I stayed behind to make arrangements for the next few weeks. I will be holding a chalice at communion for the next two Sundays. This lead on to a discussion of what should happen if I spill it. Rod impressed on me, only half joking, the importance of not spilling it. He described how, in ‘really high’ Anglican circles, where he doctrines of sacramentalism are taken to their logical conclusion, if the wine is spilled it must be soaked reverently into a cloth. This is then paled in a bucket of water until all the wine has come out, and then the priest drinks it. He also described the differences between his position, based on Cranmer, and Rome. He did not ‘do magic’ or transubstantiation, but none the less the bread and wine is more than a symbol. On the other hand, it also requires faith on the part of the recipient. I put it to him that since the drain has no faith, it would not be sacred to the drain, and therefore no offence to the body and blood. Rod replied that the recipient’s faith is only part of the equation. At this point Bob suggested that the answer was to baptise a horse [to drink the bucket a a Christian]. Rod commended him for thinking ‘on the hoof’. Bob had to point out that the horse’s response would in any case be ‘neigh’. Later though, Rod pointed out the horse would have to be over 11 years old otherwise it would be subject to the assumed faith of the Godparent and its own faith would not really count. In fact in some churches it would have to be 15, by which time it would be an old nag and the alcohol might put it in heaven sooner than planned.
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