So, last night, I poked around online and discovered the holy satisfying answer to my question about the host.
http://www.cavanaghco.com/acatalog/Cavanagh-History.html
Eighty-five percent of US/Canadian markets. Yes, it is made from just water and wheat, but no, absolutely NOT made the "same way it's been done" since time immemorial.

It's quite strange, having been raised SDA, where you sat in your chair, prayerfully grinding for several minutes on a grain or two of the handmade crackers, thinking of how long humans have shared grains together.. grains that very well may have tasted or felt just like this... and then to show up in the 21st century and be given a wafer that melts in your mouth and looks like pressed styrofoam.. and to have it prayerfully and reverently handed to you with the words, "bread of heaven". Are you serious? Bread of "heaven"?? It's mass-produced at what did they say??? 100 per second? Those angels sure are FAST bakers! I suppose if it really were from *heaven* it could be made instantaneously!

I can get over the idea that non-SDA churches use wine rather than juice. That is fine. They actually had wine way-back-when. But they certainly did not have wafers. What is this?

I'm starting to think maybe the wafers are meaningful in a different way. Rather than tying you to the past and future of humanity, these wafers tie you to the society we now live in. The outsourced society. The society in which monks and nuns and other religious orders are not encouraged, because they really don't "do anything" for the economy now, do they? The mass-produced, fast-paced, uniform society. The McDonald's society. The Coke and Pepsi society. We could get the same effect by serving Coke at communion, I suppose, except I don't think the Jews use corn products during Passover... but anyhow, we consume SO much corn in our diets that Coke would be more of a bonding beverage than either wine or juice. Maybe Oreos? Chips Ahoy? But anyhow. If 85% of the wafers come from Cavanaugh, then this is really the ultimate One Holy catholic Communion. We have finally achieved de facto unity in the Christian family to a large extent. We can't agree on whether or not Jesus would support sending troops off to war to kill other people, but we CAN agree on what MATTERS... the Host!

When I was a child, I had this recurring dream. I had a choice to make. I could walk down a slate hallway holding hands with an adult who would lead me to the room I was travelling to, or I could hop on a conveyor belt, much like a luggage conveyor at an airport, except that it had this entrance that looked strangely like the top of a garbage can- (you know, the ones with the flaps that swing open to let in the trash and then hide it). In the dream, I kept choosing to take the walking path, even though everyone else had chosen the conveyor belt. Finally, I realized that my recurring dream would never end until I relented and took the path taken by everyone else. I took the conveyor belt but never arrived at my destination. Instead, my dream ended and I never had that dream again.

What is the value in relenting and finally just doing it the way everyone else does, out of exhaustion? What is the value in persisting in doing it your own way? What if the two (or more) choices simply don't amount to much anyhow and it really doesn't matter what you do.

Maybe the mass-produced wafers mean some type of unity. Maybe they don't. Maybe they just exist and don't mean anything at all.

So, I'm sorry I haven't blogged much, kids.  What should I say now?  Zachary is very close to walking, and Edwin is starting to copy entire *long* sentences such as, "Mommy likes to see Edwin happy!".  Edwin copies sounds he hears in the subway (etc) and this past weekend was intentionally teasing me by singing them out of tune.  I would tickle him until he corrected the intonation!  Edwin's favorite toy since Christmas has been his two "New York City Subway Trains".  (They're made by Stephen Fay and sold here. http://www.munipals.com/)

Today, Mommy and Daddy went exploring in Philly in some undergound passageways connecting the various transit routes around the City Hall area.  We found a neat coffee shop that is on par with Gimme!  This was a real treat! It's called "Brew-Ha-Ha" and is right at one of the stairwells to the PATCO line.  Apparently there are also good coffee shops at 11th and Spruce, 19th and Sansom, and another one around the corner from Brew-Ha-Ha.  The barista, Chris, told us there is a nice bakery at 39th and Walnut, but that Brew-Ha-Ha has the best coffee in Philly.  It's nice to hear a barista say that. We'll have to see if we agree, but so far it's true!

We learned this week that Lent is actually not 40 days long, even though that's what they say it is.  How strange is that?  We are trying to figure out exactly what communion "wafers" are made of. This has been an ongoing low-level discussion between Daddy and Mommy.  I think the wafers are really weird.  They look (and taste) pretty much like styrofoam, so I am thinking they're probably not very authentic, but that's something we need to research. 

Ok, well, that's all for now, I guess!  I will try to blog more this year!