Survey: Have you ever washed communion cups?

[singing with drums]

I remember when I was a kid, helping my mom, thinking that they were like doll dishes. There was a big closed strainer of some kind, in which they cups were swished around in a sink of hot soapy water, then they were drained and rinsed in the same strainer. After that, I don't remember.
By the way, hello again. I have been away.

[singing with drums]

We did switch to plastic disposable at some point.

[Sean]

yes, it was awesome to finally get old enough to be able to handle the little glass cups. And then set them all in perfectly spaced rows on a towel for drying. One place even had a chart posted on the wall about how many and where cups were to be loaded in the trays. And woe to the one that did not follow the cup placement pattern...Mister Billy would let you know right after services. One place we were at was fancy enough to have a fridge to keep opened juice bottles.

And you had to be sure and dust that bread plate doily off. We had gold foil doilies and they would curl up during the week if you didn't turn them face down after you cleaned the bread trays. Again...Mister Billy would let you know if you didn't turn the doily over. sheesh there were a lot of rules.

[B.H.]

Do you think Billy went to heaven or hell?

[Ivy]

The doily!!!! I remember the doily!!!

I think it was white paper, not gold. And I bet we used a new one every week, since the brethren's dirty fingers had touched
all over it.

[Ivy]

Do you think Billy went to heaven or hell?

He might have gone to heaven IF he got treated for his OCD. If he was so concerned about the placement of the cups and
doilies, then he should have been doing the cup washing himself.

[tifarmer]

I remember times when they sat so long at my house that they grew mold. Yuck. But I would wash and sterilize in the dishwasher.

You could have given the brethren botulism!!!!!

Mold? I remember you. Botulism? In the True Church of the 50s in South Texas, we laughed in your face.

Our grandmother (preacher's wife) instructed us to pour the (apparently--sometimes couldn't tell*) unused cups back into the grape juice bottle before washing up. The church house had a sink but no fridge. So the bottle, normally stored in the fridge at my grandparents' home, was off refrigeration for several hours every Sunday morning. For evening services, we kept a couple of leftover little cups from morning services just in case someone showed up for communion--so those were off refrigeration all day. That'd teach ya to attend services at the scriptural time.

The congregation was very small (narrow way, straight gate, y'know, and few there be that find it), so it took several weeks to use up a quart. During warm months, the stuff would often grow a head of green mold in the bottle. But we kept using it. Waste not, want not.

*The funky, somewhat fermented grape juice developed a different taste, of course. Which meant several of the members would just take a tiny sip of the the grape juice. Which meant increased confusion at washing-up time about whether a particular cup should be poured back into the bottle.

Grandfather was a chiropractor and food faddist and graphoanalyst and shorthand expert and Bible Scholar as well as being a CoC preacher, so he was a Recognized Authority on All Things. If he said The moldy Fruit of the Vine was OK, it was OK.

Good thing we hadn't discovered pandemics back then.

[Ivy]

Ewwww!!!

[SolaDude]

I hope you all IMMERSED your cups when you washed them or you are looking at hell fire.

[B.H.]

You know in the Bible there were laws dealing with a house that had fungus growing in it and how to deal with it. If the fungus didnt stop they had to tear the house down.

I'm sure that mold or fungus growing on the communion bottle was merit enough to throw it away and get another. Why save a bottle but teardown a house?

Not picking on the grandfather, I'm sure he was a good man but suffered from little education due to the times but I had a neighbor that lived to be 97 and he died back in 2007. My father was a teacher and he came up and asked my dad a question one time that i in all my 10 year old foolishness and young'in ignorance knew the answer to in kindergarten. He said that he went out at night to do something and went back in. He went back out a few hours later and the stars had moved in the sky. He didnt know why and was rather worried about it. My father kinda winced like he would do to appear deep in thought when he was really trying to not bust a gut laughing. I knew the look and paid close attention but was rather somber so as not to offend anyone. He explained to my neighbor that the earth turns on an axis and that is why the stars appeared to move. My neighbor was relieved because he thought something bad was happening. When our neighbor was safely out of earshot dad and i both giggled but he told me not to ever bring it up with him he didnt know something so basic.

Here is my question. I know we are raised to respect our elders and when we are really little and dont know much that is wise but I wonder how much damage an ignorant but well meaning elder could cause his/her kids or grandkids . I mean if you did not know mold might be bad or that the earth didnt rotate what else might you not know and cause some serious harm?