You'd Think Being Nice During Communion Was a No-Brainer But...

If you're within 100 feet of, say, Gordon Ramsey, it wouldn't exactly be surprising if he barked at you for any number of reasons—justified and otherwise.

But when you're at church taking Communion of all things, you'd expect people, especially church leadership, to have a certain sense of decorum during this most sacred of moments.

Right?

Well, apparently, I was wrong. Big time. We had Communion at church yesterday, and after taking my cracker from the plate passed to me from the right, I passed it left, only to discover that the young woman sitting next to me was already holding a silver plate of her own. Laughing for a second at this funny little coincidence, I decided it was probably best to hold my plate until somebody came by to pick it up.

As I waited for the next step, though, I was quickly—and quite loudly—informed by the Gordon Ramsey of Communion that I needed to PASS THE PLATE immediately. I tried explaining how everyone, to the left and right of me, had already gotten their bread, but he didn't seem to care in the least. Instead, he shot me the look of death, refused to take my plate and probably walked away thinking I was basically the dumbest person on the planet.

Not taking kindly to a complete stranger being so rude to his wife—at CHURCH of all places—my hubby immediately walked to the back to have a word with the guy. But instead of offering a simple "I'm sorry" for the misunderstanding, the Communion dictator was only intent on ending the conversation as soon as possible, lest anyone nearby get wind of it.

For whatever reason, he didn't think he was even remotely out of line because he "has a responsibility to make sure 3,000 people have their Communion elements" and "some people just don't know what to do when the plate is passed."

Yeah, that "someone" is me, apparently, although last time I checked, you didn't need to be a Mensa candidate to know how to properly pass a Communion plate.

If anything, the whole situation just left me cold. While I'll, no doubt, forget about this soon enough, what if I'd never been to church before, and this was my first impression of how Christians in leadership behaved? And really, aren't you missing the point of Communion, and even going to church, if you're freaking out about something as small as a plate not being passed in what you believe is a timely manner?

Plus, if someone thinks you're being rude, isn't the right course of action to say you're sorry, rather than school someone on your "responsibility?" The last time I checked, the mission of anyone working in church leadership is to serve, not reprimand.

These are just the sorts of instances that give Christians, not to mention church, a bad reputation. You'd think being nice during Communion was a no-brainer, but I guess it's not. Really, one can only hope this guy will chill out and get his act together before souring someone else's Sunday morning. Or at least train his staff better so two plates don't (gasp!) end up in the same row.