Wine and Banana Bread

In visiting churches over the last four weeks I believe we have partaken of communion twice. The first time John was sure they served up wine, which wouldn't have been a stretch considering there was dancing going on over in a corner during the singing portion of the service.

(Dancing that I was completely oblivious to, by the way. John and his mom brought it up after the service and I didn't have a clue what they were talking about. I am either a.) totally immersed in my own little world during worship or b.) unable to have any caffeine early in the morning to provide a level of awareness that most normal people enjoy. This solidifies the fact that I should not, perhaps, be behind the wheel of a vehicle on our way to church on Sunday mornings.)

Anyway, I'm pretty sure the communion element was sugar-free grape juice, not wine, but my awareness might have been compromised (see above paragraph).

Come to think of it, the wine event might have been a completely different communion experience other than the church of the dancers. Maybe we've had communion on three separate occasions? Wow. Church-visiting is going the way of house-hunting. Was that the church with the cool praise team and the boring pastor, or the one with the choir with full orchestra, or the one with the fantastic pastor and a prophetic ministry team? I should be taking notes.

The most recent communion experience was just this last Sunday, so I do recall the "body" element of communion was something I've never experienced. I've had chunks of French bread, pieces of round communion loaves, cracker-like wafers, and those gluten-free wafers that taste like cardboard. Never have I had a tiny pre-cut square of something that tasted suspiciously like banana bread. If was such a tiny sample that it is hard to say, but it was definitely dense and sweet.

(By the way, if you're offering up banana bread to your congregation for communion, you might want to warn them beforehand. It kind of shifts the focus away from what we're supposed to be contemplating when the surprise of a breakfast bread hits our tongue.)

Never in my life did I imagine there could be so many ways for communion to be presented and taken. Just to make it clear: we will not be choosing a church based on the presentation of their communion elements. After all, it all equals a remembrance of Christ's death for forgiveness of sin.

No, we'll probably choose a church based on much more important matters. Like the cool-ness factor of the music minister, the comfort of the chairs/pews, and the number of bounce-house-type activities available at their "Fall Festival"/"Harvest Festival"/"Anti-Halloween, family friendly, free candy event".

Any other suggestions for things we should be evaluating?

Seriously, after finding a house to live in, finding a church is what will make this move feel more like our regular home. We're still working on it.