Sacrament

I noticed today something about the way the sacrament is prepared and administered. 

It has always seemed very pragmatic that the bread is passed first, since the priests have time to break the bread while the congregation sings. 

But thinking about it today I remembered helping set up the sacrament, and the water actually takes a lot more effort to prepare but it is all done in advance. 

In my mind, I tend to think about the bread as the physical and the water as the spiritual. So playing on that metaphor, it seems that spiritual preparation takes more time and work than physical preparation. The physical demands we have, with a minimum of advance planning, can largely be dealt with in the moment. (Singing a hymn might help) However, once those efforts are exhausted, you can 'uncover' what appears to be a backup supply of spiritual strength. But only if you have put in sufficient effort in beforehand. 

-Update April 2022-

I forgot I had written that (not surprising, it was 2014).  My recent 'epiphany' about the sacrament was different.

I was thinking about it in a more Jordan Peterson-esque way.  We don't believe that the bread and water are literally the body of Christ, so what is it that we are doing?    

Maybe we are ritualistically trying to take a piece of God into us.  That seems to make sense.  

So what about the bread and water.  The bread.. we have to chew on it a little.  We need to do some work to digest it and to extract the nutrients or value from it.  That's the body.  His body. That's the things he did as recorded in the scriptures and the things we should do to try to be like Him.

The water, on the other hand, flows into us.  Nature itself (via osmosis) will help to fill and rejuvenate us and to quench our thirst.  That's the spirit.  There isn't specific work, we just have to be open to it and allow it to flow into us.