Left over Communion Wine/Juice

[Floatingaxe]

Of course He isn't talking about cannibilism!

He is the bread of Life! Amen. He is the bread of MY life, too and lives within me! He is not in the bread or wine of communion, but He resides in us.

You confess your sin unto the Lord. You put a little wine or juice in a cup, you break a little piece of bread off. You eat and drink of these elements. You remember the Lord's brokenness and His shed blood for YOU, personally! You ruminate on it, in reverence. You tell the Lord how lovely He is, and how you love Him, how you appreciate what He has done for you. That is communion!

Simple, not fancy!

[billie]

Of course He isn't talking about cannibilism!

He is the bread of Life! Amen. He is the bread of MY life, too and lives within me! He is not in the bread or wine of communion, but He resides in us.

You confess your sin unto the Lord. You put a little wine or juice in a cup, you break a little piece of bread off. You eat and drink of these elements. You remember the Lord's brokenness and His shed blood for YOU, personally! You ruminate on it, in reverence. You tell the Lord how lovely He is, and how you love Him, how you appreciate what He has done for you. That is communion!

Simple, not fancy!

Amen!

[Smalcald]

Before our Lutheran pastor distributed communion, he would say, "This IS the TRUE body and TRUE blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (emphasis was his)

The bread and wine are symbols. We're not REALLY eating and drinking Jesus himself.

Well if he was a true Lutheran pastor, he meant what he said.

Pray for the +Peace+ of Israel!

re: Left over Communion Wine/Juice - How does your church dispose of it?

I was just wondering how your churches dispose of Communion Wine that is left over?

Have you ever thought aabout this?

Snow4JC

Every catholic (note the small "c") church I've ever known (Romans, Anglicans, Orthdox, Lutherans, some high-church Presbyterians) consume all the wine that is consecrated in a Eucharist. In our parish, the priest drinks any that remains. If there were too much, he would ask the acolyte (an adult male) to consume it. Usually, there is only a couple of tablespoons of wine remaining at the end of communion.

After it is consumed, the chalice is rinsed with water twice and this also is drunk by the priest. Later, after the service, the cruet that contained the wine prior to its consecration and the chalice and paten (the gold plate on which the consecrated bread is carried) are washed in a special sink called a piscina. Its drain goes directly to the earth, not into the common sewer.

Consecrated bread is sometimes "reserved" after a service, for use in abbreviated communions for the sick in hospitals or shut-ins at home. Occasionally, this bread will be used in a Eucharist on a day when the tradition declines to perform a consecration (i.e. Good Friday).

Hi Spook what about adoration? In that case after the adoration is the consecrated elements used in communion, or are they left over?

If I may, I will answer this question. Adoration can be done with the Eucharist exposed in the Monstance. Monstrance is a vessel in which the consecrated host can be exposed to the faithful. Or adoration can take place in front of the tabernacle. Tabernacle is a place where the consecrated host are stored to be used later, such as during daily mass or taken to the sick in a time of need. Before I converted and became Catholic the priest told me, don't convert until you believe that Jesus Christ is truely present (Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity) in the tabernacle.

Thanks Pax.

One more question, I sometimes have an opportunity to pray during the workday, and I find it very peaceful to do it or read scripture at a nearby chapel. Anyway sometimes there is a candle lit above the tabernacle, sometimes there is not, does this signify a consecrated host in the tabernacle, or is it just random (it is an RCC chapel)?

Thanks.

[Guest Spook]

One more question, I sometimes have an opportunity to pray during the workday, and I find it very peaceful to do it or read scripture at a nearby chapel. Anyway sometimes there is a candle lit above the tabernacle, sometimes there is not, does this signify a consecrated host in the tabernacle, or is it just random (it is an RCC chapel)?

Thanks.

Whew! A lot of answers before I got a chance to get a lick in!

So, since we've heard from a Roman Catholic, and second-hand from a Lutheran, I'll add an Anglican first hand answer.

