Please understand that I love to take Communion in most any form, but in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, Paul tells the Church that the bread should be eaten together with all present and the wine drunk. Is Paul saying that communion should not be taken by such methods as dipping the bread individually by each person?

First, thank you for your care and sensitivity in raising this question. Communion is dear to Christians and so there are often very strong feelings about how it is served.

No, there is no right way for Communion to be served. As a pastor for over 30 years, I've seen it offered in many, many ways -- with many types of bread; many languages; kneeling, seated, standing; quietly or with joyous songs; little squares of bread, "Styrofoam" wafers, pellets of bread, pieces pulled off a whole loaf.

One of the things Paul was responding to was that some early Christian communities were feeding only certain people. Paul wanted to make sure that everyone was served the bread. So, his emphasis was less on the order and style of serving but that all were to get bread and then the cup.

Dipping or "intinction" (in - TINK - shun) was developed in the ancient church. There are many reasons the practice developed but it is centuries old. Today's use of intinction has allowed the church to recover a use of a common cup rather than the little individualized cups that have often been used in recent years. Symbols are important and say volumes. Individualized cups communicate privacy and individualism. Whereas, using a common cup symbolizes the unity of the one body. Since many people are concerned about hygiene and communicable disease, intinction allows people to dip the bread in the cup and so receive from it without actually sipping from the cup. (In larger churches, there may be several cups used at different stations for serving so that all can receive communion in a briefer time.)

-- R. Preston Price
One of Julian's Consultants
California, USA

R. Preston Price is a United Methodist pastor from California. Rev. Price has attended a number of 5-day Academies for Spiritual Formation and has received training as a spiritual director. During summer worship at his churches, he includes a feature entitled "Stump the Pastor." He loves flying kites, cross-stitch, and reading Hillerman and J.A. Jance mysteries.

Julian of Norwich, a late fourteenth-century mystic and spiritual writer, chose to live a solitary life in a cell attached to the Church of Saint Julian in Norwich, England. Because Julian was known for her wisdom, seekers approached the window of her cell to ask her questions about Christian faith and practice.

Learn more about Julian by reading Encounter with God's Love: Selected Writings of Julian of Norwich from Upper Room Books.