(no subject)

[tree_and_leaf]

Twice a term the local (C of E) comp comes in for a Eucharist. On the whole it's a very good thing; they have an enthusiastic choir run by the obligatory Eccentric Music Teacher (a rabid Scots nationalist from Glasgow, who resembles an even-more-run-to-seed Francis Rossi, and is never seen out of a saltire tie), the kids are generally well behaved and attentive, and today some of them had produced a slideshow on the Ascension and Pentecost using the Brick New Testament. Also, they raised a good deal of money, to judge by the weight of the offertory plates, for a teenage cancer charity.

The one difficulty is that it's almost impossible to work out how many people are going to receive communion.

Which leads, inevitably, to Tree and Third Virger standing in the Vestry, desperately trying to consume 160 wafers. I do sometimes wish that the bread-of-heaven-containing-in-itself-all-sweetness tasted more as if it did... (though the worst bit's the dry mouth, I think.)

Comments

[sara]

LOL. No, really. That'll teach you not to use a nice loaf of bread, won't it?

Can't you put them up in the whatsit box and leave them for next week? That's what we did semi-regularly with excessive hosts.

[tree_and_leaf]

Oh, we reserve, but it would take a very long time indeed to get through 160 reserved hosts, and would probably lead to having to burn mouldy ones in the end...

[gramina]

Do you guys not have an aumbry? 'Cause yeah, Sara's thought was my first thought -- keep it for the reserve sacrament. But if you don't have an aumbry (and its corresponding light), I believe it's acceptable to return unconsumed hosts or wine directly to the earth. (That is, you can bury them. You just can't put them in the trash or down the disposal. ;) )

[tree_and_leaf]

Yes, we do, but we really don't need that many hosts in one week.

I'm not keen on burying hosts, in general. (I know it's licit, but...)

[wychwood]

Like everyone else I was going to ask about tabernacles and all that - but I'd forgotten that you don't celebrate the Eucharist daily as a matter of course! We pretty much always have a few hundred in the tabernacle at any given time, I would guess - we use four ciboria at weekend Mass, and generally three of those are kept, mostly full, in the tabernacle while we fill the fourth to consecrate.

[tree_and_leaf]

Oh, we do celebrate the Eucharist daily - twice daily during the week, and three times on Sundays. But the policy is only to reserve from the Monday morning Mass, and otherwise to consume. Normally you can work out roughly how many will communicate (and leave a small margin of error), so on a Sunday morning thirty or so might be consumed. At a low Mass it's usually dead on, as you don't get many non-communicants.

[wychwood]

Gosh, that's tiny tiny numbers, though! I mean, I think my weekend Mass (which is one of five, and probably the middle in size) probably has around 150-200 communicants. Weekdays are obviously a lot smaller, but I'd still be guessing something like 30-50.

In any case, I feel you on the consuming thing. Hosts are not especially tasty. And we have an analogous problem with the wine - if it gets consecrated, it has to be consumed because we can't reserve it. It is foul-tasting, and also strong; I have, on occasion, left church in a state of mild intoxication as a side-effect of purifying the chalices. Not Recommended.

[tree_and_leaf]

Sorry, poorly expressed. We get about 450-550 at the parish Eucharist on Sundays, and about 150-200 at the choral. I meant what's left over after the congregation has finished communicating. Of course, sometimes it goes wrong and you end up with lots to consume...

But yes, on the whole, consuming wine is worse.

[wychwood]

Right! Right! That makes a lot more sense. I was getting very worried about the state of the Anglican church just then *g*.