The idea of a common cup during communion is a bit freaky to me. All those germs from all those mouths are a bit unsettling, but after reading Swine Flu and the Common Cup over at the Gospel Coalition blog, I’m beginning to think there’s something beautiful that happens when we indiscriminately share the cup.
Here’s an excerpt:
Often I’ll preach in churches about the Lord’s Supper and will call on congregations to go back to using a common loaf and a common cup. I’ll challenge the churches to recover the sign of bread being torn, not daintily picked up in pre-fabricated bits. I’ll call the congregations to drink the wine, together, passing along a common cup.
I’m not offended by people disagreeing with me on this. I’m just stunned by the reason they most often give for dismissing this ancient Christian practice: germs.
The common cup is, well, gross to many Christians because they don’t like the idea of drinking after strangers. That’s just the point. You’re not drinking after strangers. You’re drinking after your own flesh-and blood, your family. And the offense is precisely the issue. You’re recognizing Christ Jesus, discerning his Body, in the “flesh” of his Body the church around you. If drinking after your brothers is “disgusting,” then how much more eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood. That was disgusting to an assembly a while back as well.
Now, I’m not calling on churches to pick up the common cup and the common loaf in the middle of a swine flu pandemic. That wouldn’t be prudent. But maybe now’s the time to start thinking about how our hyper-hygienic American culture might be leading us toward cleanliness and away from Christ.
I have been at services where we’ve literally torn from a loaf of bread before passing it. It adds a much more communal atmosphere to the ritual and I think gets closer to what Jesus and the disciples first experienced.
What about you? Does your church use a common cup?
