worship tricks [first series]

no 49 : the real thing

a couple of weeks back i was raving about adbusters and mentioned that james trafford from l8r, an alternative worship community in north west london, had got a letter published. well finally i've got round to quoting a bit of it as worship trick 49...

We sit in a circle and pass around a glass of Coca-Cola, each sipping some as we read these words: 'Is this the blood of Christ, or the blood of bottlers mysteriously disappeared in Coca-Cola's Columbian plants in Union battles? Or is it the blood of malnourished babies, after Zambian mothers are convinced by glossy advertising that Coca-Cola is the best thing to feed their children? Or perhaps the blood of malnourished teenagers in Rio who became vitamin deficient after drinking too much coke? Maybe it symbolises our blood rotted away by the 13 lumps of sugar in a 330ml can, and an acidity strong enough to dissolve teeth and bones. Coca-Cola, The Real Thing.'

We pass a glass of water around the group, each taking some as we read these words: 'Water is the real thirst quencher, source of life and well being. 'I am the water of life' a man said over 2000 years ago, but was his water prepackaged, patented, privatised and paid for? This purity, this necessity for survival is out of reach of 200 million people. This number will double in the next 20 years... This water then also has the taste of blood, yet this is perhaps the real thing, reminding us that we need to commit to the substantial, the necessities of life in a struggle for the real thing to become reality.'