The cleric who led the blessing service of the civil marriage of the late Jade Goody is offering a new “Post the Host” service - pre-consecrated communion wafers representing the body of Christ by mail order.
Jonathan Blake, the Open Episcopal Church’s Archbishop of All London, says the service is aimed at people who either cannot attend Eucharist, through age or ill-health, or those who have drifted away from church.
He launches his new service on Sunday at postthehost.net and says he hopes it will make religion more accessible and easier to fit into modern life.
The millimetre-thick pre-consecrated wafers are free, although there is a charge for posting and packaging. Receiving one host costs £2, receiving 500 costs £10.
On the website he writes: “On earth strangers in the crowd could reach out and touch Jesus and be healed by him. Today he invites us to reach out, to touch and receive his body, because his life is for everyone. However many have found it so hard to get to him because the church puts such great obstacles in their way. Now Jesus has overturned those obstacles to let people reach him again. Post the Host allows you to receive the consecrated bread (the Host) of the Holy Communion/Mass direct to your door or your office.”
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Bishop Blake said: “We decided to make this Sunday the launch because it is Corpus Christi. It seemed appropriate.
“As well as catering for people who are too elderly or infirm to get to church and people who choose to worship differently, this is intended to reach out to sections of society for whom the idea of the Eucharist wouldn’t be the first option.
“Many people take substances like drugs and alcohol which are counter-productive - we want to encourage them to take the body of Christ, which is a simple material symbol but with a spiritual kick that transcends anything offered by substances on Earth.
“I’ve been asked what happens if the wafers fall into the hands of the wrong people, such as Satanists or atheists.
“Our defence of this is that the body of Christ can be damaged by no-one, and the belief of the church is that the body of Christ is redeeming.
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“People may at first think it is a gimmick but it is not at all. It comes from a deep sense of spirituality that has led us to the church.
“The travesty is that if you want access to the body of Christ you have to go into a church building and it is locked up in the tabernacle.
“That completely contradicts the fact Jesus made himself available to everyone when he was alive on Earth.
“We want to say to the church that people are no longer having that sort of access to the body of Christ - we want to right that.
“The website has had thousands of hits so far and I’m hoping it will be very successful. Nothing like this has ever happened before, we are breaking new ground.”