I guess I could have put this under religion and spirituality but it seems really much more random and fun. I'm so glad I don't have to eat a whole Jesus in my lifetime. I'm pretty sure that even my very faithful Episcopalian friends won't be able to accomplish it since my math says it would take 93 Sundays to do it. Communion is actually a group effort so I guess many churches working together do accomplish eating a whole Jesus.
So I did a bit more Maths. if you go to communion once a day it would take 278.4 years give or take a leap year or two. I have no idea about the wine not sure how much is in a sip. If you are really devout and do communion twice a day then it is a far more manageable 139.2 years. But that means starting from the moment you are born.
Or you can just accept, that if the Last Supper ever happened at all. That it was just a bloke, telling his mates, that he would still be there in memory ( or spirit ) with them, whenever they broke bread and took wine together.
Which is actually rather profound and sweet, and a natural act of friendship. So that making it a ritual where payed professional con - artists make mumbo-jumbo out of it to fleece the innocent, really is a travesty.
Communion was just another weird ritual that puzzled my childhood brain -- why in the world would be it okay to eat a wafer that we are made to believe is the body of Christ? This didn't make sense to me as a child. Why would we be encouraged to pretend or believe we were eating flesh of a man, son of God or not? We all did it (took communion) and so it was thought to be good and holy. Puzzling.
This puzzled me as much as being told we are all descendants from Adam and Eve, and it was inferred that there was sibling incest in order to create the human race. Many years later I heard about the "Land of Nod" which was "East of Eden" but doesn't that mean that Adam and Eve were not the first (or only) persons on the earth? So, this giant story was created out of a small garden, one of many? The nuns at Catechism offered nothing to clarify my puzzlement.
From a strictly intellectual standpoint, there is so much wrong with the Last supper. Jesus is supposed to be a Jewish messian. There is no way a Jewish person following the law would say here is my body eat it and here is my blood drink it. Drinking blood was strictly forbidden in Jewish law and looked at with great indignation. This was introducing paganism into Christianity and thumbing the nose at judaism
Wait. If you have to avoid alcohol, will Welches do the trick?
My childhood church Only used Welch's grape juice,as did the Lutherans my aunt belonged to...in fact I have never heard of a church (all New England area, not Southern) that ever used real wine. Quantity was less than a tablespoon. Special tiny glasses, like thin-walled shot glasses, but about half the size, were distributed in special non-fall holders.
@AnneWimsey Catholics and episcopalians use real wine.
@Lorajay alcoholics have to change churches? WTH?!
@AnneWimsey To be perfectly honest, I have no intention of consuming Jesus, I just can't drink alcohol anymore. I am not an alcoholic, I'm having a lot of medical problems and I cannot drink it and I was wondering what a wafer-eating Christian with my health issues would do.