Wine vs. Grape Juice

I am currently reading (at a suitably slow and comfortable pace for such a delicious book) "A Mapmaker's Dream".  This is one of those books I refuse to rush, since it is littered with thought-provoking gems buried every few paragraphs.  I don't want it to end, so I am just leaving it lying around, and pick it up every once in a while, preferably with a glass of Pinot Noir in hand.

One sentence made me catch my breath, since it so artistically captures a thought that I have been mulling for several years:

"Our thoughtfulness is integral to the observation of a porpoise frolicking at our bow, since it alone determines the level of joy we might feel.  The sound of Saint Mark's bells pealing across the water at dusk is less the sound of clappers against brass, either; it is the echo of an invitation being extended to all of us to participate in something deeply imagined."

I would add to that thought, this: while the peal of St. Mark's bells is more than clappers against brass, it is no less.  The more deeply imagined a thing is, the more readily we delight in the instrument itself that calls us to remember and imagine again.  And also, if the instrument is well suited to the occasion, so much the better.  Here I am thinking of taking the Lord's Supper with pasteurized grape juice, instead of the more richly redolent symbolism of the wine that the Lord [suggested] (?)  If Saint Mark's bells echoing peals are a call to a place deeply imagined, then clappers against a well-crafted brass bell is much better suited to the occasion than a ball of tin foil hitting a plastic cup.

The Wine and the Bread remind me that I am acknowledging my dependence on the death of the God/man for my redemption.  If I am not careful, grape juice can derail me toward thinking about Mr. Welch's tee-totalling agenda instead of ever more deeply imagining the significance of His sacrifice for me.

"Taste and see" we are told.  "Put your finger into my side" the Lord commanded Thomas.  "Drink the wine, and eat this bread" we are told.  A God who created us knows that our embedded senses invite us to participate in something higher up and further in.  Let's not discount the importance of the proper clapper and the well-tuned brass.

In vino veritas? Perhaps.