One More Reason to Join HCB (sorta :)
He's funny.
He's irreverent (in the best sense of the word).
He's published two books.
He's ours (in a way :).
Come to HighCallingBlogs and hang out. Where else can you get a real live *Communion Wafer Taste Tester* at your service?
For more Gordon Atkinson, more of the time, visit his blog Real Live Preacher and follow him on Twitter at @RLPreacher
(Contents of package may shift during delivery. :)
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This post stolen (um borrowed, no... piggybacked, no... respectfully emulated) from GoodWordEditing's Napkin Story post. Here's the first of the Monkey Chow Diaries that Gordon initially recommended to Marcus.
Labels: communion taste test video, Gordon Atkinson, high calling blogs, Real Live Preacher
posted by L.L. Barkat at 3:24 PM
19 Comments:
Hilarious. I love the "contents of package may shift." That fits Gordon to a T.
I just sent the link to our priest, who will, I'm sure, appreciate this, as she really linked the wafer gun Brad featured on his blog some time ago.
I am curious: What time of day was it? Did Gordon miss his lunch? He just kept shoveling those wafers into his mouth like candy. How many wafers does it take to pronounce the batch bad?
Priceless commentary that in some quarters might be considered heresy. Mio Dio echoing throughout the Vatican.
Hey. Wait a minute. Shouldn't I get some kind of hattip for leading you to the video?
: P
Shoot, you were reading my mind. I pushed the republish button 2 seconds too late! (Note the addition of the snarky hat-tip, before you asked. :)
I have to share this with you. From my priest after she watched the video:
"In seminary we had a taste test of communion bread recipes. One of the major factors was a crumb test: would it get the crumbs of Jesus everywhere? We also tasted communion wines (which I couldn't do since I'm allergic to red wines, one of the reasons we don't use a true red at St. Michael's).
no way i'm joinin such a silly group!
Maureen, that made me smile.
And then later I got philosophical. Thinking... is it irreverent (heretical, going back to your first comment too) before the object has been "made sacred" through ritual?
It is a fascinating question to consider at what point the symbol becomes imbued with power... a power it would be inhospitable to handle in particular ways.
LOL,
That was fun. Just a silly lark. I did get a little heat over it from two sources. 1. People from high church, liturgical traditions who felt it was incredibly disrespectful. At the very least in poor taste. And 2., people who thought I was making fun of vegans and those who need gluten free products.
I was just having fun. I was asking a serious question though. I really have no idea why these wafers are so terrible.
This video is hilarious! My 13 even sniggered through the entire thing. Then we went over to Marcus's, then to the Monkey Chow Diaries. Oh, my word. The things that make boys laugh.
And I'm laughing too.
Gordon, I think disrespect is a question of timing, as I said to Maureen. If you did it with wafers that had been "sanctified" and were already being used in ritual, then I think you may have been trespassing.
But these, it seems to me, were pre-sanctified, still plastified wafers. :)
I am a vegetarian who has a few allergies. And I thought one of the absolute high points of the video was the face you made about the Boca burgers (I was laughing so hard!).
To watch this video to the end is to experience its full power. I just about cried when you broke that wafer and asked that question about Christians.
Well, so I saw the video as pure genius.
Okay, around Day 4 of Monkey Chow Diaries I started to lose weight from the strain of laughing. :) (Laura, it's not just boys! :)
Best metaphoric last line ever. You know the guy who has all those words in red letters? I think he would concur. I just fell in love with Gordon.
I was asked, "Pre- or -post?" As the wafers were just out of the boxes, they obviously had not been consecrated. And the setting (fortunately) was an office and not the altar.
Also, given my priest's comments, I see no harm.
(I was being sassy in my first comment.)
it was in bad taste...
um...bad taste...
get it?!
i crack myself up.
i grew-up being made to go to a methodst chruch. i remember the bread used and the grape juice.
the grape juice was dark and sweet, had to have been welches.
and the bread..ahhhhh. it was little round tiny tiny itty bitty biscuits. golden brown and tasty. i always thought the preacher's wife probably made them...but i don't really know.
where does it say in the bible that the bread shared has to be..."consecrated". that sounds so stuffy!
i thought that the simple remembering of Jesus along with eating bread as a reminder of His body is what Jesus was talking about.
and i don't see why the bread has to be just one choice. if i were having my frineds over to eat together, i would what to have the kind of food that they can eat. so duh...more than one choice.
wine and juice.
wheat bread, rice bread, gluten free bread...why not?
and why not have a big old bread making night or day to prepare for the day it is needed? or kneeded...cracking myself up again.
anyway...there are more choices, just as the video points out.
we don't need no stinkin crackers!
Oh my word! My 6-year old son and I (both vegans by the way) watched this with a growing sense of wonder and anticipation. I just kept thinking that the man needs a large glass of water.
And L.L., that Boca Burger face about did me in too. Wonder if he has been chatting with my husband?
Anyway, my ever so serious son said, "Mom, he's joking right? It's about God, not the bread. He's joking right? I don't care if it does not taste like anything."
Although I feel a tad like I am sneaking into a team huddle late, I rather like his mannerisms and questions. Maybe he will come over for a vegan burger taste test at my house...
So, what is this Monkey Chow business?
Blessings.
Yes, Gordon was joking. In fact, it adds another level of irony to somehow make it about the bread (as if that were the center of the experience... and the thing about the more expensive bread then makes the point).
But of course, I wonder if there is a place for putting good ingredients into it, making it taste as rich and inviting as we can, because of what the symbol stands for. :)
Monkey Chow... oh, that is the video series that made me lose a few pounds last night when I watched it. It's by someone else, but Gordon recommended it early on to Marcus.
nAncY, that is a good question about consecration. I do think that all traditions have a moment where that has "happened."
For High traditions, it happens through the priest, but I think that Paul was chiding the celebrants to wait for others to come, before eating everything, partly because they were celebrating a different kind of dinner (the Lord's Supper). And this made it a different kind of bread (in other words, that the purpose-of-the-gathering "consecrated" the bread for that evening).
Just thinking out loud.
Laughing out loud, thanks for this! I love all the folks at HCB, I'm sure God meant us to use our sense of humor and this taste-test just had me rolling.
You know, communion wafers became a very big deal for me when I developed a gluten intolerance. I owe a lot of where I am today to the fact that I can't eat gluten communion wafers. I'm thankful for that little quirk of digestion, I really am. Nowadays my son, 3 other gluten intolerant members of our church family and I have a little stash of gluten free bread in the freezer at church that we use for communion.
Those wafers, if I recall correctly, leave a taste and feel in your mouth like you've been licking envelopes all day. I hope Gordon had a big glass of water ready after he filmed this!
On a different note, I am (sadly) allergic to at least one ingredient in Boca Burgers. I used to love them! Boca Burger on a gluten-free bun with rice cheese...mmmmm, good. ;o)
L.L., the video is outstanding. But aside of that, just stopped by to say I had the privilege of catching the last few minutes of your reading with Brooke (blasted time zones...) and thoroughly enjoyed what I managed to be there for. (And to put a face behind your voice.)
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