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Native American Rite of Communion (November 17, 2004)
I greatly enjoy SOF's thought-provoking programs. When I saw the description of the next topic, Communion, I wanted to share a non-Christian perspective. I am of Native American ancestry; I am a storyteller and dancer. There is an ancient belief held by many First Nations people in which the act of taking and eating food is a kind of covenant between two beings. There is a transmutation that takes place when the act of eating is done consciously and spiritually—a recognition that one form of life gives itself to another as an act of the most basic form of communion; what is eaten is reborn as the flesh of another.
Many Native hunters are mindful of this sacred relationship and thank the animal they kill for giving its life so that they may feed their families. Prayers are said to thank the plants for providing food for us. There is an acknowledgement of the circle, the most basic symbol of Native spirituality. The grasses grow, and the hooved ones eat. We take a hooved one and we eat; we die and our bodies return to the soil and so the circle is completed and goes on. Of course, as we move farther and farther away from participating in this process, we lose the spiritual connection and perhaps we lose some vital part of the process of being renewed. Thank you for the great programs.
Jacqueline Faust
Kalamazoo, MI (WUOM, 104.1 FM)
Rituals (November 22, 2004)
I have been listening to Speaking of Faith for awhile and found it interesting when it dealt with comparative religions. Yesterday's program on the eucharist or communion in Christian churches reminded me of my own epiphany four decades ago. The "church" as it has developed over the centuries in its many manifestations and rituals is irrelevant to faith. It is a social institution devoted to serving the needs of its various clergy. All that is needed to practice one's faith is the sermon on the mount and a personal understanding of the place of faith in one's own life. The "organization" in the time of the sermon on the mount was without walls and functioned as a commune of like-minded people ready to abandon a rigid set of behavioral and dietary laws in favor of a "good neighbor" behavioral ethic. Faith is practiced this way by millions of people who are non-churchgoers.
Helen Kolbe
Columbia, MD (WETA, 90.9 FM)
A Wonderful Interview with Foley (November 23, 2004)
We listen on Sunday morning and it's wonderful. This past Sunday with Father Foley was very special. Thanks.
Rey Navarro and Family
Riverside, IL (WBEZ, 91.5 FM)
The Table of Fellowship Around the World (November 20, 2004)
I am a British Methodist. I'm following up the contribution from the Native American. As I consider my own life, I remember some real experiences of communion outside the traditional Methodist celebration of a Communion Service.
- I remember with gratitude sharing in an exploration of how churches together could work in the world for justice and peace. On Sunday, I was invited to share in a celebration of communion around the Table with a group of Catholic priests who were part of the conference — this long before such "experiments" were common or natural.
- A very different experience. I was in Bangladesh on behalf of a British VolAg working with a Muslim who headed up a Community Development agency among very poor villagers. I had come to see if we could fund his work with elderly people. I worked with him, talking with him about his values and what had made him give up a well-paid job with a bank in Dacca to take on this program, where, for a period of 18 months when support had ceased he and his staff had lived from hand to mouth because they were not willing to desert those whom they had come to serve. He treated me as part of the family, sharing meals with me. I found there what I would describe as communion, or fellowship. The fact that each morning he called his staff together and spent half an hour reading the Koran and in prayers together gave me a sense of sharing that was grounded in his and my faith in God. The fact that he called God, Allah, and I addressed him as Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, did not break that sense of communion between us.
- I worked for the same British VolAg, with a Hindu in India and found with him, too, a closeness and a communion that I had not before found in that country as we shared our understanding of who we were and what we were doing in the service of God. Through these and other experiences I have found my understanding of the communion I find round the Lord's Table, and of the way I serve him, deepened.
Graeme Jackson
Gloucester, England (Listens via Web Audio)
Communion as Sacrament (November 21, 2004)
I enjoyed the portion of your show that I heard this afternoon on Communion. I even sat in my car for a few more minutes after I arrived at my destination so that I could listen. You said on your show that, for Catholics, Communion is a sacrament. I heard this same thing expressed at a wedding at a Catholic church when the priest was explaining why non-Catholics should not take communion.
However, Communion is a sacrament for Protestants as well. At least it was for Martin Luther and for John Calvin, and is for those churches which come from their traditions. For the most part, the difference in recognition of sacraments between the Catholics and the Protestants is that the Protestants recognize only baptism and communion as
sacraments because these, we say, are the only ones that were established by the Lord. The other five that Catholics recognize, Protestants believe, may be worthwhile observations but are not sacraments. The implication that Protestants do not take seriously the conferral of grace through the sacraments is unfair and untrue.
Sterrett Collins
Glendale, CA (KPCC, 89.3 FM)
Breaking Bread in Many Traditions (November 22, 2004)
Thank you for another wonderful show. The balance and depth of the programs are much appreciated in this time of soundbites. I'm especially interested in the various faith traditions of sharing meals, since there are many of us who don't break bread as often as we'd like. I haven't found many church "homes" in the places I've lived (moving has been part of staying gainfully employed over the last several years).
Lisa Grubish
Fairfax, VA (WETA, 90.9 FM)
Mirror Understanding of the Eucharist (November 21, 2004)
My Lord, what a magnificent program this morning on the mystery of the Eucharist. I am an in season/out of season apostle of the Eucharist and the content of the program was virtually a verbatim reflection of my understanding and teaching on the reality of this "greatest gift of Love." Thanks for a truly wonderful presentation.
