Tuesday 5 March 2019 is Shrove Tuesday. To mark this occasion, we shall have the chance to gather and eat pancakes together between 6 – 7 pm in the church lounge.

Shrove Tuesday (also known in Commonwealth countries and Ireland as Pancake Tuesday or Pancake Day) is the day in February or March immediately preceding Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent), which is celebrated in some countries by consuming pancakes. In others, especially those where it is called Mardi Gras or some translation thereof, this is a carnival day, and also the last day of "fat eating" or "gorging" before the fasting period of Lent.

​Most of our services are based around Holy Communion.  In some churches this is also called eucharist (Greek for thanksgiving) and the Lord’s Supper.  I think of the service as more than thanksgiving, although I appreciate the verb was used by Jesus, “Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks (εὐχαριστήσας) he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it.” (Mark 14.23)

I think of the Lord’s Supper as that service we remember on Maundy Thursday. It was when Jesus shared the Passover meal with his disciples.

For me Holy Communion is right term as it is the time I recall quietly and privately at reception the sacrifice made by Jesus for me on the cross and think on his return. I appreciate the words, “Do this in remembrance of me.”

Anglicans consider Holy Communion to be one of the sacraments of the Church.  The bread and wine are considered outward symbols of an inward and spiritual grace received by the faithful as the instruments of God's grace.

We tend to use the term altar a lot.  Altars are places where sacrifices are offered and yet at a service of Holy Communion I think of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.  His death was once for all time.  Yet I know that many will talk about the sacrifice of our worship and we often say, “Father we offer ourselves as living sacrifices …” 

As a boy I attended a Norman church and the altar was a most elaborate altar with the most extravagant cloths laid over it.  Underneath was a simple pine trestle table.  Nothing could have been more simple!  Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, father of the Reformation in England, stated that Holy Communion should be conducted on a board with a fair linen cloth on it.  No mention of altar.
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So, here are some of my thoughts around Holy Communion.  What are yours?  You might like to share them with those near you.

In one parish the girls in the youth group told me that 1 Corinthians 13 was their school reading. In another parish and referring to a different school the girls in the youth group told me that 1 Corinthians 13 was their school scripture reading. Today I wonder if our schools have selected scripture readings as they seek to be all things to all people, but is that the cynic in me talking?

In 1 Corinthians 13 the author, Paul, introduces the theme of love just at the right time, after being critical of the local church. Love can mean so many different things. Some people here might remember the free love movement of the 1960’s. Was that about love or about breaking down moral standards of behaviour?

The church in Corinth had wandered from Christian standards. There were factions, the misuse of Christian liberty and an abuse of spiritual gifts. Paul had been correcting the Corinthians, but then decides to offer a positive model of how the church should exist, which was quite a contrast to their model.

Have you heard that the Greek language had more than one word for love? There was eros, which was the love of deep desire and sensuous longing. You won’t find this word in the Bible, but in The Song of Solomon we read of erotic love. The word storge is the love that exists between members of a family. Again, this is not found in the New Testament, but the opposite astorge is in Romans and elsewhere. The two forms of love that we are familiar with from the scriptures is philia and agape. Philia is brotherly love or the deep love of friendship. An example is “love one another with mutual affection” Ro 12.10 Agape love is selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love. It is the love expressed towards us through Jesus. It implies loving when there is nothing worthy to evoke love. This is the word Paul used in chapter 13 of his first letter.

So, when we think of love as romantic and that 1 Corinthians 13 is appropriate for weddings please note that the original intention was referring to a very different love.

​The final verse is “And now faith, hope and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” And Margie likes to remind me that in heaven only love will exist, because the other two will have been fulfilled.