaborate loaf. If you would like to make the recipe that we often use at St. Paul’s, click here for a downloadable copy of the recipe (and you’ll have lots of leftovers!).
  • For the cup, you can use an alcoholic or juice drink, with the practice being something that is made from grapes. Red wine or white wine is fine (it doesn’t have the be the red port that we use at St. Paul’s); dark or white grape juice is fine.
  • For the vessels, you can choose an everyday plate and cup, or bring out the fine china and crystal to mark the occasion. These are ordinary elements that we use for an extraordinary Meal, so whatever holds them will hold God’s grace for you as we gather.
  • If you have leftovers, we encourage you to either consume what you have, or to return it to the earth (and not down the drain or in the trash). While our practice is that this Meal (and so this bread and cup) is holy in these particular moments when we gather, we still want to be reverent and respectful with anything that remains.

While we engaged in this practice on previous festival & first Sundays of the month, this is still a new practice for us to consider, and again, is not a part of every Sunday, but something we wanted to include on the first Sunday of the month for our digital services.