Worship Notes

 

Sacraments, part V: The Wine of Holy Communion

 

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Of the symbols and elements of worship, wine might be the most complex and ambiguous.  In early times, when safe water was not always easy to come by, drinking wine was more about sustenance than celebration.  Fermentation helped preserve the grape juice, and the alcohol helped cut down on dangerous bacteria and vires (no known pathogens are able to survive the alcohol content of wine).

The fact that we use wine in the Eucharist is not an endorsement for alcohol abuse.  Since ancient times wine has carried some of those societal images: the gathering—wine should not be dunk alone, and the ability to intoxicate—“wine to gladden the human heart” (Psalm 104:15).  Wine and its effect do suggest transcendence and the hope of a greater joyous feast to come.

However, Lathrop writes in his book Holy Things, “The symbol is also dangerous and ambiguous, as symbols always are.  Near intoxication can easily become drunkenness.  Festival can become death. …The widespread alcoholism of our culture retains only a shadow of the festivity of communal drink, having lost that festivity to the desperate search for relief and escape.” 

Wine holds together images of death and life, of danger and security.  How very appropriate for our Lord’s Last Supper!  It is a meal Christ celebrated just before his death.  It is a meal that promises forgiveness and new life.  It is a meal that, once again, unites us with Christ in his death and raises us up in forgiveness and new life.

Since alcohol can hold more “death” than “life” for some people (i.e. medical problems, alcoholism), they appropriately choose to receive unfermented juice or choose to receive the bread only.  It does not diminish the purpose, value or effect of the meal in any way.  The blood of Christ is still shed for them.

There is great variety in the liturgy of Holy Communion.  The elements of unity, confession, forgiveness, personal relationship, mystery, simplicity and presence are all stressed or subdued in innumerable ways by different congregations and denominations.  But the promise is the same, “The body …the blood of Christ given for you.”  It is fitting to answer, “Amen,” when the bread is placed in your palm and the wine is poured for you.  “Amen” means, “so be it.”  It is a way of verbally accepting that sacrifice, that promise, and God’s love.

--Pastor Greg Kaurin

 

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