The loaf and the cup

On my work desk today there are two everyday items: a loaf of Vienna white bread and a container of rich red grape juice. I bought them from a shop as I walked to work and doubtless the ones next to them will soon be put to everyday use.

Later today this loaf and juice will be used in a college communion service that I am assigned to lead.

There they will remain bread and grape juice (no accidental substance change here!).

However, their use will change. Hopefully they will provide pre-lunch refreshment (as we use prodigal portions not puny Presbyterian ones). They will also be presented as symbols of grace.

The loaf reminding us of the body of Jesus. Real incarnate flesh with muscles and sinews and sweat dripping from his brow. (No docetic deceit here.)

The grape juice (sorry folks, no wine in Oz land) reminding us of the blood of Jesus. Real blood, rich in red blood cells, iron and such like, pumping through his heart to blood vessels, tissues and organs. (Wonder what blood group he was?)

The loaf and the juice, the body and the blood. Reminders of the grace that led the Father to send the Son to make atonement for my sins and those of the world. Symbols of the grace that saves and enables people like to reconnect to God, start recovering creational identity, escape sin’s dread hold and to live now in anticipation and hope of resurrection to eternal life.

The loaf and the cup certainly should not be idolised (and our low church order will keep us well away from that). But nor should they be despised or neglected as some are in the habit of doing.

So, as I later break the loaf and pour the cup it will be my prayer that they lift minds and hearts to eternal things as Christ is present in his sacrament by his Spirit. And then, having been thus lifted, we go back to the everyday world of bread and juice and there live worthy of the body and the blood.