Fr. Joseph McOscar
Greenwich, NJ (WHYY, 91.0 FM)
Covenant (November 20, 2004)
As one who regularly partakes in Communion, let me thank you for such an enlightening show. Listening to the various implications, both theological and ethical, of taking Communion was rewarding. One notion that occurred to me as I listened, one that seems to combine the giving, receiving and requiring that happens through partaking in Communion, is "Covenant." From what I understand historically, the Jewish idea of religious Table Fellowship during the first century was a particularly covenantal one. It demarcated those people who pledged their lives in faithfulness to the God of Israel, and who, in turn, hoped to receive the divine deliverance and restoration promised by the Hebrew prophets.
The requirements (ethical, social, or otherwise) of faithfulness, the promise and hope of deliverance and healing (not only for ourselves, but also the world at large), the giving and receiving that we enact at the Table seem summed up well in the Passover paradigm of Covenant. As well it should, since it was the context from which Jesus enacted his last supper. The reflections of the show have helped to further fill out how I attempt to live out my faith. Thanks again for such a wonderful forum.
Michael Winkler
Orlando, FL (WLRN, 91.3 FM)
The Catholic Church and Communion (November 24, 2004)
I have often had the pleasure of listening to your program, though not on a regular basis until recently. Your programs are so thoughtful and compassionate that frequently I am moved to think and meditate on them well beyond the hours' end.
In the wake of the recent comments by some in the Catholic Church and their attempts to stifle its members from receiving the Holy Eucharist for political and other socially biased reasons, this story from the Minneapolis StarTribune of Nov. 24 was most disturbing. And deeply sad.
Again, thank you for your program.
Richard Byrne
Lindstrom, MN (KNOW, 91.1 FM)
Preparation for My Role at the Table (November 21, 2004)
On Sunday morning, as I prepare to lead worship in our congregation, I listen to Speaking of Faith, and never fail to be inspired. Today, Don Saliers discussion of communion was just such a morning. Thanks for an incredible program, a wonderful gift to those of us who lead God's people at the table and in worship.
John Harnish
Ann Arbor, MI (WUOM, 91.7 FM)
Learning about Liturgical Issues (November 21, 2004)
I just drove into my garage as you mentioned your contact info online and kept the Web site address in my mind all the way upstairs from garage — a miracle! Your interview with Rev. Foley about communion was fascinating. I'm a recently baptized Christian and regular choir member at a congregational church. But I don't read about liturgical issues at all, and so I found your discussion with Rev. Foley to be very interesting. Great interview!
John Gelb
Riverside, CT (WEDW, 88.5 FM)
Communion in Cinema (November 20, 2004)
Around the subject of food and the holidays we're having a film festival with food and faith movies starting with Babette's Feast, Eat Drink Man Woman, Chocolat, Tampopo, Fanny and Alexander, Like Water for Chocolate, Dinner at Eight, My Dinner with Andre, and several others. The topic of food and communion has been tackled by many filmmakers and offers a rich opportunity to reflect on that junction.
Richard Binggeli
Los Angeles, CA (KPCC, 89.3 FM)
Saliers for Pope (November 22, 2004)
GREAT program on Sunday: "At Table, The Meaning of Communion." I can't imagine two better commentators on the theology and practice of communion in the Christian tradition than Don Saliers and Ed Foley. I listened to Ed a little more critically because I'm a Roman Catholic priest. He's a typical Catholic theologian, working in this era of suspicion and surveillance, who seemed to be speaking with an eye over his shoulder because his position is somewhat dependent upon hierarchical approval. That always has the effect of making things sound just a bit "PC." But, he was good, none the less.
Don Saliers is just plain brilliant, eloquent, profound. Wow! He should be a bishop! Speaking as a Roman Catholic, he's my candidate for next Pope! Thank you, thank you, Krista for providing such consistently wonderful programming.
Ben Regotti
Philadelphia, PA (WHYY, 91.0 FM)
Communing with All Faiths (November 21, 2004)
Thank you for your discussion of the matter of Communion. I listened to the show on your Web site, as being an organist, I am on my way to church for the 8:00 am liturgy and am not able to take in the show from the radio. I just heard the beginning or the introduction. Thanks for this service on the Web site.
I especially was interested in the two presenters: Don Saliers and Ed Foley. Both were succinct, informative, and rational. There are many divisions among us Christians, as well of course with our Jewish brothers and sisters — not even mentioning the inclusion of the Muslim faith. Pray God that we learn to live with one another, to commune with one another in whatever way we can in this restricted world of religion in which we live. We have bound
ourselves up in the legalisms. Pray that we will be freed from our self-imposed chains. Thank you!
Shirlee Hoski
Troy, MI (WUOM, 91.7 FM)
Somewhat Ambiguous Response (November 21, 2004)
I was glad to hear Krista Tippett confront the demand by some bishops that John Kerry be denied Communion because he is pro-choice. However the guest's complex response did not answer the question: Was this right or wrong? It has been pointed out that other Christian and pro-choice politicians — for example Rudy Giuliani and Arnold Schwarzenegger — received no such treatment from those bishops. I think that the way religious groups, mainly white Evangelical and Catholic, used their power to influence and ultimately decide the 2004 election is an abomination.
Paul Simons
Levittown, PA (WHYY, 91.0 FM)
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