Pastor's Weekly Musing

August 7, 2025

This is the first installment of the new “Ask a Pastor” series. Leave your written question in the box labeled in the narthex.

Dear Pastor,      Why do we drink grape juice during Holy Communion?

Sincerely,    Didn’t Jesus Drink Wine?

Dear Didn’t Jesus Drink Wine,

You are right; Jesus did drink wine. The first miracle was turning water into wine at the wedding at Cana (John 2). One is not called a “glutton and drunkard” (Matt 11:19) for imbibing Welch’s.

The original Last Supper was during Passover, which traditionally includes wine. However, we use grape juice at Chapel in the Pines because we want everyone to be able to join the party and receive Communion. This includes children and youth under the age of 21, although I will say that, at my in-laws’ Episcopal Church, they allow kids to receive the cup of wine. But my daughter promptly spat it out on the ground—not a great look!

Thomas Bramwell Welch (1825–1903) was a Methodist pastor whose faith led him to be an abolitionist and a prohibitionist. He looked like this:

Welch participated in the Underground Railroad. Specifically for the Lord’s Supper, Welch innovated a pasteurization process for grape juice, which allowed the beverage to keep without fermentation.

While I am not a teetotaler, I know several friends who practice sobriety. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians comes to mind, where he said he could eat meat sacrificed to idols but refrains “so that I will not cause others to fall.” John Calvin put it positively: the Lord’s Supper is “a bond of love” among believers. We want everyone to be able to participate. That’s the best look: the church at its holiest communing.

Read Andrew’s Little Big Moments essay “Sunflower Prayer” HERE