This weekend I participated in Communion at the church my sister attends. She explained we had to get up early so we could attend the first service, which is more contemporary. Which means among other things that the communion bread was "good" vs. the wafers used at the more conventional service.

OK, so the taste of the item that represents the body of Christ, broken for me, is not the point . . . well, not the main point . . . some might say not even important . . . but, hmmm. Come, let us reason.

The Communion service is based on Jesus' instruction to His disciples to "do this in remembrance of Me."

The washing of the feet is to symbolize the servant nature of Jesus' - and subsequently our - leadership style.

The bread is to symbolize His body; the wine - His blood, broken and spilled out for me. 

The ingestion of it represents my acceptance of HIs sacrifice for me. It symbolizes a relationship so wonderful, so amazing, so beyond anything I can imagine, so intimate.

When the Psalmist wrote to "Taste and see that the Lord is good." he was, I'm very sure, thinking of testing, of trying something new, of experiencing this God and His promises. So, I'll give you that this really has nothing to do with Communion bread . . . well, but, think of it symbolically . . .

How can a symbol of something so very good, taste so very bad and still be effective in its symbolism?

Communion Bread Recipe and Instructions

1 cup fine-ground flour (preferably whole grain)
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cold water
¼ cup olive oil or vegetable oil

• Stir flour and salt together.
• Pour the water into the oil, but do not stir.
• Add this to the dry ingredients and mix with a fork until all the flour is dampened.
• Roll out between two sheets of waxed paper to the thickness of thick pie pastry.
• Place on an un-greased, floured baking sheet, and mark off with a knife into bite size squares, being careful to prick each square to prevent blistering.
• Bake at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 to 15 minutes. Watch carefully during the last five minutes to prevent burning.

(This recipe serves up to 50 people +/- depending on your definition of "bite size")