Clarifying Communion

The communion service.

Seagull 1. (Arms flapping circling around something)

Aaah aaah out of my way Colin gull.

Seagull 2. You can call me C gull Clara - amyway this is my spot I come here every Sunday.

Seagull 1. What for.

Seagull 2. It’s the bread man - there’s bread in there - I can smell it.

Seagull 1. Yeah that’s what I come for too are you getting tired - the service is still going let’s take a rest on the steeple.

Seagull 2 - (Swaying to music.) Love that tune man - love the words.

Seagull 1 What is it

Seagull 2 Take our bread - that’s what I’m here for- Hee Hee - (they both laugh.)

Seagull 1 Take our bread - What happens in this building anyway - I mean I know it’s a church but how come they have bread - Mmmm smell that bread -

Seagull 2 Well I was talking to my Uncle Cliff Gull - C gull for short

Clarifying communion

LK 24:30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"

Seagull 1 Do I know him?

Seagull 2 No he went of in a truck - we never saw him again.

Seagull 1 He got a ride in a truck?

Seagull 2 No he was hit by one - in the grill at 100 kilometres an hour - it wasn’t a pretty sight

anyway - I was talking to Uncle Cliff and he told me that the bread the humans eat

is only part of the story - they drink a red drink as well as the bread, grape I understand.

Seagull 1 Not for me I only drink Puddle

Seagull 2 Me too but seemingly a long time ago - there lived someone called Jesus - God’s

son - God made seagulls as well - well this Jesus came to earth and seemingly they

had made a real mess of things

Seagull 1. I can believe that - they’re crazy - I saw a dead sheep in a paddock the other day =

Farmer didn’t even eat it just left it lying there. He could have at least eaten the eyes.

Seagull 2 Anyway because people had made such a mess of things - this man - Jesus comes to

earth to sort things out - he did a pretty good job too until some people got jealous

and they killed him - nailed him to a cross - and he bled - so because his body was

broken and he lost his blood they take bread and the red drink to remember.

The bread represents his body and the drink represents his body. That’s how they

celebrate communion.

Seagull 1. Doesn’t sound like a celebration to me - he was dead.

Seagull 2. Aaaaah that is where you’re wrong because unlike your Uncle Cliff - who’ll never

come back - Jesus did. He rose from the dead. Seemingly because he did - those who accept what he did - will do the same.

Seagull 1 Really - Seagulls too

Seagull 2 No not seagulls - we only get one shot at life - oops shot bad choice of words.

Seagull 1 Well best to make the most of it - they’re taking too long - I’m off I heard from a

friend of a friend - keep it under your wing mind that there’s a picnic going on at piano flat.

Seagull 2 Well what are we waiting for.

There can be no doubt that there are many different views of communion.

I remember as a child going to our local Presbyterian church and being struck by the sombreness of communion. It looked an incredibly serious business and children were not part of it. Men in sombre black suits would file to the front of the church and serve the elements and I think something of the seriousness of the event was conveyed.

In Mosgiel we would file to the front of the church and take communion and it became a real encounter with God - a place where one was refreashed and renewed.

I remember people being very creative with communion providing time to reflect and think before you took the elements. I remember Anglican communions and catholic ones where ritual and form played a high part - I remember a communion where people who were in rebellion to God were encouraged to partake and I personally felt the pain of having to withdraw.