Non-alcoholic wine

[davejonescue]

All that you say is true, and gracious, and kind. But Lord willing I'll shepherd my future church not to use an amalgamative liquid.

I don't think you will find much of an issue there. I don't drink, mainly because I like getting drunk and high, and I am not particularly fond of the taste of alcoholic beverages outside this endeavor (as comparative to other beverages.) And, I consider a light buzz nothing more than a bunk high. Meaning, it is torture rather than pleasure for me to try and meter myself within the framework of glad-heartedness and drunkenness, and it sucks any enjoyment I would get by the need of such attentiveness not to overstep the boundary. Much easier for me to regularly drink something else. But in the context of communion, like most people in this generation, even most Baptists, I have no problem with wine being used, and have been in churches where that is the custom, and partook the same as I do with grape juice in other churches. There will most likely be many people in your congregation over the years whose only alcoholic consumption is communion. And that is OK. We are not to judge those who refrain, or partake; as each answers to their master alike.

 

[Edward]

I'm really suspicious of all these "studies" showing how bad even a tiny bit is for you as well, btw. Very convenient.

Personal anecdote on 'studies':

Many decades ago, in an earlier century, I participated in a WCTU (are they still around) essay contest "Alcohol, Your Brain and Your Body". I got admission to the hospital's medical library and wrote what I thought was a well researched (for a high school student in the paper and notecard days) paper on the beneficial effects of moderate alcohol consumption on brain function in the aging. I didn't win the scholarship for some reason (my high school girlfriend did, she went to a mainstream Baptist megachurch).