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Source: (consider it) Thread: Random Liturgical Questions (answers on a postcard, please)
Angloid
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quote:
Originally posted by seasick:
I usually say simply "May Almighty God bless you, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen."

Even more minimalistically, I usually just say 'The blessing of Christ', analogous to the words of administration 'The Body of Christ.'

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venbede
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We've discussed this before. It would be v unkind and unpastoral to discontinue the practice once in place, but it is odd and I am perfectly happy the Orthodox don't do it.

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seasick

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quote:
Originally posted by Trisagion:
I wonder every week about what is going on with this. What is the blessing at Communion for non-communicants actually for? Of course, in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church it isn't actually a part of the rite at all but an innovation that would appear to be a direct breach of Sacrosanctam Concilium 22 and canon 846. As an "abuse" it might seem to be a fairly innocuous one but as I touch the shoulder of yet another non-communicant and say, as is the habit in our sylvan fastness, "May Almighty God bless you and keep you close to Him always", I really do wonder what it's got to do with the Liturgy of the Mass.

Is any guidance given to non-communicants? If I happen to be at Mass in your church, I would know not to present myself for communion but I wouldn't like to feel I was causing offence if I presented myself for a blessing which is a common custom - I would sooner stay in my place in those circumstances.

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We believe there is, and always was, in every Christian Church, ... an outward priesthood, ordained by Jesus Christ, and an outward sacrifice offered therein. - John Wesley

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Garasu
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quote:
Originally posted by Trisagion:
I wonder every week about what is going on with this. What is the blessing at Communion for non-communicants actually for

"Draw near to the mystery of faith... Oh bugger off you unbeliever..."

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Spike

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quote:
Originally posted by The Scrumpmeister:
Does anybody know a place from where spare censer lining bowls may be had?

At church where I used to worship, we used the small tin-foil containers used for cooking individual pies - you know the ones, the sort you get in Fish & Chip shops. You can get them in bulk from most cash & carrys and are very cheap.

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Trisagion
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quote:
Originally posted by Garasu:
"Draw near to the mystery of faith... Oh bugger off you unbeliever..."

Trite comment or what? From where does your quotation come? It isn't something I know from the liturgy. In any event, the current practice is more a case of "draw near but not too near".

@Seasick, I think venbede's comment is about where we are, but it isn't terrible coherent.

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Enoch
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quote:
Originally posted by venbede:
We've discussed this before. It would be v unkind and unpastoral to discontinue the practice once in place, but it is odd and I am perfectly happy the Orthodox don't do it.

Is it in any way comparable to the Orthodox distribution of blessed but not consecrated bread or the Pax Board used in the Middle Ages?

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Angloid
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quote:
Originally posted by venbede:
We've discussed this before. It would be v unkind and unpastoral to discontinue the practice once in place, but it is odd and I am perfectly happy the Orthodox don't do it.

I can think of one situation where it would be appropriate. Imagine a young child who has been admitted to communion wanting to receive but accompanied by their non-communicant parent, who might not want to let their child make their own way to the altar - especially in a strange, and/or large and crowded, church. It would seem strange, and be perceived as discourteous, for the administrant to ignore the non-communicant without offering some kind of prayer or blessing. Maybe a more common scenario is a communicant parent approaching the altar with a non-communicant child in his or her arms. The same applies.

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Barefoot Friar

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quote:
Originally posted by Angloid:
Maybe a more common scenario is a communicant parent approaching the altar with a non-communicant child in his or her arms. The same applies.

That's what I usually find.

Thanks for the answers!

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Lamb Chopped
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or not in their arms, but old enough to get into trouble and NOT old enough to be left in the pew unsupervised. Any parent knows that is asking for trouble. But it's ... odd? ... to ignore the child completely while communing the adults.

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Albertus
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Years ago, I was at end of the line at the communion rail in a village church in Cambridgeshire: immediately to my right was a (communicant) parent with a (non-communicant) child who was holding a teddy bear. Priest comes along the row and this is what I hear:

'The Body of Christ' - 'The Body of Christ' -'The Lord bless you' - 'Hello, Teddy!' - 'The Body of Christ'....

