January 17, 1995

Dear John Barr,

And accepting a cup he gave thanks and said: Take this and pass it from one to the other among yourselves (Luke 22:17).
You take this and you distribute into selves (KI, Luke 22:17).
Also he took a cup and having given thanks, he gave it to them, saying: Drink out of it, all of you (Matt 26:27).
And taking a cup he gave thanks and gave it to them, and they all drank out of it (Mark 14:23).

These 3 scriptures make the simple point that the cup was given only to partakers at the first memorial. But they do more than this. The accounts of the last supper exist as definitions of how future memorials should be celebrated, not merely as historical acounts of the first celebration. The commands are therefore valid for all memorials, including ones at which Greeks are present. At these modern memorials 'all of you' (Matt 26:27) obviously refers to the partakers only and therefore 'among yourselves' (Luke 22:17) likewise refers to partakers only. Therefore the cup should be passed among partakers only.

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of the Christ (1 Cor 10:16).

'We' must refer to the sharers in his blood, the covenanters. The covenanters should therefore bless and pass the cup exclusively. As I have argued before, an unbaptised (in water) brother cannot say a blessing on behalf of the baptised (in water) brothers in a congregation. Likewise a non-anointed brother cannot say a blessing on behalf of anointed brothers. But at the memorial this is what he is doing, the blessing is not on behalf of the great crowd, it is on behalf of the partakers that may be present.

The Vision is this: The human body has billions of cells, but let us say it has 144,000. The these 144,000 cells have a blood supply that feeds each one of them once each time the heart beats pushing the blood around the body. At the memorial all of the cells of Jesus spiritual body should have this blood passed around from one to another, right around his whole body, even the heavenly brothers do this, because even though they are angels, they are still covenanters. Jesus' heart beats once a year, his blood is moved once a year, at the memorial, it is a beautiful symbolism. This blood should not be passed around some dead cells of non-anointed people who are no part of the body. Such an error is in effect a blood tranfusion of Jesus' blood to members of the great crowd and even to interested ones. And it is not only the wine in the cup which is blessed, it is the 'cup of blessing' itself that is blessed, and dirty hands are all over this cup. The flesh, the bread, should not be passed around from one to another, for the flesh does not go round the body, only the blood does this, the bread is the body. This is why the bread is eaten first, it's to establish the body around which the blood will then be passed, or flow.

The bread should be passed directly from the blessor to each individual partaker only, not via another partaker. It was Jesus that broke the loaf, the one that blessed it, actually into at least 11 pieces, the disciples themselves were not said to do this:

He took a loaf, said a blessing, broke it, and gave it to them (Mark 14:22).

Partakers do not break the loaf for themselves, the blessor should do this, the one standing in for Jesus. I am duty bound to inform you that you are sinning against the one and only obligation that you have in your covenant, namely to celebrate the memorial as commanded. Keep doing this in remembrance of me (Luke 22:19).

Yours faithfully

Gordon Ritchie