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Wine or grape juice at Communion?

At my first church, St Paul's Brussels, and the churches where I served for 15 years in Russia, Communion was celebrated with proper wine, as was the custom in the Old Testament, and is the custom in Judaism. 

I cannot remember when I first participated in Communion and it was grape juice. It came as a bit of surprise. The taste is much more watery, and the experience likewise. As I will argue below, almost inevitably the change in the element (from wine to grape juice) changes what is communicated. 

I do understand that many brothers and sisters in our churches have a history with problem drinking and risk a relapse if Communion were celebrated with alcoholic wine. Some American missionaries I encountered in Russia actually considered it an issue of conscience NOT to celebrate communion with wine. 

My Protestant/evangelical instinct on these things is to go back to the Bible. What was used to celebrate the Passover and later Communion? 

Clearly, the "fruit of the vine" was wine. The reason the new wine requires new wineskins is the process of fermentation. In Luke 7, when Jesus is accused (wrongly) of being a winebibber it is clearly not a penchant for grape juice of which he is being accused. In relation to Jesus' first miracle at Cana, I have yet to hear a convincing interpretation of John 2:10 based on it being grape juice.  

The simplest thing, surely, is to celebrate communion with non-alcoholic wine. For those who are unsure, an alternative of grape juice could be offered. 

So, why is this a big deal? 

Well, the form we choose to do things always says something about what we think of it. 

If I retained the present translation of the Bible, but instead of a hardback bound book, used print outs in an usual font such as Curlz MT, it would still be God's word, but implicitly I would be taking that word less seriously. Likewise, if I added bubble bath to the water in the baptismal font, it would still be water, and the requirements of baptism met, but implicitly I would be dishonouring what the Lord had ordained as the sign for entry into the visible church and confirmation of the blessings of salvation. Likewise with Communion. n my own Baptist tradition, the quantity of water and the form of baptising is considered very important. The same should be true of the elements used for the Lord's Supper. 

When we celebrate communion with watery grape juice, we risk saying, "I can change this and it won't matter." 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, about participating in the body and blood of Christ, is still true with grape juice, but more convincingly if we actually follow what the Bible says. 

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