Friday, November 12, 2010
creationary: communion as call and response
I am placing on the blog two communion prayers. Both are based on a call and response, where the essential telling of the story is done by the congregation, not by the presider/leader.
I have found this pattern of enormous help in recent times. It is an echo of the Hebrew Passover pattern, in which the child asks questions and the answers tell the story. It is an echo of Baptist communion theology in which the gathered community are the site for naming sacramentality (for where two or three are gathered, there is Christ). It is a way of inviting the community to do liturgy – the work of the people. It is a chance to deepen understanding, for as people say words, they are more likely to be engaged and thoughtful in and around those words.
One of these “call and response” prayers comes from the church in Kenya. The other comes from colleague Craig Mitchell (more…)
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