Worship Notes
Sacraments, part V: The Wine of Holy Communion
Go to: Next
Article Go to: Previous Article Go to: Menu
of Messenger Articles Go
to: Home Page
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
Go to: Next
Article
Go to: Previous
Article
Go to: Menu
of Messenger Articles
Go to: Home Page