How Did You Feel During Memorial?

almostbitten

I'm sure this topic has been mulled over already, but indulge me and other newbies to this site. How did you feel when Memorial took place and you didn't/couldn't really partake in it? And what happended to the wine and bread afterwards if no one ate or drank? The KH I was visiting had no members that were of the Heavenly Class, so I had to wonder about that. And how do you know who gets to take it and who doesn't? What if a guest took it?

WTWizard

I slept right through it. I woke up at 6:30 PM the evening it was held, and went back to sleep. And I worked that night.

Of course, I was planning on doing that. For me to attend or promote the REJECT Jesus Party would have been a complete disaster.

Mysterious

How did you feel when Memorial took place and you didn't/couldn't really partake in it?

I didn't think anything of it because that was how I was taught it should be.

And what happended to the wine and bread afterwards if no one ate or drank? The KH I was visiting had no members that were of the Heavenly Class, so I had to wonder about that.

The wine was poured back into the bottle for next year and the bread was thrown out.

And how do you know who gets to take it and who doesn't? What if a guest took it?

A guest would be frowned upon but thought of as mistaken rather than malicious. It was a small congregation so the elders had a good understanding of who was truly annointed and who wasn't. I remember one sister being told to wait a year to be sure by her husband. He wanted her to wait another year after that but she said the holy spirit was crying out.

erandir

Memorial? What Memorial?

Ooooohhhh...the one I didn't attend for the second year in a row. And, boy, did that feel great not going!

So I guess I felt great during Memorial.

changeling

Raised in so Memorial was just a given, no thinking involved.

As for the bread and the wine, it went home with whomever supplied it and either dumped out or consumed depending on their conscience.

As a little girl I loved Matzo bread with lots of butter on it. Yum!

changeling :)

yourmomma

in the past few years i really felt bad when i left because they didnt really talk that much about Jesus. so i would go home and read the Bible and discuss it with my family. i always felt something was missing from the memorial. glad i figured it out, lol

james_woods

I can honestly tell you that witness memorial gave me a very creepy feeling. It was almost like sitting behind the curtains and spying on a forbidden Satanic Black Mass.

I had attended both Methodist and Presbyterian "communion" services, (they used to do these about once a month), and never did I have this eerie creeped-out feeling that the mysterious JW memorial gave me.

Awakened07

I was always disappointed. This was the only thing we had that could be a spiritual experience of sorts, a "sacred rite" or whatever (my English fails me here), and it was always 'destroyed' by glaring fluorescent lights, lots of noise before it started (people blabbering away as at any other meeting) and after the memorial, in addition to stupid, nonsensical explanations of what kind of wine and bread had to be used (what the heck!?) and shameless plugging of meetings people should hereafter attend, the same noisy blabbering ensued.

No showing of humility, sincerity, reverence, contemplation, something holy and sacred. I tried to "impose" that sentiment on it for myself, but then the speaker would suddenly blurt out his story of how he had made the wine in his basement from these-and-these grapes and herbs (pretty much!) or other such nonsense.

Bleh.

As for not partaking, it didn't bother me, but of course it was 'a little strange' that we had this 'most important meeting of the year', and no one present would actually partake and therefore be involved! Might as well just have gathered the 8000 or so remnant and had a 'wine and crackers party'. No cheese though. But I didn't really reflect on it like I can now.

Scarred for life

It's been a very, very long time since I have been to a Memorial. But as I think about it I remember feeling fear, horror and disgust at the way disfellowshipped people were treated (not me or anyone in my family). I felt no love from anyone in the congregation. I felt the elders loved their power. I felt that questions and free thinking were absolutely not allowed. I felt stifled, strangled, stagnant. I felt that I could not survive as a person in this organization. I knew that my "worldly' friends were more loving , caring and less hypocritical than anyone in that KH.

Thanks, I needed to verbalize that.

White Dove

I was born-in and always wondered why they bothered to pass the emblems if they knew that no one was present that would eat and drink them.

I suffered a CoC every memorial when I couldn't partake. I knew well the scripture that says that we aren't a part of Christ at all if we don't partake.

Just passing them didn't make any sense to me. I liked playing dress-up, though.

In my family, it was brought back home to uncle's house and we enjoyed it on July fourth.

How Did You Feel During Memorial?

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