Alternate cups for communion

I mentioned recently how a Dopp kit would be a good case for carrying communion supplies for home or hospital and an alternative to the junk so often sold by church supply houses. I mentioned I had an alternative for communion cups, too. I can’t find a good generic term for what I have in mind. They… Continue reading Alternate cups for communion

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Categorized as Sacraments

In place of cheap church gear

Hubby and I wandered into a well-known church supply house on Saturday.  I was struck by how shabby so much of the gear and books looked. Were the 1980s and 1990s the high mark for church design?  Must everything come in plastic. Consider the home communion set made of a plastic clamshell box (which will… Continue reading In place of cheap church gear

Imagining the lovefeast as a universal feast

Tonight and tomorrow night, millions of Jews will observe the Passover: a celebration of God’s deliverance from slavery. I’ve never been to one, tempting as family associations and food are. (I have, in my college days, had leftovers shared with me.) I’m OK having never attended a seder, and I would be just as happy… Continue reading Imagining the lovefeast as a universal feast

Software for that comparative liturgy project

A few days ago, I suggested a common dependence on Frederick Henry Hedge’s translation of the Liturgy of St. James for Unitarian, Universalist and Free Christian communion practice. Rashly I said would create a parallel text showing this development if I could find the software to typeset it. I think I found what I was… Continue reading Software for that comparative liturgy project

A common communion use in Unitarian, Universalist and Free Christian churches

Something for me to put a pin in, and for perhaps someone else. I suspect that most of the common, historic Unitarian, Universalist and Free Christian communion rites — those descended from King’s Chapel excepted, but including James Martineau’s — can be traced back to Frederick Henry Hedge’s translation of the Liturgy of St. James.… Continue reading A common communion use in Unitarian, Universalist and Free Christian churches

IKEA for communion ware

It’s been almost five years since I’ve written about using items from the Swedish dry-goods store IKEA for ecclesiastic purposes, but then Hubby and I don’t own a car anymore and it takes an effort to get to our nearest outlet. But we did so yesterday, and enjoyed ourselves down to the meatball-free dinner in… Continue reading IKEA for communion ware

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Categorized as Sacraments

An old reflection on what it means to be a Universalist church

A continuing concern of mine is what makes a Universalist church Universalist. I’ve gotten hints from liturgies and speeches, but nothing helps so well as polity documents, which tell more than they intend. So when I found the badly-typeset 1873 constitution and bylaws of the (extant) Halifax, Nova Scotia Universalist church, I was touched and… Continue reading An old reflection on what it means to be a Universalist church

A familiar profession from the Brazilian Unitarians

Even though I took Portuguese as my required language at the University of Georgia, I never really got the hang of it, and so after twenty years I go to Google (rather than my own skill) to read the site of the Congregação Unitarista de Pernambuco, no Brasil. That is, in Brazil. (And that’s about… Continue reading A familiar profession from the Brazilian Unitarians