The Lighthearted Calvinist

Dr. Russell Moore of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has posted on the Lord’s Supper and current public health concerns and his post makes some interesting points.  First, in the interest of full disclosure, here is my stand on the Lord’s Supper:

• I believe it should be weekly.  It appears Scripture makes that as clear as the weekly gathering of the saints and the events to occur at that gathering, which include prayer, fellowship and the teaching of the Scriptures.  I am well aware of the care some take to protect the sanctity and importance of the Supper by limiting it because it can become “ritualistic.”  We do not limit our weekly gatherings even though they are just as “ritualistic” for some, though, do we?  I was told by an official in the Southern Baptist Convention last year that he knew of a Baptist church in his area that had not celebrated the Lord’s Supper in SIX YEARS(!).
• It should be done with wine.  Real wine.  It’s odd how we, referred to by one of my Roman Catholic friends as the “protesting Catholics,” can apply Scripture meant to be taken literally through the lens of current social concerns.  The objection to using wine is that “it may cause a brother to stumble.”  The implication is that this was not an issue in the days of Christ or that the problem is much worse now.  I think we underestimate just how pagan the culture was in the days of the Roman Empire with its debauchery – be it alcoholic, sexual or whatever.  Or, the objection is that Jesus really didn’t mean or use “wine” with alcoholic content.  This is treated much more competently than I could do in two places:  God Gave Wine by Kenneth Gentry and these posts (Part 1, Part 2) from Robert Gonzales.

Having said that, we now get out of the way and to Dr. Moore’s post.  He references recent articles in the New York Times (beer pong?  Never heard of it.  I guess I lead a sheltered life at El Rancho Reformado) and Wall Street Journal that describe changes in practices concerning Communion resulting from public health concerns.  Dr. Moore gives a rather pointed commentary, including this statement:

Table fellowship is a sign of familial solidarity and of the messianic reign. This is why Jesus was so revolutionary when he announced, “Many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 8:11 ESV), and that’s why Simon Peter was so reluctant to sit down with the uncircumcised.

So why do our evangelical Lord’s Supper services so often look like the clinical communal rinse-and-spit of fluoride at an elementary school rather than like a loving family gathered around a feast table?

Ouch.

It is worth your time to read his thoughts, but especially a couple of the commenters’ input.  One commenter cites concerns expressed by a churchman, which said this:

I venture to think that there is a strong prima facie case against the use of one cup, but the task of the hygienic innovator would be made much easier if he could cite actual example of contagion.”

The interesting point in that?  That concern was expressed by J.H. Brittain in 1903.  This commenter cites an article in the Los Angeles Times on this matter published in 2005.  The article quotes a microbiologist who has studied the issue and she says:

“People who sip from the Communion cup don’t get sick more often than anyone else,” said Anne LaGrange Loving, a New Jersey microbiologist who has conducted one of the few studies on the subject. “It isn’t any riskier than standing in line at the movies.”

An Episcopalian rector brought in infectious disease physicians to look at the issue and his quote is:

“One doctor said, ‘The number of bugs you can get from a Communion cup don’t have a prayer,’ ” Haynes recalled. “The chances of getting sick are less than talking after the [service] with someone who has a cold.”

The final thoughts on this come from a past student of Dr. Moore’s who is now serving in ministry in West Africa.  This real-life application of the Scriptures in the face of the dangers of life here in this fallen world, expressed poignantly by a man who is putting his faith to practice.  His words should give us pause to consider not only the Lord’s Supper, but all that we practice as we work out our salvation with fear and trembling:

Dr. Moore,

Thanks for your ministry and your powerful writing. I was shaped as a student under your teaching in seminary on the Lord’s Supper. I smiled when I read this latest blog.

We now live in a small village in West Africa that was 100% Muslim for the past 600 years and heavily involved in animism for countless generations before that.

Now, on Tuesday nights, a group of around 30 new believers gather at a house for church. Each week I am served, by one of these believers, the Lord’s Supper.

They hand me some reddish colored “water” out of an old jar along with a hunk of bread torn off with hands that have never met a bottle of sanitizer!

As they do this, the person handing out the elements explains in quite dramatic fashion the price Jesus paid and how this changes us.

We don’t have a swine flu problem yet but we do have yellow fever and about 4000 other diseases floating around (not to mention what’s in that “water”). Yet no one ever complains and it’s not just because they’re used to sharing more than we are. For them, this meal is about family. This is not something tagged on at the end of a sermon once a quarter, this is something important. This is a reminder that they are no longer walking in darkness, this is a reminder that though most of their families and friends have rejected them, they are a part of a new family. This is a reminder of a great banquet that is awaiting us at the marriage supper of the Lamb!