Taking Communion/Eucharist

For those who wish to take Communion at home, here is a communion service recorded 02.10.2011.

It begins with the Pastor, John Hayward, briefly explaining the importance of Communion for the Christian.

In our tradition, we are served the bread first (hence the long gap between the prayer of thanksgiving for the body of Christ offered by one of our deacons) and we eat it as we receive it, a reminder that we all came to Christ individually and to reflect on our first meeting with Him.

After this, a prayer of thanksgiving is offered for the blood of Christ by another of our deacons.

We are then served the wine but we do not drink it straight away - there is a long gap (for prayer and meditation) as we wait for everyone to be served and then for the Pastor to lead us in drinking the wine together. This is to remind us that after we each came to Christ, we became part of the same Family. Therefore we share in His redemptive sacrifice altogether, as one.

The service ends with the Pastor asking if there is someone in the congregation who would like to close by offering their own prayer of thanksgiving. The recording ends here in order to allow space for your own personal prayer and reflection.