To Dip or To Sip

I know when I was confirmed, I was taught to sip from the cup.  I even remember my grandmother telling me what her mother told her: "Only let the wine barely touch your lips.  No gulping!" (This was followed by an anecdote that I will keep in the family).  For as many years as I can remember, though, I have been an intinctor.  That is, instead of eating the bread and then sipping the wine, I dip the bread in the wine.

Today, though, I knew I had to change.

The archbishop - who also happens to be the Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia, and (given that I attend the cathedral) partakes regularly in the same eucharist - issued an Ad Clerum recently regarding the practice of intinction.  For various reasons, both theological and hygienic, we are being asked to eradicate this practice.  I began this for hygienic reasons - you know when you have a cold and don't want to spread all those lovely germs around?  Hmm.  However, I have heard a number of stories of fingertips making it into the wine (shudder).  A number more reasons, and I had started thinking I should start to consider sipping instead.

I am on the cathedral council, and we were asked as a council to be good examples in this regard.  So I knew, today, I had to revert to sipping.  This was another example (like right-footed running) that I needed to rehearse first - just a little run-through in private - and throughout the service I had to remind myself to sip.  Eat the bread, then sip.  I remembered - woohoo! - and coordination was not a problem - another woohoo!  I had forgotten, though, how much wine you get in a sip as opposed to a bit of wafer dipped in wine.  Whoa.  But next time I will be prepared.  It will probably be quite a few more Sundays before I can stop reminding myself though.