And so it is over. I have done my talk, shown my pictures, fielded my questions and still breathing. It wasn't too bad.It was quite a heavy day in some ways, listening to six different talks. There were a number of nodders falling off to sleep thinking they were unnoticed. I was counting, which meant I wasn't always paying full attention to what was being said. However, some interesting things came out of it.
- One was the age of the people there, most retired, who weren't going to be able much to practice any new ideas or legislation.
- Another was the little comment that was produced when a few speakers spoke about the laity leading communion rather than the minister.
- A further thought was who was invited to the table. Church law says only those baptised. I said in answer to a quiestion given to me that there were times when legislation had to be ignored but there was a murmur when it was an open table and not one open to those of any denomination. Baptism came into it.
- Also that the communion invitation was from Jesus, noy the church so they really didn't have a leg to stand on which was a nice thought. Even Knox wanted an open table saying that folk are asked to ecxamine themselves and not stop there and say, 'Good grief I'm so bad I can't come to communion' but come anyway. There ain't much to prevent folk attending the table.
- Also that 'celebration' and 'Holy Communion' don't often appear in the same sentence in the minds of church members.
So some good fuel there, but it wasn't a huge cross section of the church even though there were 70 folk with a waiting list to boot.
It will be 'rolling out' into congregations too. So before we get to that stage, what do you think of any of that? There is a postmortem meeting next week os it would be good to go armed with some reactions for real people and not ministers. Do blog on...
Recent Comments