Since COVID, the congregation I am attending began using the individual prepacked communion sets handed out in sandwich bags before we walk into worship. The men leading communion begin with comments, scripture, and prayer before we partake of the bread. After 30 to 15 seconds of silence, the leader offers another prayer, and we drink the juice. The members then place the used communion containers back into the plastic bags which creates noise as the congregation is rather large.<\/p>\n
I feel this process does not allow enough time for me to reflect on the great sacrifice Christ made for me and to offer my prayers of thanks and gratitude. Please note, I’m certain the men leading communion are doing the best they can and may be uncomfortable with a longer period of silence since this is a new way of leading communion.<\/p>\n
Is it normal to need more quiet time during the communion service?<\/p>\n
Do you know how other churches using the prepacked communion sets are handling the time allotted to communion?<\/p>\n
I look forward to your ideas on this subject.<\/p>\n\t
We stopped using the prepackaged communion sets a long time ago. We prefer the symbolism of breaking the bread in partaking of the Lord’s Supper. (And the taste of the prepackaged sets was not great.)<\/p>\n
There are no rules in the Scriptures regarding how long the Lord’s Supper is to take. To impose rules is to go beyond what God commanded. Each congregation will have to decide what works best in their situation.<\/p>\n
You can always request that more time be allotted but realize that this is your preference and not something demanded by the Lord. Since it is a preference, our obligation to the brethren is to work together and not make it a point of contention. “For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s<\/em>” (Romans 14:7-8).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Since COVID, the congregation I am attending began using the individual prepacked communion sets handed out in sandwich bags before we walk into worship. The men leading communion begin with comments, scripture, and prayer before we partake of the bread. After 30 to 15 seconds of silence, the leader offers another prayer, and we…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[146],"class_list":["post-60080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-lords-supper"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":82678,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-congregations-practice-closed-communion\/","url_meta":{"origin":60080,"position":0},"title":"Should congregations practice closed communion?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 29, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My family and I are members of the Lord's church, and we visited a congregation this morning. During the Lord's Supper, we were bypassed and not given the opportunity to partake. One of the leaders noticed our expressions and approached us before Bible class began. He explained that we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54642,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/must-the-bread-be-broken-by-the-one-presiding-at-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":60080,"position":1},"title":"Must the bread be broken by the one presiding at the Lord’s Supper?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I looked at your Q&A about the Lord's supper, but could not find an answer to my question.\u00a0 Is there any Bible teaching that the man who is \"presiding\" at the serving of the Lord's Supper needs to break the bread in two before serving it to the congregation?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13317,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-shouldnt-the-lords-supper-be-served-again-for-latecomers\/","url_meta":{"origin":60080,"position":2},"title":"Why shouldn’t the Lord’s Supper be served again for latecomers?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 21, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In your\u00a0training, you state that you should not serve again for latecomers. What is the reason for that, given Paul's instruction to \"tarry one for another\" in I Corinthians 11:33? I am in agreement with you, but interested in your rationale. Answer: The statement in the class notes is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43174,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-women-help-in-serving-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":60080,"position":3},"title":"Can women help in serving the Lord’s Supper?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I recently worshiped at a congregation where they allowed women to assist in serving the communion. The women stood alongside the men in front of the congregation while one man read Scriptures and prayed, then the women helped to serve communion with the men. Is this in violation of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16773,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-can-give-communion\/","url_meta":{"origin":60080,"position":4},"title":"Who can give communion?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 5, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We have a doubt about administering communion; that is, who can give communion? We are seven who as started a church and now it has grown to 30 people. We have one leader but none of us is ordained. Now, who can give communion? Or should we find an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26055,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-i-need-to-confess-my-sin-of-lust-before-taking-communion\/","url_meta":{"origin":60080,"position":5},"title":"Do I need to confess my sin of lust before taking communion?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question about lust and communion. Is it a sin to have touched my boyfriend\u2019s buttocks with our clothes on? I believe it may fall into lust, and if it does then do I have to confess this before being able to take communion? Answer: What you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60080\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}