The Church's Greeting of Peace
For those who did not grow up with the historic Christian liturgy, the passing of the peace before communion appears to be a fancy form of the “greet your neighbor” portion of the modern evangelical worship service. In evangelicalism, the purpose for greeting one’s neighbor is twofold: 1) make newcomers feel welcome and connected so that they return and eventually join the church; and 2) give friends a time to say hello to each other. The second purpose seems to predominate; the “meet and greet” at the beginning of worship could go on forever when friends chat in the aisle. The passing of the peace before communion shares some characteristics with the evangelical greeting ritual: it is a greeting, and usually involves shaking hands. The similarity, however, ends there. In the historic liturgy, the offering of peace to each other does not come at the beginning of the worship service, but before the offering and the Eucharistic prayer. It comes after the reading of the scriptures a...