Lauren Winner writes in today's Wall Street Journal that Swine Flu Spells the End of the Common Cup. When I saw the headline I immediately remembered how horrified Babs (my little Presbyterian) was when we attended the opening worship service for entering freshmen at All Saints Chapel at Sewanee and she was offered a common cup. She like to died!
Winner notes in her article that the chaplain at Sewanee continues to use the common cup but no longer allows communicants to dunk the bread pieces in the cup on the theory that the mouth has fewer germs than the hand. That would not have mollified Babs, who decamped to a Presbyterian students' group when Eastern Tennessee presbytery made a retired Sewanee professor a Commissioned Lay Pastor for a ministry to Presbyterian students and friends. And I have to admit that I'm not a fan of the common cup, either.
Although Presbyterians have a long tradition of using what Winner calls "shot glasses" -- don't you love it?--rather than the common cup, even we are making some changes in response to concerns about H1N1 (the politically correct term for swine flu).
World communion Sunday last week saw us using both shot glasses and pre-cut pieces of bread. I didn't think about it at the time, but that was obviously a response to H1N1 because we usually tear bread off a loaf and dunk it.
Another change came at the end of the service when the pastor usually asked the congregation to hold hands as he delivers the benediction. Although a number of people continued that tradition, he didn't mention it.
Winner notes in her article that the chaplain at Sewanee continues to use the common cup but no longer allows communicants to dunk the bread pieces in the cup on the theory that the mouth has fewer germs than the hand. That would not have mollified Babs, who decamped to a Presbyterian students' group when Eastern Tennessee presbytery made a retired Sewanee professor a Commissioned Lay Pastor for a ministry to Presbyterian students and friends. And I have to admit that I'm not a fan of the common cup, either.
Although Presbyterians have a long tradition of using what Winner calls "shot glasses" -- don't you love it?--rather than the common cup, even we are making some changes in response to concerns about H1N1 (the politically correct term for swine flu).
World communion Sunday last week saw us using both shot glasses and pre-cut pieces of bread. I didn't think about it at the time, but that was obviously a response to H1N1 because we usually tear bread off a loaf and dunk it.
Another change came at the end of the service when the pastor usually asked the congregation to hold hands as he delivers the benediction. Although a number of people continued that tradition, he didn't mention it.
In our Bible Study Discussion groups we traditionally hold hands for intercessory prayer and we haven't changed that custom. If someone has a cold, they just excuse themselves and we count it as a "virtual" hand-holding.
If you ask me, the biggest center of contagion is in the church nursery where parents will often bring a sick child that they wouldn't dream of sending to school. I assume churches are being more careful about this as well, but don't know for sure because I don't have children or grandchildren in nursery care these days.
Has your church made changes in liturgy or practice in response to fears of spreading flus of any type?
