Before the pandemic struck, we would gather each week for Holy Communion, singing, praying, and then sharing the bread and wine. It was an act of communion, of coming together as one people, united in faith through worship. Eating together, breaking bread and sharing it, these are the most basic actions of family; of people who are bound to one another in faith.
Before the pandemic struck, my own family gathered every Sunday at our house for a family dinner. All three of our kids and their spouses, plus our two grandchildren, and even a couple dogs showed up each week. We’ve been doing this for years, and it is precious.
On Easter we were not able to worship together. We could not participate in Holy Communion. My family could not gather for an Easter dinner. So, my wife Alice came up with a brilliant idea. She delivered the ingredients for our Easter dinner to each of our children’s homes. On the afternoon of Easter, all four households connected using a Zoom meeting. For hours we cooked, visited and finally ate together. At about 2 in the afternoon I remember my daughter-in-law saying, “It all smells so delicious!” And it did! We all agreed because we were all cooking the same meal at the same time. That moment transcended the zoom meeting experience and brought us together.
I want to do something like that for St. Dunstan’s church. I want to invite each of you to bake the same bread we use for communion in your own homes and then we will use that in the service on Pentecost Sunday. (I know that not everyone is going to be willing or able to bake bread, so any bread will do.)
On Sunday, May 31st, as we celebrate Pentecost, I will celebrate and share Holy Communion with the small group who gathers to create our online worship. Then we will hold up the bread we baked in our own homes and I will say prayers of blessing. We will end the service by breaking and eating the blessed bread.
After the service ends you can join us for the Zoom Coffee hour. Susanna is going to lead us in singing some of our favorite hymns (a Zoom Hymn sing-along!) and we then we can eat the bread together. I plan to put butter and jam on mine!
Here’s the recipe. You can also download the recipe to print here.
Communion Bread
2 tsp yeast (1 packages)
¼ cup warm (not hot) water
2 TBSP olive oil
¼ cup honey (or tight packed brown sugar)
1½ tsp salt
2/3 cup boiling water
¼ to 1/3 cup ice water
2¾ cups whole wheat flour
¾ to 1¼ cups white flour
Canola oil
This recipe can be made using a heavy duty mixer, or by stirring in ingredients by hand.
- In a small bowl, stir yeast into warm water.
- In a large bowl (mixer bowl, if using a mixer), stir together next 4 ingredients.
- Add ice water and stir until ice melts. (Remove the last couple ice cubes with a spoon if they don’t melt quickly.) Mixture should be lukewarm.
- Stir in yeast mixture.
- Gradually mix in whole wheat flour and 1 to 1½ cups white flour.
- Turn dough out onto a floured board and knead for 5 minutes or more, until the dough is smooth and elastic, adding more flour if dough is sticky.
- Grease a large bowl with canola oil. Place the dough in the bowl and flip the dough over to grease the top. Cover and leave in a warm place to rise. After 1½ to 2 hours, when the dough has doubled in size, punch it down.
- Divide the dough into two loaves. Use a sharp knife to score a cross in the top of each loaf.
- Let rest for 20 to 30 minutes before baking in a 350⁰ F preheated oven. Bake about 35 minutes until done. Brush with a small amount of canola oil while hot.
Share your baking experiences on our Facebook friends group. Show us pictures of your bread. If you have questions, ask them there and we’ll all help each other.
With love,
David+