1 Corinthians 11:20-22
So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers.As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter!
What makes eating bread and drinking juice the Lord’s Supper? It is not the food itself but the presence of God in the community. The Corinthians were using the Lord’s Supper as a time to gorge themselves, neglecting the community of believers. They were being individuals when the Supper calls for community. The Supper puts all believers on the same level: as people desperate for the grace of God. When individualism becomes the motive, the Supper loses its significance. I wonder if many American churches have missed the community aspects of the Lord’s Supper. We often use our individual cups and small thin wafers. We isolate ourselves from others in our pews. The mechanism or style we partake of the Lord’s Supper is not as important as remembering one another in the partaking. The Supper ought to be an opportunity to share and grow in love, and not a time when people feel like they don’t belong or no one cares.
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