by Julian Greene

Created on: May 25, 2008

I recall once feeling scandalized when a United Methodist Chaplain told me that Communion (the lower Protestant Church expression of the Eucharist) could be legitimate using Coke and a potato chip. But having come a long, long way in my thinking since then, I understand where she was coming from.

Many religionists who have studied world religions and still retain a spiritual practice of their own will tell you, "Any symbol set works." That goes for many more things as well, but we'll confine this discussion to the elements of the Eucharist.

The question itself is a bit out of kilter because no Catholic would ever use bread and grape juice for the Eucharist, and there's a huge difference between the Eucharist in the Catholic and Protestant Churches. The Catholic Eucharist is considered a vehicle of grace; the Protestant Eucharist is not.

While the theological implications are radical, the form of the symbols themselves seem much less important. I remember when, as a Chaplain's assistant in the Air Force, I discovered that the wine used at Mass is strictly priest preference. Hitherto I had only seen red wine used, but the particular priest I was serving at that moment preferred white. Huh? I thought it was supposed to represent the blood of Christ. But my little Protestant understanding of "representation" was where I went wrong. Now understanding the concept of transubstantiation - what difference would it make if it were red wine or white, or grape juice, or Coke? It is the prayers and intentions of the priest in accordance with God's will that cause the element to be changed into the Blood of Christ, not the substance itself.

Some congregations receive the Body and Blood of Christ both only in the bread alone nowdays, principally to avoid the spread of disease through the sharing of a common cup. If a piece of bread or a "host" can be turned into the blood of Christ, why couldn't grape juice?

The element simply does not matter. Transubstantiation is a quantum event. It is the classic definition of magic: "causing change in conformity with will." Of course, in this instance, it is in conformity with the will of God. It has little to do with the will of the priest because many priests are not worthy to perform it, not in a state of grace themselves, or not believing what they are really doing. But that doesn't affect the act because it is the will of God with which we are concerned.

So yes, Coke and a potato chip would do. And there just might be some circumstance warranting that. Rather than a flippant act, consider a dying Catholic in a foxhole somewhere, and the Chaplain has lost his kit. Would the Chaplain refuse him the Eucharist because he didn't have the right elements? No, he would use whatever was at hand with the faith that God would make the necessary change.

Learn more about this author, Julian Greene.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.