Hello,
Some background: my wife and I were married in (and more broadly, officially received into) an Episcopal Church on the East Coast 2 years ago. When we moved to the Midwest about a year ago, we let our challenges (trouble finding others at our stage of life at a church (20-40), struggles with worship formats that are slow to change) get in the way of us finding a new church community.
Today, my wife and I visited an Episcopal Church and now I'm looking for others' experiences with communion. I am gluten sensitive and thus cannot receive communion bread. At our previous church, gluten-free crackers were available as an alternative but I was not sure if that was an option at the church we visited. Instead, I crossed my hands over my chest to indicate I wanted a blessing in order to avoid the bread. However, I was taken aback when I was informed by the minister of the wine that the blessing precluded me from receiving communion in the form of wine only. I was pretty embarrassed and decided not to make a scene during communion.
I guess I have two somewhat related questions:
Do I have something wrong in my understanding of Episcopalian theology regarding open communion? Or was this perhaps an innocent mistake (assumption that taking a blessing meant I was not a confirmed Episcopalian)?
If I am skeptical of transubstantiation in the first place, should I care about communion? Would it be better to just always accept a blessing instead?
I'm hoping to transform my embarrassment into some growth.
