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Gift of Thanksgiving (November 30, 2005)Thank you for this enlightening presentation on the meaning of Eucharist. I was a cloistered Roman Catholic contemplative nun for 15 years and find myself celebrating the beauty of Don Saliers' commentaries on what Eucharist means: the giving of Christ and Christ's receiving of us in communion and the subsequent transformation of our lives within this sacrament. I am also so grateful for the material supplied on the Web site. The transcripts so that we can read those gorgeous words of Saint Augustine quoted by Saliers, the ability to listen online, the supplemental material provided on the topics discussed. Bravo for the most extraordinary program on public radio.
Beryl Singleton Bissell
Schroeder, MN (Listens via Web Audio)
Special by Any Standards (November 27, 2005)
Thank you for the show you just aired. I have listened to your show on a number of occasions. That is impressive to me as I only listen to the radio while driving. You have had a number of shows which have caused me to run to the computer and Internet after I got home, but this one was special by any standards. Professor Saliers speaks the message as well as I have ever heard it and you must surely be completely in tune with it to have prompted him so well. Again, thank you for what you do and what you have done.
Edward Tilton
Monrovia, CA (KPCC, 89.3 FM)
Communion and Ex-Communion (November 26, 2005)
Another outstanding program, which almost made me late for our Sunday morning Eucharist at which I am the presider (the chapel is next door to my room!). Particularly enlightening was the reflection on how people were at times intimately participating in the Eucharist — more viewing than partaking in the Eucharist — or kept from communion, at different times in the history of the Christian Church, or all at the same time (e.g., our own time). One particular
"practice" regarding communion in Roman Catholic parishes that seems to have multiple manifestations is what to do with your children who have not yet received their "first communion." Parents seem reluctant to leave them in the pew while they go forward to receive communion, but that makes them passive observers of their parents' communion so many parish priests offer a blessing to the child who accompanies his parents. However, some adults who feel they should not receive communion opt for the blessing instead, leading to some dilution of the act of receiving communion. We Roman Catholics need to work on the implications of this alternative to receiving communion. Keep up the great programming (but get all the good stuff said by 55 minutes after the hour so I can get next door to start our community's Sunday Eucharist.
Arthur Carrillo
Detroit, MI (WUOM, 91.7 FM)
Community of Faith Around Holy Communion (November 26, 2005)
As a Lutheran, a critical aspect of communion which I noticed nearly absent in today's discussion was the teaching (or the Faith) the local congregation proclaims as it communes together. The Apostle Paul, writing under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, reveals to us: "for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes" (First Corinthians 11:26). What the local congregation teaches regarding the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and what this does for us is critical for the salvation of souls. Typically, we hear public conversation stressing only the personal aspect of communion — to the near exclusion of the community which communes together. While communion is personal, it is not private. It is a public act which confesses the faith of a community of believers who gather around the source of their strength (the body of blood of the Lord) as forgiven sinners who desire to amend their lives.
Michael Monterastelli
Milwaukee, WI (WUWM, 89.7 FM)
Being an Agent of Justice and Still Forgiving (November 26, 2005)
I am an all-night police dispatcher so I do the Internet a lot. I found your piece on communion somewhere on the net while working. I have always understood "to confer grace and inward spiritual blessings." I now have some feeling for the notion of sacrifice, but I am confused about "to be agents of justice." How can we be agents of justice and still be forgiving? It seems to me that justice and forgiveness contradict each other. I feel like justice is more "a pound of flesh" or retribution. Straighten me out will ya?
Jay Walters
Pleasant Hill, MO (Listens via Web Audio)
The Eucharist and the Baha'i Faith (November 26, 2005)
Abdu'l-Baha (son of Baha'u'llah — prophet/founder of the Baha'i Faith — and center of His Covenant) said of the Eucharist the following:
"Notice that "coming to Him" He expresses as eating, and "belief in Him" as drinking. Then it is evident and established that the celestial food is the divine bounties, the spiritual splendors, the heavenly teachings, the universal meaning of Christ. To eat is to draw near to Him, and to drink is to believe in Him. For Christ had an elemental body and a celestial form. The elemental body was crucified, but the heavenly form is living and eternal, and the cause of everlasting life; the first was the human nature, and the second is the divine nature. It is thought by some that the Eucharist is the reality of Christ, and that the Divinity and the Holy Spirit descend into and exist in it. Now when once the Eucharist is taken, after a few moments it is simply disintegrated and entirely transformed. Therefore, how can such a thought be conceived? God forbid! certainly it is an absolute fantasy."
James Russell
Indianapolis, IN (WFYI, 90.1 FM)
Meanings of Communion (November 25, 2005)
First, I'll say that Speaking of Faith is an excellent program, which I listen to as often as my schedule permits. I also subscribe to the SOF e-mail newsletter. This week's conversation on communion comes very close to home for me. My own personal struggle with communion has to do with the "body and blood of Christ" symbolism, which for me has too literally expressed the problematic idea that god programmed god's death in that ancient torture and execution of a living being. But the SOF discussion considers the other values of communion, values which have also drawn me toward it as I see my many friends and family at Northside Drive Baptist Church in Atlanta (CBF) lining up for the communion service. Though I haven't come to a new moment of decision yet, I do thank you for the insights and the history.
Tom VanderVen
Dacula, GA (WABE, 90.1 FM)
6 A.M. Sunday Mornings… (November 24, 2005)
As the chef/owner of a restaurant in Chicago, waking up on Sunday mornings to face the busiest day of the week for us used to be a series challenge. Your thoughtful, smart, reflective and moving show has changed all that for me and my general manager — who can't wait until I walk through the door to be sure I heard a comment or interview on your show. Thanks for getting two really sleepy and tired women going each week. We have the utmost admiration and respect for your broad knowledge and thought-provoking questions. As a matter of fact, in the September newsletter that I wrote for my customers, there was an article about people I would love to sit with at table and share a meal — communion as it were. Your name [Krista Tippett] was on my list. Our best wishes to you, and the staff you count on, for a year filled with delicious surprises!
Ina Pinkney
Chicago, IL (WBEZ, 91.5 FM)
Sourcing the Image (November 24, 2005)
I was delighted to see the relief of the Last Supper on your e-mail "At Table" special. I would have been even more delighted if you had noted the location of this wonderful relief which is one of a set of medieval reliefs depicting the Passion of Christ in the splendid Romanesque/Gothic Cathedral Church (Domkirche) of Naumburg in eastern Germany. Thanks for your thoughtful program.
Gerritdina Justitz
Moorhead, MN (KFMB, 90.3 FM)
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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