My friend Melanie linked to an interesting post about Orthodox Jews swinging chickens on Yom Kippur. The story is set in Brooklyn, NY where an Orthodox Jew can buy a chicken in the days before Yom Kippur, hold it by their wings and wave it three times above his head. While doing this he’s says the prayer of Kapparot. This prayer asks that his sins will be transferred to the bird and he will escape the divine punishment that he deserves. But,…
“The main part of the service,” he says, “is handing the chicken to the
slaughterer and watching the chicken being slaughtered. Because that is
where you have an emotional moment, where you say, ‘Oops, you know
what? That could have been me.’ “
No surprise, the story looks at the animal cruelty angle. This of course misses the point.
Yom Kippur is the ‘Day of Atonement’ with the central themes of atonement and repentance. Jews consider it the holiest day of the year and observe this holy day following strict prohibitions as outlined in Leviticus. There is approximently 25 hours of fasting and prayer as well as the additional prohibitions added through Jewish oral tradition (Mishnah). Yom Kippur is typically filled with a day full of services. These services remember back to the time when the Temple in Jerusalem stood and there was sacrificial worship. During sacrificial worship, sacrifices included two (daily) lambs, one bull, two goats, and two rams, with accompanying mincha (meal) offerings, wine libations, and three incense offerings (the regular two daily and an additional one for Yom Kippur). Jews look forward to the rebuilding of the temple, when they can once again make the sacrifices. So as Melanie asked, where does the chicken swinging come in, she doesn’t recall chickens being mentioned in the Torah (first five books of the Bible)? I thought, maybe, it’s a poor substitute for lambs, bulls, goats and rams? Which of course are not allowed in Brooklyn.
This brings me to the grape juice. In communion we remember (although communion is more then remembrance) the atonement. Christ’s once and for all sacrifice on the cross for our sins. His blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sins. Christ was the atoning sacrifice that all the temple rituals and all the sacrificial worship in the Old Testament pointed to. We remember the atonement as we eat the bread and drink the wine, until He comes again. The wine symbolizing Christ’s shed blood. Unlike the Jews, we are not waiting for the temple to be rebuilt and the sacrifices to be restored with a year after year ‘Day of Atonement’. Christ forever atoned for our sins, he is the new temple, the unblemished lamb that was slain, and the perfect sacrifice.
So why do we celebrate communion with grape juice? Why not wine? Is this like the chicken swinging of Orthodox Brooklyn Jews a poor substitute for a solemn occasion? What does your church use for communion, do you use wine? What are your thoughts?
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Communion