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THERE are special altar items used in churches to provide the body and blood of Jesus Christ to believers who participate in Holy Communion. The paten is a special plate that holds bread. Cups called “chalices” in many churches hold the wine. Often the chalice is used to fill cups as small as a bar room’s shot glasses before serving communion. We who taste that meal sometimes wonder about the miracle it does for Christians. When the sip is so little, how important can it be? To make this more understandable, think of the chalice as being like a cotter key that mechanics use. The name “cotter” comes from the old English term “cotterel”. Said to be originally invented in the days of ancient Greece and Persia to lock jewelry pieces together, two types of keys are primarily found in machinery. As experienced mechanics know, either can lock the rotation or position of a wheel, gear or nut to the shaft upon which it rides. The slotted-type cotter key fits into longitudinal grooves machined into two mating parts. The key is inserted into the two matching slots, rotationally locking them together. The cotter pin, however is designed differently. It is a split pin that goes |
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through a small hole drilled through the outboard end of an axle or wheel hub. When the pin is placed properly and locked in, it prevents the axle hub retaining nut from loosening. Thus it’s a safety device. The cotter pin retains the hub nut. This prevents such as the wheel bearing parts from getting loose. If they do get loose, the vehicle handling suffers. In automotive use, therefore, lives can be saved whenever an axle nut is correctly tightened and the key is properly installed. As a mechanic may easily see, the cups and paten on the altar in churches remind us of those cotter keys. Just sitting there they seem so small and insignificant. However, like cotter keys, we view them as important to our Christian baptismal safety. However, take note that a cotter pin needs to be harmed in order to work… bent into the proper shape. I’ve seen questions about just how the pin’s key ends should be bent in order to ensure that it will be kept from coming out. Communion bread being baked and torn apart... and the wine poured out... can be thought of similarly. Christians know that often the bread we eat from the paten and the wine that we drink beckons us into a mysterious, earth moving event. We place these small thanksgiving elements centered in our lives. Through them God provides |
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Cotter Key King! |
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forgiveness and ultimate safety as this world spins on its axis. How does this cotter key effect work whenever the right words are spoken on the bread and wine, so they also become the real body and blood of our Lord? It’s a mystery that we can only try to explain. You see, Jesus makes the elements become his body and blood. He gave us these communion elements, just before the his legs were bent upon the cross and then nails held his feet firmly in place. Mystically, and in reality, we participate in communion with God as we receive these two elements. |
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Cotter Keys |
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Cotter Pins |
