Communion cup conniption

Growing up in a Baptist church, we often times took communion (we call it the Lord's Supper.) It was always thrilling to me as a kid to be able to do that. I was so excited right after I got saved because I was going to be able to participate.

We always had the usual, Welch's grape juice and unsalted crackers. We didn't use real wine like the Luthern church that my sister, Pam, used to play the piano at did. But that's another post... We didn't get grape juice much when I was growing up. Probably because it was expensive and we would have no doubt drank it all in one sitting. So, when the Lord's Supper rolled around, we were eager to have us some of the juice. It was the most delicious thing in the world to me. I always wondered if the deacons took the leftovers into the back room and polished them off? ;)

I know of two pet peeves that my mother has. The first one is, she don't like people to rake their forks across their teeth when they are eating. I remember getting reprimanded for that on more than one occasion. But, the pet peeve that I remember the most is one that she has during the Lord's Supper. Read on...

Not sure if you are familiar with how we do things in the Baptist church, but, during the Lord's Supper, things are really quiet and reserved. We might be shouting, clapping, running the pews, and swinging from the rafters during our regular service, but when it comes to communion time, we are really in a state of reverence. The pastor will of course read from the Bible where the disciples ate the Last Supper with Jesus, and we emulate that time (except for the foot warshin', we didn't normally do that.) So imagine us all sitting there on the hard oak church pews in our Sunday best, all prim and proper. We go through the communion service and as soon as we swallow our tiny shot of grape juice... SLAM, SLAM, SLAM, SLAM, SLAM...can be heard all over the church house, as people would slam their communion cups down into the cup holders on the pew in front of them. I can just see my mother cringing as this would happen. She would glare over at us kids as a signal that we were not under any circumstances, to put our cups down. "Wait until we stand up to pray, and quietly place them in the holders," she would tell us. I think about my mother every single time I take the Lord's Supper. Of course, I've instructed my kids on proper cup etiquette.

When we had the Lord's Supper at our church this past Sunday night, I could hear my youngest daughter sitting beside me during prayer, trying to slurp the last drop of juice from her cup. I cracked open one eye and peered down at her, all sweet and innocent with her head bowed down and her tongue crammed into that communion cup. I nearly busted out laughing. Ah kids, you gotta love em!