Struck me then, and strikes me now, as perfectly in place and pastorally rather wonderful.

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Basilica
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quote:
Originally posted by Albertus:
Years ago, I was at end of the line at the communion rail in a village church in Cambridgeshire: immediately to my right was a (communicant) parent with a (non-communicant) child who was holding a teddy bear. Priest comes along the row and this is what I hear:

'The Body of Christ' - 'The Body of Christ' -'The Lord bless you' - 'Hello, Teddy!' - 'The Body of Christ'....

Struck me then, and strikes me now, as perfectly in place and pastorally rather wonderful.

Yes, that's perfect. I will adopt it forthwith!

I have no objection to the blessing of teddy bears (in fact, there's not much I wouldn't bless) but the distribution of communion isn't the moment...

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ken
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quote:
Originally posted by Angloid:
Maybe a more common scenario is a communicant parent approaching the altar with a non-communicant child in his or her arms.

I imagine that's how it started. And I used to think that that was pretty much all it waw used for. But since I've been distributing communion at our church I've noticed It is not uncommon for adults who are regular communicants to come up and ask for a blessing and not take communion. There are a few every week. I suppose there are all sorts of reasons why someone might do that, and no-one makes a fuss about it or prys, but it does seem a bit odd.

[ 26. November 2012, 16:37: Message edited by: ken ]

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Ken

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Albertus
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Could be all sorts of good reasons. I'd guess the two obvious ones would be having taken communion somewhere else earlier, or not feeling themselves to be in love and charity with their neighbours.
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Comper's Child
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quote:
Originally posted by ken:
quote:
Originally posted by Angloid:
Maybe a more common scenario is a communicant parent approaching the altar with a non-communicant child in his or her arms.

I imagine that's how it started. And I used to think that that was pretty much all it waw used for. But since I've been distributing communion at our church I've noticed It is not uncommon for adults who are regular communicants to come up and ask for a blessing and not take communion. There are a few every week. I suppose there are all sorts of reasons why someone might do that, and no-one makes a fuss about it or prys, but it does seem a bit odd.
We have more than a few on Sundays - probably what we call "seekers" people looking for a faith community, and possibly not baptized who want to take part in the "ceremony" of communion but are not ready to commit to what receiving the sacrament means.
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ken
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At least some of these, maybe most (I'm not exactly counting) are regular attenders who do take communion sometimes.

Being asked to bless people feels very strange to me. The situation looks as if it symbolises an inferior supplicant begging some mercy from some social superior. I know its not that, but the structure of the thing - one man in ordinary clothes kneeling down in front of another wearing special robes and carrying shiny silver ritual items - shouts out hierarchy whether we mean it or not. Its feels weird enough just giving out the bread or wine. Its very tempting to take emotional refuge in rather mechanically doing the same thing and saying the same words for everyone who comes up, as if to depersonalise it, almost "hey, its not really me up here, I'm just the bloke you see down the pub, I don't really do things like this". Being asked for a blessing or a prayer is harder than distribution because that can seem to be more about me, instead of repeating the same actions I did for the previosu commmunicant I'm having to think up what to do or say, how to react, and that can look like me assuming a position of authority or superiority which I'm not comfortable with in either direction. And also sometimes it feels as if what I say or pray is inadequate and the not-quite-communicant goes away unsatisfied.

British culture doesn't really do deference any more (just like it never did do ritual cleanliness, so we are all likely to misread huge chunks of the Old Testament because we mistake laws about symbolic distinctions between people and things for laws about sin or morality or even prevention of disease) and I guess the bit of it I was brought up in is more uneasy with deference and heirarchy than most. So even after some years of it the whole business of helping at Communion is quite emotionally tricky for me.

