Should the Pastor Commune First?
Earlier, I was wondering why priests in older rites face the altar, rather than the people. Now, consider the question of when he should eat. Should he eat first, or should he wait for the rest of the congregation to be served? The main argument I’ve heard for waiting is a slim appeal to 1 Cor. 11:33.
Graham Redding argues against this from historical and theological grounds, “Calvin retains the primitive and Catholic custom of the celebrant serving himself and the elements before their distribution to the congregation … The custom of the celebrant receiving the elements first is consistent with the doctrine of the priesthood of Christ. For, by virtue of his eternal priesthood, Christ alone is the true Host at the Table, not the officiating minister, who stands in Christ’s place merely as his ‘ambassador’. Because Christ is both Priest and Host, the celebrant must first receive what the Host offers before he can serve others; and because the celebrant is Christ’s ambassador at the Table, he must serve himself. As Maxwell observes, this practice has the advantage of the minister setting an ‘example to Christ’s flock of faithful people, first partaking of the sacred Eelements himself, then giving of them to the people’” (Prayer and the Priesthood of Christ in the Reformed Tradition , 235).
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Greetings Gregory,
As I’ve considered this notion, some of the thoughts that come to mind are those concerning the servanthood of Christ in which he did not come to be served but to serve others. Indeed, when it comes to Lord Jesus and his relationship to his servants we are told, “Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them.” If this is referring to that great banquet that our weekly Eucharist participation anticipates, then wouldn’t it seem proper to have the representative host eat last?
In Christ,
Nathan Northup
I agree with Nathan. It doesn’t seem to me that a host who would, at the beginning of the feast, wrap a towel around his waist and go around washing his guests feet, is going to be the first one to eat.
When Jesus distributed the wine to His disciples, it’s clear that they didn’t all partake at exactly the same moment. Someone partook first, someone second, and so on.
In the church I pastor, I eat first and then pass the bread to someone in the front row, blessing her (”The Lord be with you”
and being blessed by her in return (”And also with you”). She takes the bread, eats it, blesses her neighbor, is blessed, and passes it on. And so forth throughout the congregation.
Similarly, the wine flows through the congregation, starting with me, and again accompanied by blessing (”Peace be with you”
and counterblessing (”And with you”).
As we eat the bread, we become one bread with Christ and with one another. The pastor eats first because he’s leading the way. He’s the first to become bread who will be broken for the life and well-being of the congregation. He’s the first to drink wine and be united with Christ in His self-giving shedding of blood and the pastor is thus the first in the congregation to shed his blood and pour out his life for the congregation.
In short, I think a good case can be made for having the pastor partake first and a very good case can be made for having members partake (at least of the wine) when they receive it, instead of waiting for everyone to have some before partaking.
I have found few of the arguments made on this issue to make much sense. There is about “going last” something that just doesn’t feel right. I did it for years and it seemed a less than authentic act of humility. So, I offer the following:
1.
sorry I got cut off…
1. It has been the tradition of the church for most of its history that the presiding minister communes first. Why? To what end? Can they have been that wrong based on the current arguments to the contrary?
2. I don’t think so and so I had to rethink my practice and give it a try only to discover that I first found myself fed and so could feed in a way that I had not really perceived before when I communed last. The going first became a confession of my emptiness without the presence of Christ in bread wine already consumed.
3. I have only come recently to the place where if this table is proleptic and a foretaste of the kingdom… then to go first is a sign of being least and last… an opportunity when ask, to talk of the ways in which our Lord turns this world’s normal perceptions of things upside down…
With respect and having done it both ways…