7th November 2021: Letter from the Locum Minister Rev Marion Paton

Dear Friends,
Today we invite you to celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Communion with us. All are welcome at the Table of the Lord and we hope that as many of you as possible will join us in person. However, for those of you joining us on YouTube or Facebook I would invite you to prepare a small glass of wine/juice and a piece of bread so that you can share with us in the service. If you are using this service in the printed version, please also prepare bread and wine so that you too can share in the physical and spiritual aspects of this service. Wherever you are, whether you are at home or with us in the church building, you are welcome.
If anyone would like to receive Communion at home from the minister, then please do get in touch. As long as you can provide your own bread and wine/juice, this can be arranged in a completely Covid-safe way, and it is always a privilege to share this sacrament.
Colin Buchanan, in his book called ‘The Heart of Sunday Worship’ says this about the Sacrament of Holy Communion:
‘Without the communion there is no identifiable body of Christ to be his presence in the world. Without the communion there is nothing from which we can be sent out into the world. Without the communion there is no testable Christian centre or point of focus to which enquirers in the world can be pointed, into which converts can be introduced through baptism’.
Although by tradition, we do not celebrate the sacrament very often, it is a unifying occasion, one that brings us all together as nothing else can, as the body of Christ. And it inspires us to go out and witness for him in our daily lives.
Richard McKenna describes a ‘dirty back street church’ in Fulham where he celebrated Holy Communion for six or seven elderly decrepit people, and where the church almost trembled with the presence of mystery, and the presence of Christ. Wherever you are, we hope and pray that you will be filled with the presence of mystery and the presence of Christ as you share with us in this service.
With love and blessings,
Marion