Please note: frequent use of words like "seems" and "looks like" there! I know I'm not in any position of authority or command, and I don't for a moment think that anyone in the congregation thinks I am, however much our relative distance from the floor could be mistaken as symbolising it during the service. If they did fall into that mistake it woudl be about the Vicar, not me. As you can see on those days when I preach or lead the service and she does very little, but the queue at the back to shake hands and say "nice service, Vicar" (before often whinging about some Very Important Thing we left out or did wrong) is still all with her and all I get is a couple of remarks about Saturday's football. Well usually, but not quite always. I don't come from a culture that is comforatble with very obvious ritual deference, but some of our congregations come from backgrounds that are much more used to it. And very occasionally - like about twice in five years - I've recieved a sort of spontaneous curtsey or bow from someone, of a sort that they might use with each other, according to some system of etiquette that I remains almost completely ignorant of.

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Ken

L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.

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otyetsfoma
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Do any of you ever read those exhortations in the BCP about the dangers (on the one hand)of unprepared communion and (on the other) of neglect of Communion? Some people would rightly, if they had been out to a Saturday night party, or had in some other way been impeeded in prayer, that they ought to go to church but ought not to commune. A hundred years ago they would probably left after the prayer for the whole state... but nowadays that would bring them disapprobational stares.
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Lietuvos Sv. Kazimieras
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@Ken -- but a blessing at the communion rail is just a prayer for a fellower worshipper. Perhaps it's that in Anglican tradition it is normally only presbyters and bishops who bless, and being a licensed (lay) reader, doing a blessing seems odd (I understand you ventured other reasons it seems to you culturally out of place)? About 30 years ago I was taking a break from advanced Anglo-Catholicism, sheltering in a liturgically rather high Lutheran congregation. There I regularly functioned in the role of liturgical deacon, and regularly administed the Host as well as - per the pastor's directive - gave blessings to non-communicant children (though never to an adult as far as I can recall). I always used a form with which I was familiar as an Anglican: "Bless, O Lord, this thy child/servant through all the days of his/her life, until at length he/she come to thine eternal joy". It felt a little odd in that doing it departed from my accustomed norms as an Anglican, but I also reckoned that the form I was using was simply offering a prayer (I coupled it with a light touch of a couple of fingers on the head; no other manual gesture, which would have seemed a usurpation).
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churchgeek

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One habit I wish Communion distributors would stop is, when blessing someone who doesn't want to receive Communion, making the sign of the Cross on their forehead with their thumb and placing their hand on the person's head (hair). Especially when "real" bread (as opposed to wafers) is used, and they have to pinch bread off with that same hand and thumb to give to the next person, who, along with the Body of Christ, gets the previous communicant's forehead grease, hair product, makeup, who knows what else...


Another situation where coming forward for a blessing makes sense is when a person not wishing to receive is in a place in a pew where, if they simply stayed behind, everyone would be climbing over them. Also choirs - there's more of a unity and order to having the whole choir file through whether they're communicants or not. Although I realize in both these scenarios, there are ways to not go forward, but often people won't have thought that part of the choreography through, I suppose.

ETA: Oh, and Spiritual Communion - I know someone who has such severe food allergies she can't receive the Bread, the Gluten-Free Bread, or the Wine, so she receives a blessing and adores the Sacrament that's presented to her. She also serves the Chalice quite often, which seemed weird to me before I learned why she never actually receives the elements.

[ 28. November 2012, 03:17: Message edited by: churchgeek ]

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PD
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quote:
Originally posted by otyetsfoma:
Do any of you ever read those exhortations in the BCP about the dangers (on the one hand)of unprepared communion and (on the other) of neglect of Communion? Some people would rightly, if they had been out to a Saturday night party, or had in some other way been impeeded in prayer, that they ought to go to church but ought not to commune. A hundred years ago they would probably left after the prayer for the whole state... but nowadays that would bring them disapprobational stares.

They get an airing my my parish usually at the beginning of Advent and Lent, and on Trinity Sunday. I will occasionally use the exhortation against abstaining from Communion for its edifying content.

