What is worse, germs or sins?

I thought it might be time to revisit the chalice issue.  It has been now five years since Covid came upon the scene and exploited the fears in people to drive them from the cup to the cups.  It seems that enough time should have passed so that people would return to the cup and stop turning up their noses at the prospect of germs.  But, of course, that would presume that people were more concerned about sins than germs and I am sad to say that it is probably not the case.

We are squeamish people at least when it comes to germs.  Sins have become normal, usual, comfortable, and so we hardly notice them anymore.  Germs, on the other hand, are still worrisome and even though Covid is not quite on our radars, some do not want to take chances.  It would seem that it is easier to take a chance that God is not as serious about sin as He says He is than to presume that the cup is better than cups.  We are easy to spook.  A germ will set us off (or at least the prospect of one) far more than sin enters the conscience to make us concerned about our salvation.

For this reason, it is easier for us to swallow the things we know are wrong and God's Word says are wrong than it is for us to put the chalice to our lips.  I wish I understood this.  It happens even among good and decent Christian people.  We are so traumatized by germs that we will gladly accept sin without complaint more than we will swallow our fears and taste of the cup.  Perhaps the time will come when our itching ears no longer are tuned into the threats and fears of this mortal life most of all.  Perhaps the time will come when we will trust so in the Lord that we gladly and willingly confess privately our sins so that we may publicly feast upon the bread of heaven and the cup of salvation.  Perhaps the time will arrive when no fear can push us away from His cup but sins are taken so seriously that we must deal with them as soon as possible.

But why would God expect more of us than from every age and people before us?  Sin has always been too easy on the eye and so we get into trouble and germs have always made us nervous and so we invent ways of hiding behind our fears.  The worst thing about individual cups at the altar is what they imply -- that we are more concerned about germs than sins.  Until we fix this one, the cross will always be less about atonement than inspiration -- oh, that we loved with a love stronger than death, too!  Jesus did not die as an example.  He died as a Savior for a people who needed saving or they would die forever.  Germs did not prevent Him nor did the ick factor detour Him.  He set His face like flint for the cross because He knew what we really needed -- not an answer for the germs around us or in us but a Savior and salvation from the sins that will kill us eternally.