I love studying liturgical history! I love finding out how our conceptions about worship are simply wrong-headed. Most people, especially conservative Reformed types, would say that a “common cup” at communion is an “Anglican” thing, or even worse, a relic of “Romanism.” Well, it seems that the Scottish Presbyterians used a common cup:
“The tradition of the Presbyterian Church is that the large common cup or chalice be passed from hand to hand, and the bread also be passed from communicant to communicant, each one breaking the bread to his neighbor. This is sometimes said to symbolize the priesthood of all believers. Unfortunately in many churches the practice of the individual cup has been introduced on the grounds that the common cup brings the danger of infection. As a symbol it is very much inferior to the common cup, but once introduced it is very hard to expel.”[1]
[1] David Cairns, “The Holy Communion in the Presbyterian Churches,” in Hugh Martin, ed., The Holy Communion: A Symposium, (London: SCM Press LTD, 1947), 72.
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