flu season
Image via RWW blog/YouTube
The Copeland family has a history of discouraging their followers from getting vaccinated. In 2013, Eagle Mountain International Church, a church in Newark, Texas founded by the Copelands, came under fire after a measles outbreak was linked to members of their church. Twenty-one people contracted measles after an unvaccinated person caught the disease overseas and visited the church.
Eucharist, Laurence Gough/ Shutterstock.com
So you’ve heard the flu shot is somewhat ineffective this year, and, though you have a normal immune system, you don't want to take the Eucharist from a common chalice.
Part of me kind of wants to slap you.
Obviously, that's not what Jesus would do. We know what Jesus did — he offered you his lifeblood, saying "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many." Ever after, Christians have taken wine and bread, a sacrament which binds us together in communion with other Christ-followers around the globe and through two millennia.
For the last few months, because my cancer treatment had decimated my immune system, I haven't been able to drink from the common chalice (or to eat most raw food, go to the movies, or get on the bus without a face mask). I really miss it. So I want to share two key insights I’ve had about the common Eucharistic cup.