As comments made by others here indicate, there is no uniform practice for holding the Communion Service. Many denominations allow the participants to remain in their seats but the Catholics and the "first removes" (to use a phrase of John Humphrey) have the participants come up front. The "first removes" are the Lutherans and the Episcopalians (including their parent, the Anglicans).
Now, taking the Lutherans as an example, they are organized in Synods and within the Synods the practices vary. Some allow open communion, i.e., other denominations may participate. Other Synods follow closed communion, i.e., only confirmed members of the member churches in the Synod are allowed to participate. In the Catholic Church, generally, communion is available only to confirmed Catholics in good standing.
The German Lutheran Church in the Robinson River Valley originally followed closed communion practices. This is why no German Reformed members appear in the Communion Lists. Today they practice open communion.
When I told Rev. Larsen at the Hebron Church that it appeared the order within the Communion Lists bore some relationship to the seating order, he was not surprised. If fact, he said they served communion in a very particular order. They served the left side of the church first starting with the front pew. After the left side was completed, the right side was served.
We must remember that at most of the time of the Communion Lists, Hebron Church differed physically from the present configuration. The extension of the building in front of the altar did not exist. There were probably a few pews in the original structure directly in front of the altar and the pulpit, but the majority of the seats were probably on the sides of the altar, but still on the main floor. There were also the two balconies, which seem to be reserved for the single men and for the single women. (By "single" I mean there was no spouse present.) So the original rules would have been altered to confirm to the physical configuration then.
Certainly the comment made here on the List recently would indicate that there were definite rules for serving communion. The general statement that the order within the Communion Lists indicates some close proximity in the seating seems to be confirmed by the evidence of the Lists themselves and by the practices which are used.
The List is one continuous roll, but the pews would segment the names in groups. It probably is impossible to see the effect of the pews today. And, two pews, one behind the other, could be considered as adjacent. Four adjacent names today might have been divided between two pews.
(05 Dec 05)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.