First, let me say I had the great honor and joy of attending Christmas Eve Mass at the Church of the Redeemer with Randy and Eugene. How lovely it was to celebrate the meaning of Christmas with them, and to sing in harmony with their beautiful voices !!!!!

So, I know Eugene knows full well the magnificence of Holy Communion and still says that in condoning its symbolism, we foster primitive ritualistic violence around the world. Tough stuff that.

I have been attending the Reformed Jewish Temple recently in order to get a better understanding of our "Hebrew Lord". Three of this week's reading, refer to salvation or redemption. I think a footnote in the Hebrew prayerbook is illuminating here. Permit me to quote it. "The Jewish idea of redemption compels us to imagine a perfect world, a world that has reached its full potential. Poetry asks the same of its language; poetry at its best imagines a perfect language which can impart all the nuances,meanings, and music that it never quite achieves in our everyday speech. When understood well, poetry and redemption can help us remake our world; a brilliant line of poetry can place a new link in the chain of our thought and language; and the idea of redemption helps us look beyond our lives towards a world of possibility."( Adam Sol)

Now, ofcourse,the ritual of Holy Communion combines poetry and salvation to bring us into communion with Christ and each other ---into the New Creation. As you all know, it is based on the Jewish Sedar. The Sedar meal vividly commemorates God's bringing the Jews out of bondage in Egypt and into the Freedom of a New Identity--as His people under special covenant with Him. This covenant involves THE LAW, The Torah which expressed God's will for His people. So ,too, holy communion brings us into the new freedom of another spiritual evolution with each other and with God's Spirit in Christ. Jesus,being specially annointed( which is what "Christ" means) showed us what God's will is, not just in a written word, but in a lived life. We are called to continue this life by serving God's will as Jesus did.

Holy Communion poetically conveys all of this .A meal has always symbolized communion with each other.Can not bread and wine represent that which sustains life, our spiritual life? Eugene, what if we said, "This bread and wine represents all that nourishes our spiritual life with each other and with Christ. Thereby we can receive God's grace more fully. With that grace , we recommit ourselves to do God's will so that we may help bring God's Kingdom of compassion and justice for all to Earth."

This way we could keep the poetry, we could keep the idea of salvation ,both of which help shape us toward the full potential of our spiritual evolution.

So, do we really need to change the full ritual or just a few words? What think you, Eugene and any others? Come on , join in being "seekers, all of you!!! This forum is its own kind of communion through internet communication!!!Thank you again, Eugene, for providing it!!!!

Email: mhlandlbl@msn.com