This is great, Mark. I especially like the importance of the intergenerational aspect. Maybe that in itself transcends anything clever we might do.

We have a lot of students that still remember the occasion with the donuts, and the importance of why we did it was more important than what we used. 🙂

Great question! I posted about it here: http://blog.simplyyouthministry.com/general-ministry/communion-alternatives-follow-up/

Well said, Greg. That’s the kind of accountability I was searching for… and the other side of the coin is how we remember that God is off-the-charts-creative, too. He didn’t make it a habit to repeat His miracles, for example, and yet had all of these traditions in the Old Testament to teach doctrine/theology/Story. Navigating this tension can be tricky, especially in churches where we tend to lean on one side of that versus the other. One of the tragedies of church history is that often, people have associated the practices of the church with greater emphasis than the One we’re trying to connect with. Tradition is the elephant in the room, for while it is an on-ramp to the highway it isn’t the highway in itself. Thanks for challenging the process on this!

Well said, Greg. That’s the kind of accountability I was searching for… and the other side of the coin is how we remember that God is off-the-charts-creative, too. He didn’t make it a habit to repeat His miracles, for example, and yet had all of these traditions in the Old Testament to teach doctrine/theology/Story. Navigating this tension can be tricky, especially in churches where we tend to lean on one side of that versus the other. One of the tragedies of church history is that often, people have associated the practices of the church with greater emphasis than the One we’re trying to connect with. Tradition is the elephant in the room, for while it is an on-ramp to the highway it isn’t the highway in itself. Thanks for challenging the process on this!

Great thought, Isaiah. There’s something about talking about the personal element of Christ caring about you and then having someone personally serve you Communion. Maybe that represents the Resurrection somehow, too – the personal aspect of Jesus coming back, letting His disciples touch the wounds in His hand, and so on. Like this a lot!

Great thought, Isaiah. There’s something about talking about the personal element of Christ caring about you and then having someone personally serve you Communion. Maybe that represents the Resurrection somehow, too – the personal aspect of Jesus coming back, letting His disciples touch the wounds in His hand, and so on. Like this a lot!