A
amcalabrese
Guest
My wife is Lutheran. She is not much of a church goer. In the 4 1/2 years we have been married, she has probably gone to church with me more than to a Lutheran church.
One year, the Sunday before Christmas, we were at her Mom’s house (we were spending Christmas at my parent’s house). She asked that I go with her to her Mom’s church. Apparently, my refusal to take communion was noted. I did not make a big deal about it. When the time came, I quietly steped aside so the others in my row could walk up, and quietly sat down. One of the parishoners made a small scene, I simply sat down and ignored her.
I will say that while modern Lutheran communion services are similar to our Novo Ordo service, I did miss the reverance for the moment, even by those not receiving communion, that you see in a Catholic Church.
One year, the Sunday before Christmas, we were at her Mom’s house (we were spending Christmas at my parent’s house). She asked that I go with her to her Mom’s church. Apparently, my refusal to take communion was noted. I did not make a big deal about it. When the time came, I quietly steped aside so the others in my row could walk up, and quietly sat down. One of the parishoners made a small scene, I simply sat down and ignored her.
I will say that while modern Lutheran communion services are similar to our Novo Ordo service, I did miss the reverance for the moment, even by those not receiving communion, that you see in a Catholic Church.
Here is the background: I am a convert… grew up in a fundamentalist type background. My mom and dad divorced when I was in college–he was a pastor in some crazy backwoods churches and got crazier as he got more religious. My mom divorced him after 24 years of marriage for emotional and physical abuse. It had gotten pretty bad by that time. She has since remarried and she and her husband go to an Episcopal church. She got very interested in liturgical worship and actually ended up going the Episcopal route about the same time I turned Catholic. She probably would be Catholic except for the annulment issue (not that she has looked into it at all nor does she want to), the Marian doctrines, and as she puts it “I just don’t like it that they say they are the ONE TRUE CHURCH!” Anywho… on to my problem. We talk alot about Catholic and Episcopal things… similarities in worship, differences in teachings, whatever. She knows that I cannot take communion in her church, and every time we have talked about it she acts quite snide about it, and even has asked me several times, “SO, if you go to my church, you can’t take communion?” She knows I can’t but she still asks. I still haven’t been to her church and I know she wants my family to go with her this Sunday and we’ll be at her house for Thanksgiving. She said “Well, I guess you can go to the Catholic church Saturday night and get the REAL host and then go with me on Sunday.” I guess I just want to find a way to nicely explain WHY I can’t take communion at her church. I hate this kind of ickiness in families. And she has been the one family member on either side of our families that has been supportive of me becoming Catholic. She drove 3 hours to come to my confirmation. I have gone through alot with my inlaws with this conversion and it has been great that my own mother has stood by me and supported me. So I want to keep things nice between us when it comes to the Church issue.