Now, what is the Sacrament of the Altar?
Answer: It is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, in and under the bread and wine which we Christians are commanded by the Word of Christ to eat and to drink.
Question: How do most Lutheran churches distribute the elements of the Sacrament of the Altar? Especially, at the moment, I'm wondering about the wine, Our Lord's Precious Blood.
Because here's my thing. I'm good with a Common Cup, and with intinction. But here's a few questions for the "individual shot glasses" situation. Let's start with the "glass glasses."
The altar guild picks them up on Monday morning to wash them, yes?
What's in them?
They're empty, you say? They've been drunk from?
Are you sure about that? Completely empty? Not a single drop left?
Well...there's probably a drop...maybe two...in each glass.
A drop of what? Wine, right?
And...what happens to it? Tossed in the sink with dishsoap?
Great, no problem. If it's wine.
But is it "just" wine? Or is it the Blood of Christ?
And if it's the Blood of Christ, are we really comfortable just scrubbing it out and rinsing it down the drain?
...
On to the "plastic shot glasses." A lot of churches, I think especially those that commune large numbers of people, use these for convenience's sake. 300 shot glasses is a lot to wash, no? So we use plastic. Sure. Makes sense. Go through the line, drink the wine...I mean, Blood...and at the final station you...toss it in a basket lined with a plastic bag. After which it will be thrown away. In that same dumpster as the leftover coffee cups and sticky donut napkins.
That empty shot glass.
Well, almost empty.
Is it weird that I think about these things?
