We developed an origami box containing a plastic communion cup and a rescued rice cracker for communion to run out of our community food pantry during an Easter Covid-19 lockdown.
(You know those horrible, in case of emergency, mass produced communion cups with a plastic lid…. there was an old unused box lying around a church cupboard…thankfully its an emergency and at our People’s Pantry we’re all about redeeming the waste of overpackaged, badly conceived and marketed food products of our ‘once’ dominant economy.)
Here is the text that is printed on the inside of the box…
For as often as you eat… Do this in remembrance…
The Flemington People’s Pantry is a multi faith, multi cultural food rescue and redistribution project run by and for members of the local public housing estate communities and Essendon Community Baptist Church.
We exist to redeem waste, share food and work, dispel loneliness, reconnect neighbours, celebrate difference and subvert the status quo. We seek to share food, faith and friendship; welcome, work and worship in the Spirit of Jesus/ Yeshua/ Issa.
Along with our usual food parcel we offer this cup and a rescued cracker to celebrate Holy Week.
For Christians, Holy Week celebrates the final week of Jesus’ life which includes what is commonly known as the Last Supper, Eucharist (Thanksgiving) or the Communion meal.
Different traditions practice this meal in different ways but it inspires the way we run our pantry as we believe it to be :
- For all people’s regardless of colour or creed
- A generous act of love and ser vice
- a practice of the politics of food and freedom
- an affirmation of life in the face of death
- for every/ any meal or act of sharing food
- a real presence / ‘communion’ in a time of isolation
Jesus’ Words: (you are invited to say as you eat/drink)
On the night when he was betrayed, Jesus Christ took bread and broke it and said,
‘this is my body which is given for you. Do this to remember me.’
As you eat the rescued rice cracker and/or share food from your pantry box with your household you may wish to say to yourself / others; ‘The Body of Christ given for you.’
At that last meal, Jesus took the cup of wine, gave thanks and shared it saying:
‘Drink this, all of you; this wine is my blood, shed for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you share it, remember me.’
As you drink the cup and/or share with your household… say to yourself / others; ‘The Blood of Christ given for you.’
Let us receive what we are; let us become what we receive. The body and blood of Christ.
Printable A4 sheet which can be cut to square for origami box. EUCHARIST BOX
A video of how to make an origami box… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czZ7TLU22tU
You can listen to my introduction to communion from the People’s Pantry for Essendon Baptist’s 2020 Easter Sunday service from the 21.45 minutes – 26 minutes point of the podcast.
My response to a query about open communion:
Thanks for your enquiry re communion during Essendon Baptist livestream. You are correct that the approach to communion is unusual. It draws strongly on ‘low’ church, ‘missional organic’ and ‘radical discipleship’ traditions.
Here’s some further words and links that we use around our pantry ministry and shape some of the statements I made on Sunday.
I appreciate traditions that disagree both theologically and practically but share this as a resource for those who have found Christ in this reading of the Word and practice of the sacrament.
Much Grace & Peace, Marcus
For All Peoples …
Just as we don’t limit people at our multi-faith People’s Pantry we encourage everyone to share food in the spirit of Moses and Jesus, encouraging all to take only what they need. We regularly encourage our volunteers to ‘discern the body’ by suggesting how you share food reveals your religion/ what you believe most deeply.
We believe Holy Communion is open to all, as Jesus fed multitudes of people regardless of their race or religion. He ate where, and with those who others wouldn’t – and embraced those that others rejected. He shared his last meal with those who we’re influenced by evil (Luke 22:3, John 13:27), who misunderstood, betrayed and denied him.
Act of Love and Service to Others…
The early church called this meal a ‘love feast’ in which many different people were gathered in because the bread and cup of communion are intended to remind us of Jesus’ love and sacrifice for our sins.
At his final meal washed his disciples feet and instructed them to serve and love one another (John 13) And Jesus’ word to disciples (at the feeding of the multitudes) remains: “You feed them!” . So communion is not so much an individualistic act, consumed in silence and solitude and done for God, but instead of a community expression of gratefulness for how much Jesus has done for us.
Seeks to Practice The Politics of Food and Freedom
Jesus and the early church were deeply concerned about the fraught relationship between persons, society and food. As Robert Karris provocatively said “Jesus was killed for the way he ate.”
In the wilderness Jesus took the little that hungry people had, organized in groups, gave thanks and celebrated ‘enough for all.’ In doing so he was connecting with Exodus and the Passover/ Sabbath wilderness traditions of Moses before him.
It has often been noted that the Feeding formula— “Take/bless /break/give”—is also found and in the Last Supper story (Mk 14:22).
This has fueled a traditional “eucharistic” interpretation of the wilderness feeding. But narrative common sense suggests we should read the later episode in light of the earlier one, not vice-versa.
As Ched Myers suggest in his communion sermon Freedom Bound, “Using the same ritual words at his Last Supper, Jesus made the feeding of the multitudes the bridge that connects these two meals….Standing ever between Exodus and Eucharist are poor folks hungering for bread and for the Bread of Life. ”
https://chedmyers.org/2017/04/11/blog-2017-04-11-tale-two-meals-ched-myers/
For me Pantry as the Lord’s supper gives emphasis not just to Jesus sacrificial death but to his advocacy and embodiment of a Sabbath/ Jubilee economics, as food for people not for profit; of taking only what we need (our daily bread), and of forgiveness of debt. It reminds us of Jesus feeding the hungry multitudes and of including even the socially ‘illegal’ or ‘unclean’ at his table fellowship.
These principles echo throughout the rest of the N.T., from Luke’s banqueting stories (e.g. Lk 14, 16) to Paul’s insistence that the Eucharist should be a feast of equality, not privilege (I Cor 11:17-22). Indeed, the inaugural account of the church “breaking bread” in Acts occurred on the feast of Shavuot—which in N.T. times was called Pentecost—and this animated a thoroughgoing communal redistribution of wealth (Acts 2
Whenever we re-enact this meal, we should be mindful of the ongoing struggle to secure food as the divine gift to all persons, and eating as a practice of gratitude and justice.
Links
C. Myers, “All Ate and Were Satisfied,” Priests and People, 2004 https://justfaith.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/All-ate-and-were-satisfied-Ched-Myers.pdf
R. Karris “Eating Your way through Lukes’s Gospel” https://www.amazon.com.au/Eating-Your-Through-Lukes-Gospel/dp/081462121X
Quotes :
“It is almost universally taught that unbelievers are not to take the bread and the cup, but the Bible never says this. Its only warning is for the abusive Christians who were not sharing with others. In fact, it says, ‘For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.’ (1 Cor. 11:26). Doesn’t that sound like a great message for someone who is not yet a follower of Christ? It is remarkable when you think of it, but at the core of the Gospel message is that we share a meal with others. In a hungry world, Christianity is supposed to be generous, which symbolizes the love and sacrifice of Jesus for us all. This is why when some Christians were selfish and hoarding they became sick and even died under the discipline of the Lord. This is very serious to our Lord, who paid a great price to give this all away….We should be more careful about excluding people than including people, because the warning passage is directed against those who kept some from eating the feast.” – Neil Cole : ‘Church 3.0: Upgrades for the Future of the Church’
‘The way to ensure it the Lords table and not ours is the presence there of someone totally inappropriate’
Sara Miles : ‘Take this Bread: A Radical Communion’
The People's Table... 