There are two doctrines here that often get confused. The more fundamental of these doctrines goes by the name Real Presence. Real Presence affirms that when the bread and wine are consecrated by the Word of God and prayer, then where the consecrated elements are, Jesus is. In other words, He is really present. The doctrine of the Real Presence is common to Roman Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans, most Anglicans, and even branches of the Swiss Reformation (i.e. some modern Presbyterians).

Thomas Aquinas articulated a teaching that has come to be known as transubstantiation. This later became Roman Catholic dogma. Here's where people get confused.

1. Transubstantiation is an explanation for the Real Presence. As an explanation, it is expressly rejected by everyone else who believe in the Real Presence (i.e. rejected by Orthodox, Lutherans, Anglicans, and high-church Calvinists).

2. Even though non-Roman Catholics reject transubstantiation, they still retain a solid conviction of the Real Presence. Only Romans believe in transubstantiation.

If you believe in transubstantiation, you will (of course) believe in the Real Presence. But, many (actually, most, in this history of the church) have believed in the Real Presence but have NOT believed in Aquinas' explanation of how it happens.

So, what do others believe, who believe in the Real Presence? They remain silent where the Scripture remains silent. The Scripture affirms the real presence; but it goes no explanation for it. So we Anglicans (along with the Orthodox, Lutherans, and high-church Calvinists) refuse to explain what the Scrpture leaves as a mystery.

Pax, it is not correct to say that Lutherans believe it is a "mix." I won't contest that it may sound like this is what they're saying. You're the only judge of that. But, if that's what you're hearing, then you're hearing inaccurately (or, perhaps, the Lutherans you're speaking to are having a hard time making themselves clear).

Smalcald, about adoration ...

This is not practiced by Anglicans. Article 25 of the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion states: "The Sacraments are not ordained of Christ to be gazed upon, or to be carried about, but that we should duly use them. And in such only as worthily receive the same, they have a wholesome effect or operation: but they that receive them unworthily, purchase to themselves damnation, as Saint Paul saith."

As Christ gave the bread and wine to be eaten and drunk, that is the due use of these. It is true that the sacrament is often reserved for later use in settings that are appropriate outside an ordinary worship service (e.g. to shut-ins, hospital cases, etc.). When it is reserved for this purpose (only the bread is reserved), it is placed in a special cabinet called (understandably) a tabernacle. This usually sits on the altar, sometimes to the side of the altar, even more rarely in a cabinet in the wall of the sanctuary near the altar.

When there is reserved sacrament in the tabernacle, there is also a light that burns continually in the sanctuary. Today, it is customary for this to be a candle burning in a ruby-red globe. When you enter a church and see a red-globed candle in the altar area, this is a signal that there is reserved sacrament in the vicinity. Thus, for those who believe in the Real Presence, they will exhibit "pious behaviours" (a quaint Anglican term), such as bowing toward the altar when entering or departing the sanctuary, or when crossing the mid-pointi of the sanctuary from one side or the other.

You will see sanctuary lamps in Roman Catholic churches and chapels (as you report seeing). Also in Anglican, Lutheran, and Orthodox churches, where the consecrated sacrament is reserved.

Hope this was informative,

Spook

[billie]

Well, I don't know about anybody else, but wherever I am, Jesus always is, regardles of whether there's bread, juice, wine, crackers, or elephants there!

[Floatingaxe]

Sounds like religion to me.

[IslandRose]

Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

[Pax]

One more question, I sometimes have an opportunity to pray during the workday, and I find it very peaceful to do it or read scripture at a nearby chapel. Anyway sometimes there is a candle lit above the tabernacle, sometimes there is not, does this signify a consecrated host in the tabernacle, or is it just random (it is an RCC chapel)?

Thanks.

Whew! A lot of answers before I got a chance to get a lick in!

So, since we've heard from a Roman Catholic, and second-hand from a Lutheran, I'll add an Anglican first hand answer.

There are two doctrines here that often get confused. The more fundamental of these doctrines goes by the name Real Presence. Real Presence affirms that when the bread and wine are consecrated by the Word of God and prayer, then where the consecrated elements are, Jesus is. In other words, He is really present. The doctrine of the Real Presence is common to Roman Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans, most Anglicans, and even branches of the Swiss Reformation (i.e. some modern Presbyterians).

