This is how we treat what remains. How do Protestants do this?

[BeProf]

Even if it were just a “symbol,” shouldn’t it be treated with respect? I mean, you wouldn’t treat a Bible roughly, and you wouldn’t treat a cross that way either. So, even if they do believe it’s just a symbol…isn’t it important to respect it as a symbol of our lord?

Bingo.

Every church I’ve ever been in treats the elements with respect. We don’t routinely throw them in the trash or pour it down the sink. We don’t just toss bibles in the trash, nor do we chop up old crosses to use for firewood.

The analogy I would use is the flag. Is the flag just a piece of cloth? Ultimately, yes, but it represents something that millions of our forbearers have fought and died for. It’s not a piece of cloth that we should just toss in a garbage can.

If and when a flag becomes unserviceable, however, it is disposed of, but in a way that ensures that the flag in question won’t end up intact in a land fill. The same can be said of any remaining elements or bibles or crosses. We dispose of them if and when they become unserviceable, but we always (at least every time I’ve been involved) we seek to do so with respect an in a way that won’t allow shame to come to the name of Christ.

 

[HannahLisa]

In the (more traditional) Episcopal church I went to for years, I remember the priests drinking whatever was left in the chalice. I also remember one of the Altar Guild members telling me that they had a special place for the disposal of the leftover Body, since it wouldn’t be right for Jesus’ Body to be in with all the other nasty stuff in the sewers. I was probably about eight at the time, though, so I might be wrong on the details of that particular thing.

 

[AlegreFe]

Even if it were just a “symbol,” shouldn’t it be treated with respect? I mean, you wouldn’t treat a Bible roughly, and you wouldn’t treat a cross that way either. So, even if they do believe it’s just a symbol…isn’t it important to respect it as a symbol of our lord?

You’re absolutely right. Even if it were just a symbol it would represent our Lord so respect is due all the way around.

 

[Metaron]

I remember when I used to go t a Protestant community, that one day I was helping an older woman Protestant clean up the pastor’s office. The left-over “blessed” wafers from communion were deposited in a steelish-metallic, round container with a clear top, and you could see them inside. The unfirmented wine was deposited in a small refridgerator in a steelish-metallic pitcher. Before I knew it, the woman with me stated, “Well, we’ve got to get rid of these” and reached into the container, pulled out the wafers, and flung them onto the muddy ground outside. I said, “what on Earth are you doing?!” and she said, “It’s just bread. The communion service is over, so what becomes of it doesn’t matter.” Even though I thought that it was kept in that container to be re-used. Then! She reached into the 'fridge and pulled out the pitcher of wine. “What are you doing?! St.Paul condemns anyone who eats and drinks communion unworthily! This isn’t reverent,” I protested. She chugged it down… “It’s quite good,” she said, “and healthy for you.”

I’m glad it was only pastor-blessed wafers, and not the Real Presence of Christ!

 

[AlegreFe]

I remember when I used to go t a Protestant community, that one day I was helping an older woman Protestant clean up the pastor’s office. The left-over “blessed” wafers from communion were deposited in a steelish-metallic, round container with a clear top, and you could see them inside. The unfirmented wine was deposited in a small refridgerator in a steelish-metallic pitcher. Before I knew it, the woman with me stated, “Well, we’ve got to get rid of these” and reached into the container, pulled out the wafers, and flung them onto the muddy ground outside. I said, “what on Earth are you doing?!” and she said, “It’s just bread. The communion service is over, so what becomes of it doesn’t matter.” Even though I thought that it was kept in that container to be re-used. Then! She reached into the 'fridge and pulled out the pitcher of wine. “What are you doing?! St.Paul condemns anyone who eats and drinks communion unworthily! This isn’t reverent,” I protested. She chugged it down… “It’s quite good,” she said, “and healthy for you.”

I’m glad it was only pastor-blessed wafers, and not the Real Presence of Christ!

How sad. We should pray for that woman. We should also pray for people who do not believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

 

[AveVerumCorpus]

At my parish, we reserve the remaining consecrated Sacrament of our Lord’s body and blood… in the tabernacle! Which, by the way, sits in the middle of our ad orientem altar, where the Blessed Sacrament is available for the sick and dying, as well as for adoration by the faithful. Is there really any other way?

www.saintthomashollywood.org

 

[Brian_C]

I am not quite sure what was done with the leftovers at my Baptist Church, to tell the truth. I’d assume they were thrown away but I can’t say for sure. They may very well dumped the excess bread into a container for next time. However, our “Lord’s Suppers” were so infrequent that I can’t imagine anything keeping that long.

I have a co-worker who left the Catholic Church to join his wife’s denom (maybe Church of Christ?). He was recently telling me about having to throw away a bunch of leftovers in his church b/c they had accidentally been left in some kind of cabinet after their service. He joked that the grape juice smelled like it was well on its way to being wine.

 

[Sr_Sally]

However, this seems like one issue where Cs and Ps should be on the same page: Protestants don’t believe that their communions feature the actual Body and Blood of the Lord, and Catholics also don’t believe that Protestant communions feature the actual Body and Blood of the Lord. In that light, why shouldn’t Protestants do whatever seems fitting with the leftovers?

And many protestant churches do treat the remaining bread and wine is a reverant way. Especially liturgical churches like Lutherans. They will pour out any remaining wine into a special plot of ground (not just down the drain). The bread is usually crumbled into the spot also. The birds may eat it, but at least the symbolism of that is better than using is as stuffing or throwing it in the trash!

In our current parish, all the EMHCs do dip their fingers in the
ablution cup and the priest purifies the chalice before sitting down. Since we receive only under one species, we don’t have a million chalices or a million EMHCs.

 

[Roguemelody]

Just thought I’d post my experience…

I was raised Baptist (convert to RCC this spring - yay! ) and we celebrated Communion once a month - using regular bread cut up into little squares and Welch’s Grape Juice.

After “communion” - us kids used to go to the kitchen where they’d take the “left overs” and we used to sit there and eat the bread and drink whatever juice was left over. Anything we didn’t finish off was just thrown out. The communion was only symbolic of the last supper and there was never any “special treatment” done with the bread & wine.

 

[AlegreFe]

At my parish, we reserve the remaining consecrated Sacrament of our Lord’s body and blood… in the tabernacle! Which, by the way, sits in the middle of our ad orientem altar, where the Blessed Sacrament is available for the sick and dying, as well as for adoration by the faithful. Is there really any other way?

www.saintthomashollywood.org

No there isn’t! I love seeing the Tabernacle in the middle. That is where Jesus belongs. Since Jesus in the Eucharist is the source, center and summit of our Christian life there is no better place for Jesus than in the center of the altar.