Strangely Warmed

Numerous United Methodist conferences and agencies use Robert’s Rules of Order , or rules derived from them, to conduct their business. Many other civic and religious groups do as well. One might assume that the rules have been around forever. They were actually published in 1876 by U.S. Army Colonel Henry Martyn Robert, an engineer officer. The original title was , Pocket Manual of Rules of Order for Deliberative Assemblies, but the words on the cover were “Robert’s Rules of Order,” and thus they have been known ever since. Roberts saw the need for the rules when he was asked to preside over a meeting at the First Baptist Church in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1863. The meeting devolved into open conflict over the issue of abolition. The chaotic experience and lack of order troubled Robert. He determined that he would teach himself parliamentary procedure before he ever put himself in that kind of leadership position again. He then put the same organizational and analy...

All of the methods for sharing the bread and wine of communion have their strengths and weaknesses, and I am speaking now purely about the practicalities of administering the sacrament. I’ll leave the parsing of the theological meaning of the different methods to others. To me, bread is bread. Wine is wine. How it gets in my mouth is not itself significant. Christ feeds us according to his promise regardless. This is my body broken for you. This cup is the new covenant in my blood, poured out for you. As a frequent visitor to United Methodist churches, I have observed that most congregations now receive communion through intinction. “Intinction” is just a churchy way of saying dipping the bread in the wine. This is a change from my earliest years in pastoral ministry in United Methodist churches, in which the use of Baptist-style trays of mini-cups and Catholic-style communion hosts (or wafers) prevailed. I assume that the thinking behind this change has to do with a prefere...