AN "ATTITUDE" BEFORE COMMUNION
Today we had communion at church. It is a very sacred ceremony and should be taken as such. I almost felt guilty about being involvedd in it today because I started out with an attitude. I am a Deaconess and we have certain functions as such. We also wear white outfits that were made by one of our congregants. Since I just came on board last year as a Deaconess in training, we have been having trouble fitting me to one of the outfits because of my size. This morning when I arrived at church, I learned that there was a fitting last evening after we practiced the ceremony. I was unaware of it because I hadn't been told, therefore, when we tried to find one that fit me, the head deaconess gave me a dress that was sort of big on me and it looked downright terrible according to my opinion. She told me it would be okay. I copped an attitude and went into the closet and found one that fit perfectly, only to find out that someone else had chosen it. Again, up came the attitude. "I am not going to wear that dress that she wants me to wear, it looks terrible on me and it's too big." "You must wear the dress because they all have to be the same," said the head lady. I went into the closet, found a white uniform that fit just right, only it was not like the others. I approached the head lady and told her I wasn't going to wear the other dress, and she explained to me that the ceremony is sacred and I needed to wear the other uniform because they all needed to be alike. I told her that the dress I had was white and I did not want to present myself to the Lord just any old way. So, I wore the dress that fit me. I began to feel guilty about my attitude and questioned myself about whether or not I was being vain or was I really particular about the way I presented myself to the Lord, so later, I asked an Elder of the church about it and she said that as long as I had on white, it didn't matter. I determined that it was a little bit of both. I am asking you all to pray that when it comes to the LORD, that I will always serve him in the right attitude and always present myself in the way he would have me to.
posted by The Gig at 1:09 PM
3 Comments:
Sorry about your difficult situation. I have never been a church where there was communion uniforms before.
We have Communion every Sunday at church, it is a major part of our service. Everyone is invited to wear normal clothes. Does everyone during your service take Communion too or is it just the Deaconate??
I should think it doesn't matter what you wear for Communion. The Lord did not wear fancy clothing at the time of the Last Supper, so why should we have to?
Just remember...the Lord loves you just as you are. One does not need to be in his Sunday best to be loved by the Lord. Communion is a Holy Sacrament given by our Lord, and we should all be welcome at His table no matter how we look. *smiles* Maybe you could ask about that to the Head Deacon.
Most people don't know that Deaconnesses in the Seventh-day Adventist church are there to serve on Communion Day, i.e. prepare the water and tubs and towels. The Deacons give out the bread and 'wine'. The servers are expected to look uniform, which generally means white dresses for deaconnesses and black suits with white shirts for the deacons.
IMO I don't believe the Lord would hold against you the fact that you wanted to look presentable even if you weren't exactly matching. There is nowhere in the Bible that I know of that says the servers have to be dressed exactly alike. Maybe I'm wrong. In any case, I don't think the Head Deaconness should have made that big a deal about it. Maybe it was a power trip or maybe she sincerely wanted to do what she thought the Lord expected of her.
I had a similar experience when I was being re-baptized. I didn't want to cover my hair with a shower cap but I was told I had to. Of course, noone could explain why so I didn't wear it. I told them I wanted all of me to go under the water. What could they say?
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