He hadn't been there too long when he asked for a special Pastor-Parish Relations Committee to be called to assess how things were going - you don't replace a 30-year founding pastor without expecting there to be more than a few hiccups in the road. Having completed this, he retired and a new pastor assumed leadership in the church. The last big project he tackled before retirement was to remodel the old sanctuary as the congregation had grown significantly and they needed to expand it. True story: A pastor who had founded a church retired after 30 years service. My grandmother used to get so upset at her UM pastor for "lifting up the elements like the Catholics do." She asked me, "You would never do something like that, would you?" I do. Still, if a congregant observed a pastor doing something that caused the congregant to get bent out of shape over it, what might seem like a molehill could become a mountain - this true with anything a pastor does from song selections to the clothes he/she wears, and most certainly includes the handling of communion. I have never heard of that happening with regard to the handling of the communion elements. (When it is one of those hard biscuits or wafers that sell it specifically to be used as communion bread, it is generally returned to the box it came from for use later.)Īnything in the life of a pastor could become significant enough that "mishandling" it could be result in some sort of disciplinary measure.
The bread (when it is from a loaf) might be scattered for the birds or it might be taken home by a family to be consumed as household bread. In my congregations, the left over juice is often returned to the bottle from which it was originally poured. What Historicus described will be true in some places, yet it is not universal.
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