As a student I remember sitting through a few Choral Eucharists with a buzzing head and a firm determination not to receive Communion because I was in no fit state. I have also been crucifer for a few evening service in my student days and been two out of three sheets to wind at the time - oops!

PD

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Basilica
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quote:
Originally posted by churchgeek:
One habit I wish Communion distributors would stop is, when blessing someone who doesn't want to receive Communion, making the sign of the Cross on their forehead with their thumb and placing their hand on the person's head (hair). Especially when "real" bread (as opposed to wafers) is used, and they have to pinch bread off with that same hand and thumb to give to the next person, who, along with the Body of Christ, gets the previous communicant's forehead grease, hair product, makeup, who knows what else...

Ciborium in left hand. Hosts distributed with right hand. A non-communicant appears. Ciborium to right hand. Left hand on non-communicant's head for blessing. Ciborium back to left hand for the next communicant.

Obviously as you say this is more difficult with leavened bread: one more reason not to use it! It's also slightly counterintuitive to lay on the left hand only if you are right-handed, but it becomes natural...

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Zappa
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Call me old fashioned but I wouldn't bless with my left hand (apologies to lefties and all that, but ...) because of the whole sinister blah blah blah. I keep the ciborium in my left hand ...

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Zappa
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Come to think about it, though ... I don't touch the recipient, and certainly don't wave the host around. Just the sign of the cross and appropriate words.

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Lietuvos Sv. Kazimieras
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I would think that a proper blessing, given in the "The blessing of God...be upon you..." type form and accompanied by the sign of the cross over the recipient, should be used only by priests (like Zappa)or bishops, whilst a less direct prayerful form like "Bless, O Lord..." without sign of the cross, should be used by those not in Orders and perhaps also by deacons.
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ken
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quote:
Originally posted by Zappa:
Call me old fashioned but I wouldn't bless with my left hand.

Defintely not. And as you said, not actually touch people either.

quote:
Originally posted by Lietuvos Sv. Kazimieras:
I would think that a proper blessing, given in the "The blessing of God...be upon you..." type form and accompanied by the sign of the cross over the recipient, should be used only by priests ....

Maybe so, but unfortunately both my church and the Church of England in general think differtently!

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Ken

L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.

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otyetsfoma
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In the Orthodox tradition, priests and bishops hold their fingers in a way which tries to resemble ICXC -Priests with the right hand bishops with both hands. Deacons and laity with their fingers in the position in which they bless themselves - thum and first two fingers joined(representing the Trinity)other two pressed into the palm (symbolizing Christ's two natures.)
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3rdFooter
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Does anyone have a quotable reference for the symbolism of the colours of the liturgical year? I have been looking for anything more robust than 'what everyone knows is....'.

At the moment google-fu and even the online Catholic Encyclopedia isn't coming up with much.

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Curiosity killed ...

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@3rd Footer Does this work?

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Oblatus
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quote:
Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
@3rd Footer Does this work?

Wow...Thank you for this, especially because it validates something I've been doing (or not doing, actually). Didn't realize there was precedent for this. Now I can not-genuflect with confidence:

<i>One does not genuflect when re-entering the pew immediately after receiving Holy Communion, either, because the Body of Christ is now actually contained within the person who has just received Him.</i>

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3rdFooter
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quote:
Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
@3rd Footer Does this work?

Kind of. Thanks. This just seems to be one of those bits of tradition that no one ever writes down in the liturgy books or text books.

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3F - Shunter in the sidings of God's Kingdom

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New Yorker
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I was told earlier today that some Christians in Egypt celebrate Hanukkah in lieu of Christmas. I had never heard that. Is that correct? If so, why? Thanks.
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Adam.

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Not according to this very scholarly looking site.

That said, I've never known why Christians don't make at least a little to-do about Chanukkah. We believe the miracle happened (at least Catholics do) and we know that Jesus celebrated the feast.

