Most churches have their unique ways of conferring a blessing upon their faithful followers. But various methods cut across most of the church. For example, the use of wheat, water, oil, and wine is a common way of conferring blessing upon the faithful members. The reason is that the objects mentioned above are believed to have a significant meaning since the Old Testament days. This paper will elaborate some of the primary reasons why the church today is fond of employing these natural objects from the natural world to conduct activities that bestow blessings upon the members. It will also highlight the role of the church in the preservation and maintenance of the natural environment.
To start with oil, oil is generally recognized as a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Looking at Luke 4:18, one will get a better understanding of the link between oil and the Holy Spirit. It states, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set to liberty those who are oppressed…" From this scripture, it is clear that there is a direct link between "The Spirit of the Lord" and the anointing oil. The significance of the oil is that it physically represents the Holy Spirit being given to Jesus to empower Him to perform miracles and to advance the Kingdom of God here on earth. Many churches, therefore, use the oil to bless people as a symbol of the Holy Spirit through whom Christians can walk in the ways of God and consequently receive His blessings.
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Another thing to note about the olive oil is that the Bible has used the olive tree many times to symbolize beauty, prosperity, and peace (Coker, 2017). The process of getting oil from the olive fruit involves using a great weight to crush the fruit for it to produce the oil. Since the fruit tastes bitter, it is the crushing that usually removes the bitterness. This can be likened with how Jesus Christ, who came to save the world was crushed as He bore the weight and burden of sins for the whole world. The crushing of Jesus Christ means that today He is the anointing oil that brings healing to human beings. The book of James 5:14-15 records that if anyone is sick, he or she should call the elders of the church, to pray for him and also anoint him with oil. The use of oil is therefore very powerful, and many Christians testify that indeed there is a blessing in being anointed with oil.
Wine is another come thing used during various church functions. In the olden days, it used to be a necessity and not a luxury as it is today. It symbolizes life and sustenance. When used together with oil and grain, wine would represent the covenant blessings the Lord God promised the Israelites if they were to obey His commandments. In the New Testament, wine symbolizes the blood that Jesus shed at the cross. During the last supper, Jesus gave His disciples a cup of wine to share, and He ordained them to continue doing so to commemorate His blood. Finally, wine also symbolizes festivity, celebration, and joy hence expressing the abundance of God's blessings.
Talking of the grain, the grain together with wine is used for the Holy Communion. It signifies the body of Christ as well as the blood He shed on the cross. Bread is made using either grains or wheat which are crushed and beaten to form dough (Kreglinger, 2016). The process of making bread is equaled to the tough moments, humiliation, embarrassment, pain and suffering that Jesus went through as He was being crucified. Jesus Christ is thus the bread of life, and that is why the grain and the wheat are very significant during blessings conferment.
Having seen the significance of objects from the natural world that the church uses to confer a blessing, it goes without saying that the church is compelled to be in the front line when it comes to environmental preservation. Not only does the church need to preserve the environment because of their need for the objects mentioned above, but also because of the belief that God is the creator of the world and everything that lives in it. When God created man, He put him in the Garden of Eden and assigned him with a responsibility to till and cultivate that land. It was the duty of man to maintain the garden and take good care of all the vegetation in that garden. Today the church is obliged to support the government to promote environmental preservation as a way of honoring God as well as sustaining life for humanity and also all the other living things.
In conclusion, it is evident that objects in the natural world such as wheat, oil, grain, and water are usually used in church services to confer a blessing due to their significance since the Old Testament days. They are not objects that were just initialized through the wisdom of men, but it is God himself who ordained their use since the beginning. Most of these objects were later adopted in the New Testament by Jesus himself and therefore the church today is compelled to follow in the same steps.
References
Coker R. (2017). The rice cake we bake: rethinking the traditional use of bread and wine for the Eucharistic meal in light of cross-cultural contexts . WHEATON WRITING: A journal of academic, journals.wheaton.edu
Kreglinger GH. (2016). The spirituality of wine . Books.google.com
