Thoughts about wine: Assisting with The Lord's Supper Part 3

In my church, we like to invite anyone to join in the celebration of the Lord's Supper, regardless of their age, denomination or background, provided that they love the Lord Jesus as their King and Saviour.

So we offer three ways to take wine:

1. sip alcoholic wine from the chalice, or 'common cup'
2. dip the bread into a cup of alcoholic wine reserved for that purpose;  this is sometimes called 'intincting' or 'intinction';  which comes from the Latin 'intingere' (according to Lexico.com) which means... you guessed it, to dip (something) into (something - most likely something coloured)
3. drink non-alcoholic grape juice from a tiny individual cup

A bit more information about those three options:
The shared cup is intended to remind us that Jesus served wine to his disciples from one cup, and perhaps also that we all share in the same blood.  The wine is usually fortified, ie.  more alcoholic than ordinary table wine, and that helps with killing any germs people might accidentally share.

Dipping the bread in the wine is preferred by some people, but for a few different reasons.  Some ministers insist on dipping the bread before they give it to the people.  Some dip because that's what they were taught to do.  Some choose to be tea-total - they don't drink any alcohol at all; if their church doesn't offer a non-alcoholic alternative, dipping the bread means that they can take part fully in the celebration of the Lord's Supper, but limit the amount of alcohol they take.

Some dip because they are concerned about either giving or receiving germs on the rim of the cup. That's probably the least valid reason, because unless people have scrubbed their fingers and nails just before they dip, they risk transferring many more germs into the wine than if they sipped.  In fact in several Australian dioceses, people are being encouraged not to dip for that reason.

This (slightly humorous) article talks about the more theological reasons for not dipping: First, that Jesus did not combine the bread and the wine when he served his disciples.  Second, that the purpose of celebrating the Lord's Supper is to remember Jesus' sacrifice of himself to atone for our sin - such a sacrifice is foreshadowed in the Old Testament, where the priests were instructed to pour out the blood separately from the body of the sacrifice.

Some people are rather scornful of serving the wine or grape juice in individual cups;  they see it as a new invention, perhaps a utilitarian approach to serving the Lord's Supper, which degrades the ceremony in their eyes.  I have a rather different view.

For one thing, I have known people who struggle against alcohol, so that even the smell of alcohol on my breath as I serve them makes celebrating the Lord's Supper an ordeal.  For their sake, I would offer non-alcoholic grape juice every time.  There are also many children who grasp what Jesus has done for them as fully as any adult, and I want to include them in our family celebration.  There are others who have a compromised immune system, and simply can't risk exposure to other people's germs.

What about the theology of individual cups, rather than the pragmatics?

In other traditions, people are encouraged to eat and drink when they feel ready, and not on some schedule imposed by the service leader.  The bread and wine are available at their seat throughout the service. This is unusual to me, but I can see that it might help people to 'do business with the Lord' in prayer more than trooping forward and queuing up at the rail in a more traditional ritual.

From my reading of the accounts of the Last Supper, it seems likely to me that Jesus gave thanks for the wine, and then served it from a jug into each person's separate cup.  I'm in the middle of a little bit of research to find out if my hunch is right, and am ready to eat humble pie if I'm wrong!

Whether that's right or not, I don't think drinking from separate cups devalues the act of celebrating the Lord's Supper.  If you eat and drink in remembrance of Jesus' sacrificial death for you, quite frankly, I don't think it matters if you drink wine from a shared cup or orange juice from a cardboard carton, kneeling in a church at a specially made rail or sitting at a picnic table in the park.

I do think that it's preferable, but not essential, to celebrate with other Christians rather than alone.  In the early church, the disciples 'devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer' (Acts 2:42).  Breaking bread would be what you'd do when you ate with people, like on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:20 "When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.").  And the apostle Paul emphasises the shared, unifying nature of Jesus' sacrifice for us - his death gathers people from the ends of the earth into one body, one family, one nation.

Different Strokes... Assisting with the Lord's Supper Part 2

So you've been invited to assist with serving the Lord's Supper (or Eucharist, or Communion, or whatever name your church prefers).

Some churches are more strict about how things are done, and about training or not training people in their roles.  In some, you have to undergo a course, and then be authorised by the local Bishop, to serve the Lord's Supper.  In others, anyone can be roped in at the last minute.

I think the Lord's Supper is such an important part of our Christian life that anyone who helps to serve should first, be known to be a believer.  They should be someone who is known to be responsible, and respectful.  But happily, they don't have to be perfect ...  I do think it's very wise to spend a bit of time on training before they begin, and then to follow up with encouragement and advice over time. 