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New Yorker
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Thanks, Hart. I assumed that the Egyptians in question were Coptic Christians. I may need to clarify that ....
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Lietuvos Sv. Kazimieras
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In principle I agree with you, Hart. However, I'm afraid that many Jews might feel that Christians were being rather tacky in attempting to co-opt a distinctly Jewish festival. A bit like Christian seders.
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Corvo
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Isn't Chanukkah a festival that has been enhanced in importance by the Jewish community precisely because it falls so close to Christmas?
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leo
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Yes. It is only a minor festival but it took off in the USA when Jews wished to assimilate.

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My Jewish-positive lectionary blog is at http://recognisingjewishrootsinthelectionary.wordpress.com/
My reviews at http://layreadersbookreviews.wordpress.com

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venbede
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quote:
Originally posted by Lietuvos Sv. Kazimieras:
In principle I agree with you, Hart. However, I'm afraid that many Jews might feel that Christians were being rather tacky in attempting to co-opt a distinctly Jewish festival. A bit like Christian seders.

It plays a big part in Act III of Handel's oratorio Judas Maccabeus which was enthusiastically supported by the Jewish community in London at the time. This was when Protestants had no problems with the deutero-canonical books.

Since it is not a fixed date, and we have our hands full with Advent at the time, perhaps we had best leave it to the Jews. (Could it be that far from assimilating, US Jews were proving their independence by having a festival at the same time of year?)

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Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.

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Bishops Finger
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Leaving Jewish festivals to the Jews (who will celebrate them infinitely better than we Christians could ever do......) sounds like a Good Thing to me.

...and I simply cannot see the point of 'Christian' seders, either.

Ian J.

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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)

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Oblatus
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quote:
Originally posted by Bishops Finger:
Leaving Jewish festivals to the Jews (who will celebrate them infinitely better than we Christians could ever do......) sounds like a Good Thing to me.

...and I simply cannot see the point of 'Christian' seders, either.

Ian J.

A few years ago, I went back to my first Episcopal parish and arrived a bit early, which gave me a chance to find out that the main service that Sunday was going to be a Rosh Hashanah service, complete with a rite of throwing croutons representing our sins into water. Glad I had arrived early so I could leave without being noticed. As I drove to my childhood Roman Catholic parish instead, I wondered whether local synagogues ever did a Mass just to feel they were being interreligiously educational and inclusive. I guessed they didn't, whether Orthodox or Reform.

Let's major in our own rites when it comes to our weekly service, eh?

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Basilica
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quote:
Originally posted by Bishops Finger:
Leaving Jewish festivals to the Jews (who will celebrate them infinitely better than we Christians could ever do......) sounds like a Good Thing to me.

...and I simply cannot see the point of 'Christian' seders, either.

Ian J.

Even in terms of creatively exploring the meaning and resonance of the Eucharist?
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Fr Weber
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The seder is a thanksgiving and remembrance of the deliverance of the Jews from slavery in Egypt. It has typological and historical connections to the Eucharist, but then so does sitting down to dinner.

I have to agree with the posters who think appropriating the ceremonies of other religions is tacky.

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"The Eucharist is not a play, and you're not Jesus."

--Sr Theresa Koernke, IHM

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seasick

...over the edge
# 48

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quote:
Originally posted by Basilica:
quote:
Originally posted by Bishops Finger:
Leaving Jewish festivals to the Jews (who will celebrate them infinitely better than we Christians could ever do......) sounds like a Good Thing to me.

...and I simply cannot see the point of 'Christian' seders, either.

Ian J.

Even in terms of creatively exploring the meaning and resonance of the Eucharist?
Especially in terms of creatively exploring the meaning and resonance of the Eucharist.

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We believe there is, and always was, in every Christian Church, ... an outward priesthood, ordained by Jesus Christ, and an outward sacrifice offered therein. - John Wesley

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Bostonman
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quote:
Originally posted by seasick:
quote:
Originally posted by Basilica:
quote:
Originally posted by Bishops Finger:
Leaving Jewish festivals to the Jews (who will celebrate them infinitely better than we Christians could ever do......) sounds like a Good Thing to me.

...and I simply cannot see the point of 'Christian' seders, either.

Ian J.

