Holy Communion celebrates the Last Supper which Jesus shared with his disciples. Jesus' eternal presence is remembered as we share bread and wine:
"This is my body, given for you"
"This is my blood of the new covenant poured out
for all people for the foregiveness of sins."
While St. John's was being built back in the early 1960s the site was visited by some people from the Casa Materna children's home in Naples, Italy. They offered to make a communion table for the new church. The table was made by young people in the children's home and has lettering in Italian and English beautifully inlaid into the front:
This do in remembrance of me + Fate questo in memoria di me
words taken from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 22, verse 19
Dr. Teofilo Santi, Rev. Mario Sbaffi (President of the Methodist Church in Italy) and Rev. Emanuele Santi (Director of Casa Materna), 17 June 1962
Here are pictures taken of the table being inspected before it left
Casa Materna,
and, below, as it looked om 2002 after restoration of the lettering.
|
A close-up of the excellent marquetry work in the front of the communion table. |
Sadly, the Casa Materna children's home has now closed.
 |
If you want to find out when the next communion service is at St. John's, look for the symbol by the list of services under "Services". |
