Why no wine?

I took communion today.

Funny, isn't it? This blog could go so many places from here. I could talk about how it was my umpteenth time and how hard it can be to keep the sacred from becoming the sedentary. I could talk about transubstantiation v. consubstantiation. I could talk about how often we should take communion, how important communion is, or any manner of other things. But I'm not going to. There was something else that I thought about after church was over.

We used grape juice.

This isn't a particularly surprising revelation by itself. I've never personally been to a church service in which they did not use grape juice for communion. However, I really started to wonder why that is.

I highly doubt that it's because of health concerns. I'm 99.99% sure that there are absolutely no ill effects to be had from imbibing in a teaspoon or less of wine. No one will get drunk. No one will suffer liver failure. It couldn't be that.

I also doubt that it's because of cost. Granted, wine is more expensive with grape juice, and why use wine when it's all symbolic anyway, right? Well, sure, but why not use water? The Mormons do it that way. Water has to be cheaper than grape juice. That can't be the reason either.

It isn't illegal for minors to have a tiny sip of wine for communion. I sincerely hope that the reason isn't because not everyone likes wine. I mean, not everyone likes grape juice or bread either, and it's not as if this ceremony is one of comfort. We are remembering the death of our Savior, not snacking on some delicious tide-me-overs.

What I'm left with, in my mind, anyway, is a question of image. It's almost as if a bunch of church people got together and said, "Hey, we like to act (but usually not say) that alcohol in any form is always wrong. But we still have to hold to communion and be traditional and all that too. [snapping of fingers] I've got it! Let's feel good about ourselves by not drinking any actual wine during communion, just stuff that looks like wine!"

Now, before I go on, let me say that I in no way believe that that is how most of Christianity views the issue. I've certainly never thought, "Gee, I sure am glad I'm not drinking alcohol when I take communion! If there was one thing wrong with Jesus, it was that he wasn't a teetotaler." And I find it doubtful that the originators of this tradition thought that exact phrase either. Nevertheless, it does seem to me to be an unfortunate combination of the Church's sight-unseen rejection of alcohol and a desire to still appear a certain way.

At least the Mormons are consistent. They firmly believe that all alcohol usage is wrong, so they just use water instead. Protestants, however, are not content to simply ignore several passages of Scripture that clearly show that there is nothing wrong with drinking a bit of alcohol in moderation. No, they prefer to ignore Scripture and act like they don't.

Again, I'm probably extrapolating, but if you really believe that wine doesn't belong in church, shouldn't the color of the wine substitute be immaterial?

This probably isn't that big of a deal. I'm still taking communion "in remembrance of Him." But I wonder what would happen if I suggested a switch to lemonade.