"TO LIFE!" 1 Corinthians 10:16; John 10:10

Coming out of the depression and prohibition era as devout Christians my family was not a drinking family. I don't remember ever seeing my parents drink an alcoholic beverage. Frances and I continued the no-drinking policy as we raised our children. I don't regret that policy and would do it over again, for several reasons which I will not go into here. However, I realize now that by not having a glass of wine with our meal, or with friends on special occasions, we may have missed out on a rich and universal custom. Henri Nouwen describes it this way:

"After a meal the win is poured. No one drinks until all are served. Then all lift their cups, look each other in the eye, and offer a toast. It is a universal [and old] custom. In Latin the toast is "prosit," -- "be well;" in German, "zum wohl," -- "to your well being;" in English, "cheers;" in Polish, "sto lat," -- "a hundred hears;" in Ukrainian, "na zdornia," -- "to your health;" and in Hebrew, "L Chaim," -- "to life!" (Can You Drink The Cup, 57).

The Hebrew toast is an old one, but I don't know how old. I have wondered if it was the custom in Jesus' day to lift the cup and say, "to life!" We do know that the in the Passover meal there were traditionally four cups of wine that were lifted. In the upper room as Jesus and his disciples ate the Passover meal the third cup came, as Luke says, "after supper," and was called "the cup of blessing" in Jewish tradition. When Jesus held it before them Luke says that he added this distinct meaning: "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood."

When Paul referred to it in 1 Corinthians 10:16 he used the Jewish phrase, "the cup of blessing." Peterson's The Message translates it this way: when we drink the cup of blessing, aren't we taking into ourselves the blood, the very life of Jesus? Paul must have called it the cup of blessing, not only because it was traditional, but because it had this meaning for him -- that we are taking into ourselves the very life of Jesus.

Would it not be appropriate, then, for us to take the cup, hold it up, look into each other's eyes and say, "to life!"

To life without guilt!

To life without fear!

To life without end!

As Jesus himself said, I came that you may have life, and have it abundantly" (John 10:10). Now, as I lift this cup of blessing, will you say it with me: "To Life!" ----- Yes, to Life with a capital "L".