“Cup and Loaf"

1 Corinthians 11: 16: “Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?” This ‘cup of blessing’ and ‘bread we break’ is not just any old cup and bread. St. Paul is referring to one of the cups drunk at the Passover, and the unleavened bread eaten at the same meal. They had very specific roles of remembering Israel’s deliverance from the death angel and their exodus from Egypt, and pointing forward to the greater reality of the Promised Land ahead - the Kingdom of God. And this cup and bread - or, as it is now known, the body and blood of Christ - still fulfills this same role today (plus more), a remembering and a looking forward. How great the Sacrament instituted by Christ for us on this day!