The Cup

I wonder if every weekend there is a little spike in the sales of grape juice at the local grocery store because, except for when we buy bulk, Awake purchases grape juice every weekend for the Eucharist (a.k.a. Lord’s Supper a.k.a. Communion), which we share every Sunday night as part of our worship gathering.

I think we used “spiked” grape juice (yeah, wine) for the first few Sundays when we began gathering weekly back in April, but I’m not sure. All I know is that almost immediately we realized that having wine with the bread probably isn’t the most hospitable thing to do when you meet in a space that is otherwise used for AA and NA meetings.

But, obviously, we only replaced the wine with juice, we didn’t replace the Eucharist. In fact, it is the pinnacle of our gathering. The Word never runs out, but sometimes words do. And so God graciously stoops to the level of our senses and lets us smell and touch and taste the gospel.

It is delicious.

When we eat the bread and drink the cup, we remember Jesus’ death and resurrection and who we are as a result. We remember our identity – that we are forgiven, that we belong to God, that we are one with Christ, that we are part of a new community, and that we have a special destiny.

That’s a lot to remember!

Perhaps there’s a word that could capture or signify all of this, that would come to mind every time we partake in the Eucharist, and that would help us remember this new identity.

This past Monday a two year-old boy from Awake was eating breakfast at home. He probably was wearing a onesie, drinking out of a sippy cup, and had serious case of bed-head.

His mother was drinking water out of a wine glass. This curious little boy noticed and wanted a drink of her water. After he took the cup, he proceeded to take every single piece of his broken toast and dip it into the water-filled wine glass.

He looked up at his mom and said, “Church!”

Church…
At least someone has an idea about what’s going on in the Eucharist.