Perhaps this is a custom only shared by a distinct subset of Protestant churches, all of which happen to be the ones I have attended, but I am led to wonder: why is the Body of Christ always crusty, white bread? It is usually dry, and tough, and in most situations I cannot swallow it down until I have received the thimble-full of Blood to aid in this most difficult of sacraments.
Is it not traditional that the bread used in Passover — and thus the bread Jesus himself would've used — is unleavened? So why, when we Christians ignore this particular specification, do we content ourselves with the tedium of white, European-style crusty breads? Perhaps the Body is equally and appropriately represented by a rosemary-parmesan ciabatta loaf, or a corn tortilla, or (for those Southerners amongst my readers) a buttermilk biscuit. Surely the Son of God embodies all aspects of the human experience, and the bread chosen to represent his Body should have a more complex flavor profile.
I should perhaps not even mention the implication inherent in using white bread to represent the Body of God.
