To serve our brothers and sister at CCIW by assisting in the distribution of the Lord's supper.
To be at the service 5 minutes before commencement to check with the service leader to see whether there are any special requirements for that day.
The Lord's Supper is distributed in a way in which congregational members are given the greatest chance of "drawing near to feed on him in our hearts by faith and with thanksgiving". (An Australian Prayer Book)
1. Know when to come up
The moment to come up to help assist is
when the minister presiding at the Lord's Supper has finished their
lines in the order of service and is taking the bread and the wine
themselves. At this point come forward and kneel at the rail with the
other assistants.
2. Know your pourer:
In assisting with the Lord's Supper you will
usually be asked to distribute either the wine or the juice from the
pourers into the individual cups that congregational members
bring to the rail. On the pourer next to the handle a letter has been
marked to assist in knowing which you have: 'W' for wine and 'J' for
juice.
2. Know your spot:
If you have the juice pourer you stand
on the right hand-side of the table (as you face the front) if you
have the wine pourer you stand on the left hand side of the
table.
3. Know your task:
You serve "YOUR HALF" of the rail.
You stand there and wait, taking note of who has brought an
individual cup to the rail. Once the bread has been distributed you
can follow and approach those with the individual cups. Pour an
amount to fill the individual cup and say the words of distribution.
While not distributing stand back in your spot until required again.
4. Know your lines:
The words of distribution are "Take and
drink this in remembrance that Christ's blood was shed for you. And
be thankful." If you are a bit nervous and feel like you might
not remember your lines or would just like to be safe, it is quite
alright to have them written on a small bit of paper and to hold that
discreetly in your hand and read from the bit of paper.
5. Know when to sit down
After everyone has been served you return
the pourer to the minister and you can open the gate, move the
cushion and return to your seat.
Kneeling Cushion and Gate: you may be asked to close the little gate so as to coplete the full kneeling rail. If this is the case please note that you first pull the kneeling cushion across and then close the gate doing up both latches to make sure it is as secuire as possible and doesn't open when someone is kneeling and leaning againt it. After communion the process of opening is just the reverse of the above.
Common Cup: Instead of looking after the pourer you may be
asked to look after distributing the wine form the common cup. If
this is the case the instructions are the same as above except that
i. you follow the bread distribution along the whole rail,
serving all who do not have an individual cup
ii. you use a
purificator to wipe the rim of the cup after each person has received
the wine. Also you usually turn the cup so that the next person is
not immediately drinking from the same part of the cup as the
previous person.