Lake Neuron

The Los Angeles Times, in a piece I heard about from Church Marketing Sucks, reports that, with the application of a little common sense, there’s very little danger of contagion to those Catholics, Episcopalians and Lutherans who take Communion from a common cup.

I, of course, am a United Methodist, but I attended an Episcopal church for a while during college. I was never troubled by the common cup, and I certainly understood the symbolism of it. It’s nice to know that it’s safe as well as symbolic.

Church Marketing Sucks, by the way, uses the issue as a jumping-off point to discuss the importance of churches recognizing potential fears and concerns and addressing them up front, clearly and compassionately. For example, churches might point out in the bulletin that the common cup is generally safe while, at the same time, asking those with potentially-contagious illnesses to behave responsibly.

Of course, this calls to mind the story from a few months ago about the 8-year-old Catholic who had a serious allergy to the wheat in a standard communion wafer. Church officials refused the family’s requests for an alternate wafer, drawing a storm of protest from both inside and outside the church. I’m all for holding on to eternal standards in the face of societal pressure, but this isn’t a Biblical or moral standard, just a church tradition. It’s not worth excluding an innocent little girl from the table of Christ.

Since I’m not Catholic, I don’t suppose I have any grounds to criticize the decision. It just seems wrong to me.