My father -- again

Dad as you know was a preacher/teacher. He loved God's Word, to the point that if he were engrossed in a passage of Scripture, the house could burn down around him and he wouldn't notice.

Dad spent one day a month taking communion to the elderly, or those who were unable to get to church on the first Sunday of the month -- that was communion Sunday. He had the neatest "kit". It was made of leather, like a doctors bag, but not as large. It contained a jar with a lid on it for the "wine" (Welch's grape juice), four small sipping glasses, a small silver tray for the Matzo (the bread to be broken), and a napkin in which to wrap the Matzo until it was broken onto the plate. Dad carried The Word in his pocket (well, really in his head, but he always opened The Book and recited the Lord's Supper passages).

Children were not permitted to participate in the partaking of the Lord's Supper until they were 11 and had passed all the questions asked by the pastor, deacons, and trustees, about their belief in Christ, and then were baptized. After being baptized, one could take the Lord's Supper on the first Sunday of the month.

Dad would prepare for this service by filling the cups in putting them into the cup holders -- he did this early on Sunday morning. And he would get three matzos and place them in a folded napkin on a silver tray, and then carry all these items over to the church and set them up on the table in front of the podium. He'd drape the whole thing with a white, freshly pressed table cloth. That way, people coming to church that day knew it was communion Sunday.

The deacons would head down front and dad would give them the trays of "bread" to be passed out, then after they returned to the front of the church with the trays, dad would serve the deacons, saying, "This is my body, which is broken for you, do this in remembrance of me." And then he would say, "Eat ye all of it," at which point we would all chew on our small bit of matzo. Then the cup would be passed around. The juice was put in tiny, almost thimble-sized cups and each person took one cup, and held it. When all the cups were passed out, the men would walk back to the front of the church, and dad would pass out the cup to the deacons, saying, "This is my blood which was shed for you." "As long as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, you shall show the Lord's death until He comes." Then, "Drink ye all of it."

Then we'd sing the Doxology and leave.

Won't it be wonderful when we are at our Lord's table and he is serving us this supper in person?