First let me say that there are a great many different ways to organise a celebration of the Lord's Supper, and every church will do it slightly differently, if not vastly differently.  That is in part a function of the number of people in the congregation.  But it's also a reflection of your theology - your understanding of God. 

For example, if your church emphasises that every believer is a priest, as Peter suggests in 1 Peter 2:9, then you might each serve the bread and the wine to the person next to you: once each person has been given and eaten a piece of the bread, they take the loaf, turn to the next person, and pull a chunk off to give them.  Your pastor might suggest some words to say as you serve each element, or it might be a silent celebration.

Or your church might emphasise that some people within the congregation have been especially set apart to perform a priestly role, and so only a specially authorised person is permitted to lead the Lord's Supper service, and only people who are specially authorised are permitted to serve the bread and wine. The prayers may be laid out in an authorised prayer book, and the celebration may include colourful robes, stately processions, bowing and graceful hand movements, and so on.

There's a lot of diversity between Anglican churches, and between Anglican ministers, so some will look more like the first, and some more like the second.  I confess that personally I prefer the first, and I believe it is a better reflection of our Lord's intention;  but in my current church, we're more 'middle of the road' - we have authorised people leading and serving, but the ceremony is relatively casual.

Can you serve the wine today? Assisting with the Lord's Supper, Part 1

The first time I assisted with the Lord's Supper, I was twenty-something, a member of my church's evening congregation, who occasionally led services or singing or youth group.  We were at a conference where almost everyone had a dog collar, and quite a few of them were wearing one.  I wasn't sure why my minister had invited me - we seemed be the only church who had brought some lay people along.  My bishop was 'presiding' - for the non-Anglicans, that means he was the one leading the service of Communion / Lord's Supper / Holy Eucharist.  And fifteen minutes before it began he asked if I would serve the wine.  Yikes!!

But what a privilege to move from person to person, offering them the cup of wine, and reminding each person that Jesus' blood was spilled for them, yes, for each of them, personally.

If you are offered the opportunity to assist with the celebration of the Lord's Supper, please take it as a huge compliment.  And please treat it as a rich and profound responsibility.

In this post, I'll share a couple of thoughts about the Lord's Supper.  I am aware that there are other points of view.

The word 'Communion' (according to the Oxford Dictionary Online) means 'the sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings, especially on a mental or spiritual level.'  Which makes me wonder how it also came to mean (according to the Oxford Dictionary Online): 'the service of Christian worship at which bread and wine are consecrated and shared'.  

Happily the Online Etymology Dictionary helps here;  the use of the word Communion to describe Christians breaking bread together and drinking wine together comes from the idea of unity in something which is shared among all, or participating together in something.  That's OK, the Apostle Paul says "Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ?  And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?" (1 Corinthians 10:16 NIV). In other words,  this ceremony celebrates the fact that people who belong to Jesus share his death;  we died with him (have a look at Romans 6:1-14).  But I'm not sure that the word "Communion" means that to the average Christian today, much less anyone else.

The word Eucharist is from the Greek - ancient Greek actually - for saying 'thank you'.  That's also OK, I hope we are very thankful for Jesus' sacrifice on our behalf, but saying thank you, or even being reminded to be thankful, is not the primary purpose of the reenactment.  Even if it was, I think it's helpful to use terms that are more easily understood.

I prefer to call it the Lord's Supper, because it is a tiny symbolic reenactment of the Last Supper - the one Jesus had with his disciples the night before he was tried and crucified.  Jesus said that as often as his disciples - those who follow his teaching, that is - broke bread together, and shared wine together, as they did that night, they should do it to remember him.  Remembering Jesus, and specifically remembering that he died for us, is the primary purpose of reenacting the Last Supper together.

So that's what should govern how we conduct the celebration of the Lord's Supper.  We should ask ourselves, do the things we do and say help people to remember that Jesus died for them?  Or do they distract people from that fact?

Next time you take part in the Lord's Supper in your church, take notice of everything that happens.  Does it help you remember that Jesus died for you, or does it distract you from remembering?  Look at everything that happens - is this the best time in the service to remember that Jesus died for us?  What should come before and after, to help with the aim of remembering?  Does the place you are in help or hinder?  Does the song before help people to remember, or not?  What about the bread and the wine that you use - do they help, or hinder?  What about the words that are said?  Are there prayers, perhaps before or after the Lord's Supper, or part of it, and how do they help or distract?  Do the items used in the ceremony help them to focus on what Jesus has done for them?