Three Questions For You

[RZehr]

The Old Order Mennonites still serve wine at Communion. Year ago, In their churches the Bishop walked through the church and everyone sipped from a common cup that he carried. I am not sure if they still do that since Covid. The Deacon or another man walked behind the bishop with a pitcher to replenish the common cup. There was an instance where the Deacon had just replenished the cup and it was full. The Bishop gave the full cup to an intellectually challenged young lady for her sip, who misunderstood the protocol, and drank the full cup down in a few gulps. The expression on the Bishop's face was priceless.

Matthew 26:27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;

Sounds like she was just literally obeying. Drink ye all of it. It doesn’t say “drink ye a tiny sip of it”.

It’s sooo important that it be wine and not juice. But then few actually drink all of it. Everyone believes a sip is all that is needed.

[GoodGirl]

I guess that could be question 4..?

Are we supposed to drink all of it?
We always have extra, and usually the littler children finish it in the church kitchen later on.

(Juice, not wine~ we don’t let the children finish any wine. )

[Neto]

Speaking of "modesty of the torso", it was a question I never asked the Banawa men, but a subject I sort of wished they would have mentioned on their own - as to whether the "male interest" in that part of the female form was purely cultural, or if that is a 'universal' of human nature. Their traditional dress for women did not involve any covering of the upper body, but they also had a strict taboo of a man looking at a woman. Oh, and a few of the oldest women wore only a skirt, never a top of any kind, just maybe an old rag of a skirt around the shoulders when the bugs were especially bad. (I did once see a woman from another tribe out on our mission center, a tribe who wore no clothing or covering at all, not even the 'bark string apron' in front, and the 'bark tail' in the rear, as did the Banawa in earlier times. This woman was stark naked, walking up the road. I will say, however, that there was nothing 'sexual' or provocative in the way she 'carried herself'. Reminds me of a visiting short-term worker, and elderly man, who specifically asked me if the Banawa wore clothes, and when I told him that they do, told me that he was looking for a place where they didn't, to visit there, and take pictures. Yeah, we sometimes got some creeps that should have been "filtered out" before they came to the mission field. )

But I do still wonder, Is it a 'Western cultural thing' this preoccupation with the female upper body? (I personally think that it is more than that. And we can at least point to the "provocative OT book" as some evidence of the universality of it. Why is it so? That is a different question, one for Freud, I guess.)

[Josh]

People who think the wine in the cup literally becomes Jesus’ blood feel not a drop may be wasted or poured down the sink and thus every drop must be drunk. Anabaptists are not Eucharistic sacramentalists, but Catholics, Orthodox etc are.

Regarding Nero’s question - I feel that women feeding their babies used to be over sexualised in American culture. I think some plain people need to become more comfortable with the idea of women feeding their babies, and it is possible to do so modestly and discreetly.

[Neto]

People who think the wine in the cup literally becomes Jesus’ blood feel not a drop may be wasted or poured down the sink and thus every drop must be drunk. Anabaptists are not Eucharistic sacramentalists, but Catholics, Orthodox etc are.
...

The Bible college I attended had moved from the city (St. Paul) to outside of a small town (St. Bonifacius) only a few years before I went there, setting up in a building that they purchased from the Jesuits. (It had previously been a monastery.) Behind the chapel there was a small room, and there was a special sink with a dedicated drain system, just for any wine left after the ceremonies. (At least that's what i was told it was for. But of course it's possible that it was very seldom necessary to use it.)

[GoodGirl]

I didn’t even have this in mind when I posted, but yes… as a mother of a ‘large’ family… I think it’s sad for a young mom to go off & have to be alone to feed her little one the way God intended… when she may already be feeling sad from her hormones, and now she’s ’outcast’ too.

Outcast is too strong a word, but it’s sad to see ladies bottle-feeding simply because they didn’t want to be even more isolated as a new mom, you know?

(It can be different if there’s several new nursing moms & they can be alone together, but that’s not always the case.)

[Neto]

I didn’t even have this in mind when I posted, but yes… as a mother of a ‘large’ family… I think it’s sad for a young mom to go off & have to be alone to feed her little one the way God intended… when she may already be feeling sad from her hormones, and now she’s ’outcast’ too.

Outcast is too strong a word, but it’s sad to see ladies bottle-feeding simply because they didn’t want to be even more isolated as a new mom, you know?

(It can be different if there’s several new nursing moms & they can be alone together, but that’s not always the case.)

That's where the cape dress really 'shines', because it can be designed in such a way that people often will not even know that the child is being nursed.

[GoodGirl]

[/quote]

That's where the cape dress really 'shines', because it can be designed in such a way that people often will not even know that the child is being nursed.
[/quote]

Yes! Totally agree. I recommend the ‘smiley face’ cape dress pattern if they’re any new moms here!

[RZehr]

I guess that could be question 4..?

Are we supposed to drink all of it?
We always have extra, and usually the littler children finish it in the church kitchen later on.

(Juice, not wine~ we don’t let the children finish any wine. )

[Valerie]

I didn’t even have this in mind when I posted, but yes… as a mother of a ‘large’ family… I think it’s sad for a young mom to go off & have to be alone to feed her little one the way God intended… when she may already be feeling sad from her hormones, and now she’s ’outcast’ too.

Outcast is too strong a word, but it’s sad to see ladies bottle-feeding simply because they didn’t want to be even more isolated as a new mom, you know?

(It can be different if there’s several new nursing moms & they can be alone together, but that’s not always the case.)

Interesting. When I was a young Mom, nursing- I did not feel this way the least bit. It never occurred to me to feel anything but comfortable having that "alone" time feeding my baby, not at all like an outcast- never crossed my mind to feel that way