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- You will need bread ... any kind of bread: a hotdog bun, a piece of sliced bread, a biscuit, a dinner roll, pita bread, a tortilla. Theologically speaking, the best kind of bread to use would be unleavened bread, but legalism is not the watch-word here.
- You will need wine or grape juice. At the Last Supper, which was a Passover Seder, Jesus and his Disciples were drinking wine ... simple, common, fermented grape juice. It wasn't a fortified wine, high in alcoholic content, so if you're going to use one of these wines at the Eucharist it's ok if you would like to cut it with a little water. If, out of a concern over the use of alcohol (or for any other reason), you're going to be using unfermented grape juice, this is certainly acceptable. However, you should realize that Jesus and his disciples used "the real thing." Also, you should realize that the instant you open the bottle of grape juice it began fermenting. You might not be able to smell or taste the alcohol, but it's there and it's growing. There are good reasons if one wishes to partake of the Eucharist with grape juice; judgement in either direction misses the point of the Sacrament.
- You will need faith in Jesus Christ. By faith I do not mean just "belief." For belief to become faith it must be put into action; there is no such thing as a passive faith that saves. Even the simple affirmation "I believe in Jesus" is an action ... it requires mental assent and verbal action. To partake of Holy Communion you must do so discerning, by faith, the Real Presence of Jesus and his almighty grace.
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