Even in terms of creatively exploring the meaning and resonance of the Eucharist?
Especially in terms of creatively exploring the meaning and resonance of the Eucharist.
I can't imagine how a group of people who have been told that their scriptures are the "Old Testament" and disrespected in a huge number of other ways—completely apart from being oppressed and outright murdered for over a thousand years—would respond to one of their central festivals being appropriated by those oppressors. I can certainly imagine how I would feel if I heard the local synagogue was baptizing people because of the importance of baptism in first-century Palestinian Judaism (I mean, we know John the Baptist baptized people in the same way we know Jesus celebrated Hanukkah!)...and that's from the dominant side in the entire context of disrespect and violence!
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3rdFooter
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quote:
Originally posted by Fr Weber:
I have to agree with the posters who think appropriating the ceremonies of other religions is tacky.

Wot, like the feast of Eostre at the end of March next year?

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3F - Shunter in the sidings of God's Kingdom

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georgiaboy
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# 11294

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Two posters above (at least) mention Jesus having celebrated Hannukah. What have I missed in Scripture? Is it called something else?

I'm pretty sure there are no dreidls or latkes anywhere therein.

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You can't retire from a calling.

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Spiffy
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quote:
Originally posted by georgiaboy:
Two posters above (at least) mention Jesus having celebrated Hannukah. What have I missed in Scripture? Is it called something else?

I'm pretty sure there are no dreidls or latkes anywhere therein.

Flavius Josephus, a historian who was contemporary with Jesus known as the Christ, referred to it in his Jewish Antiquities XII as the "Festival of Lights". The word חֲנֻכָּה comes from the beginning of Numbers 7:84 read in synagouge on the 8th day. In Hebrew it's

זֹ֣את ׀ חֲנֻכַּ֣ת הַמִּזְבֵּ֗חַ

In English that's "This was the dedication of the altar"

Having gone through all that, I don't remember Jesus ever celebrating a "Festival of Lights" either. However, let's remember that in Judea of this time, suggesting you were in sympathy with people who were totally into rebelling against Roman authority was liable to get yourself stuck up on a cross, and that's what Chanukkah is celebrating.

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Looking for a simple solution to all life's problems? We are proud to present obstinate denial. Accept no substitute. Accept nothing.
--Night Vale Radio Twitter Account

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Pomona
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quote:
Originally posted by georgiaboy:
Two posters above (at least) mention Jesus having celebrated Hannukah. What have I missed in Scripture? Is it called something else?

I'm pretty sure there are no dreidls or latkes anywhere therein.

John 10:22 Feast of Dedication = Hanukkah

[ 05. December 2012, 00:55: Message edited by: Jade Constable ]

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Consider the work of God: Who is able to straighten what he has bent? [Ecclesiastes 7:13]

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Bostonman
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# 17108

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quote:
Originally posted by Jade Constable:
quote:
Originally posted by georgiaboy:
Two posters above (at least) mention Jesus having celebrated Hannukah. What have I missed in Scripture? Is it called something else?

I'm pretty sure there are no dreidls or latkes anywhere therein.

John 10:22 Feast of Dedication = Hanukkah
Apart from that devastatingly-good citation and footnote... Dreidls and latkes are both specifically-Yiddish items, as far as I know. So Jesus would be a few centuries early.
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Fr Weber
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# 13472

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quote:
Originally posted by 3rdFooter:
quote:
Originally posted by Fr Weber:
I have to agree with the posters who think appropriating the ceremonies of other religions is tacky.

Wot, like the feast of Eostre at the end of March next year?
Borrowing ceremonies connected with Eostre would be a feat indeed, considering that no one knows with certainty what rites were connected with her.

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"The Eucharist is not a play, and you're not Jesus."

--Sr Theresa Koernke, IHM

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dj_ordinaire
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Bostonman and others:

Please keep the discussions civil. As the Commandments have it: 'Don't offend; don't be easily offended'.

Your cooperation is as ever appreciated!

dj_ordinaire, Eccles host

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Flinging wide the gates...

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