Special appearance by the Spirit

In worship class, our final assignment is to design and write three worship services.

A baptism or wedding
A funeral -- preferably our own
A communion service

And then we lead one for our class.

The funeral assignment strikes me as one of those odd little parallels with journalism, because, as a second-year journalism student I had to write my own obituary.

I had already decided that the worship service I would do in class would be a communion service because I feel so called to the sacraments and I find communion to be so life-giving.

But I wasn't sure whether we were supposed to pretend the way we did a couple of weeks ago where each one of us practiced lifting a chalice that only heald water, breaking bread and uttering the words of institution with appropriate gestures.

So, I asked if we were actually supposed to serve the communion if we chose to do a communion service.

The response astounded me. Apparently the school gets special permission from the bishop for students who are learning how to preside over communion to actually preside over communion.

So when I say the words over the elements, the Spirit will really be there, I asked.

Yes.

Which is actually my belief anyway, but not that of the United Methodist Church.

Regardless, next week, I have been granted the grace to consecrate communion.

And for grace, I am ever grateful.