Sensing the Way into Worship

Filming Much Ado About Nothing (2012) in black and white worked for Joss Whedon–in minimizing the visual input he managed to accentuate the drama. But this technique doesn’t always work, especially when it comes to worship. 

Reading through the Bible, I get the distinct impression that God means to impress the Gospel on our senses. In foreshadowing Jesus’s death on the cross, God told the Israelites to smear lamb blood on their door posts (Exodus 12:1-13).  At Mount Sinai, Moses showered the people with bulls’ blood as a sign of God’s covenant with them (Exodus 24:3-8). During the Last Supper, Jesus invited his followers to drink wine, stating that it was the new covenant in his blood (Luke 22:20). 

Photo courtesy of CreationSwap via Creationswap.com

My childhood church offered grape juice at communion, so I remember (quite clearly) my first sip of vino at a cousin’s church. A streak of warm flowed down my throat and nestled into my empty belly. A couple minutes later a soft fizz started dancing in my brain. Physically speaking, that one sip changed me. 

Jesus’ blood also changes me–he entered and enveloped me, he fused his Spirit with my deepest self. Then, over the days, months, and years, his love and joy have bubbled up.

Since wine resembles blood, I think it’s safe to say that Jesus’ selection of it for communion wasn’t arbitrary. But, I wonder if he chose wine for more than its redness. Perhaps what a sip of wine does to our bodies pictures, in a small way, our transformation as we’re united with Jesus–the very thing that communion represents. 

It seems to me that God means to impress the Gospel, not just in our minds, but also in our senses. 

Question: What other sensory experiences have helped you understand some truth in the Bible or in your relationship with God?