Yesterday morning, I witnessed what must've been the most meaningful eucharist I've ever experienced before in my life. The irony of it is, I experienced this in an independent charismatic church using a series of liturgical prayers commonly heard being recited in the mainline churches. But it was all done with so much liveliness and meaning as the people lifted their hands, wholeheartedly saying:

Holy, holy, holy Lord,
God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest!

Guess what - there wasn't a single ordained leader presiding over this occasion. It was led by a group of largely lay leaders who loved the Lord and loved the people. And the result? A powerfully sacramental eucharist duringwhich many people teared and some people wept. Around the table, I even saw some people approaching their estranged friends in a spirit reconciliation just so that they could eat together at Christ's table of friendship.

So here's what gets me thinking now - many of our church institutions accord the eucharistic dispensation only to ordained ministers who're tasked with the responsibility of discharging the sacrament through mechanical recitations of the liturgies. I understand the fear of abuse if the dispensation were to be given to the lay people. But does the relegation of this role to the confined authority of an ordained minister necessarily prevent abuse and preserve the significance of the sacrament?

Who is the host of the table - the ordained minister?

There are the traditions, and there are the traditions.