Thomas Aquinas articulated a teaching that has come to be known as transubstantiation. This later became Roman Catholic dogma. Here's where people get confused.

1. Transubstantiation is an explanation for the Real Presence. As an explanation, it is expressly rejected by everyone else who believe in the Real Presence (i.e. rejected by Orthodox, Lutherans, Anglicans, and high-church Calvinists).

2. Even though non-Roman Catholics reject transubstantiation, they still retain a solid conviction of the Real Presence. Only Romans believe in transubstantiation.

If you believe in transubstantiation, you will (of course) believe in the Real Presence. But, many (actually, most, in this history of the church) have believed in the Real Presence but have NOT believed in Aquinas' explanation of how it happens.

So, what do others believe, who believe in the Real Presence? They remain silent where the Scripture remains silent. The Scripture affirms the real presence; but it goes no explanation for it. So we Anglicans (along with the Orthodox, Lutherans, and high-church Calvinists) refuse to explain what the Scrpture leaves as a mystery.

Pax, it is not correct to say that Lutherans believe it is a "mix." I won't contest that it may sound like this is what they're saying. You're the only judge of that. But, if that's what you're hearing, then you're hearing inaccurately (or, perhaps, the Lutherans you're speaking to are having a hard time making themselves clear).

Smalcald, about adoration ...

This is not practiced by Anglicans. Article 25 of the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion states: "The Sacraments are not ordained of Christ to be gazed upon, or to be carried about, but that we should duly use them. And in such only as worthily receive the same, they have a wholesome effect or operation: but they that receive them unworthily, purchase to themselves damnation, as Saint Paul saith."

As Christ gave the bread and wine to be eaten and drunk, that is the due use of these. It is true that the sacrament is often reserved for later use in settings that are appropriate outside an ordinary worship service (e.g. to shut-ins, hospital cases, etc.). When it is reserved for this purpose (only the bread is reserved), it is placed in a special cabinet called (understandably) a tabernacle. This usually sits on the altar, sometimes to the side of the altar, even more rarely in a cabinet in the wall of the sanctuary near the altar.

When there is reserved sacrament in the tabernacle, there is also a light that burns continually in the sanctuary. Today, it is customary for this to be a candle burning in a ruby-red globe. When you enter a church and see a red-globed candle in the altar area, this is a signal that there is reserved sacrament in the vicinity. Thus, for those who believe in the Real Presence, they will exhibit "pious behaviours" (a quaint Anglican term), such as bowing toward the altar when entering or departing the sanctuary, or when crossing the mid-pointi of the sanctuary from one side or the other.

You will see sanctuary lamps in Roman Catholic churches and chapels (as you report seeing). Also in Anglican, Lutheran, and Orthodox churches, where the consecrated sacrament is reserved.

Hope this was informative,

Spook

I would have to agree with almost everything you wrote above. The only part I disagree with you on is about the Lutheran Church. They believe in Consubstantiation not Transubstantiation. Look up Consubstantiation in the dictionary. The definition is as follows "The actual substantial presence and Combination of the body and blood of Christ with the eucharistic bread and wine according to a teaching associated with Martin Luther. Lutheran believe that the eucharist is both bread and Jesus, as the dictionary puts it a combination of both. The Catholic Church is the only church in the world that believes in Transubstantiation.

[pointer]

Well, I don't know about anybody else, but wherever I am, Jesus always is, regardles of whether there's bread, juice, wine, crackers, or elephants there!

Quite so. But Satan tries to persuade that Christians are not the temples of Christ. He has even persuaded some people that a piece of bread is superior to a saint of God!

[Leonard]

Quite so. But Satan tries to persuade that Christians are not the temples of Christ. He has even persuaded some people that a piece of bread is superior to a saint of God!

Not worthy of a response. I'll let such sillyness simply stand so others can see the sort of Tom foolery a rabidly anti-sacramental stance can lead people like Pointer into.