Together

We are making our way through a letter Paul wrote to Jesus followers in Corinth. Today, Paul calls us to be united.


1 Corinthians 11
17 But in the following instructions, I cannot praise you. For it sounds as if more harm than good is done when you meet together. 18 First, I hear that there are divisions among you when you meet as a church, and to some extent I believe it. 19 But, of course, there must be divisions among you so that you who have God’s approval will be recognized! 20 When you meet together, you are not really interested in the Lord’s Supper. 21 For some of you hurry to eat your own meal without sharing with others. As a result, some go hungry while others get drunk. 22 What? Don’t you have your own homes for eating and drinking? Or do you really want to disgrace God’s church and shame the poor? What am I supposed to say? Do you want me to praise you? Well, I certainly will not praise you for this!


Together. In each of our weekend services, we offer what we call Communion (or the Lord’s Supper). For us, it includes a small piece of bread and a small cup of grape juice. For the early church, the Lord’s Supper took place in the context of an entire meal. In both experiences, they are/were meant to be times of remembering for Jesus followers .... remembering Jesus’ sacrifice, God’s grace, our gratitude ... and the unity of the church. I love the quote David K. Lowery wrote in response to this passage, “The early Church was the one place in all the ancient world where the barriers which divided the world were down. ... A Church where social and class distinctions exist is no true Church at all. A real Church is a body of men and women united to each other because all are united to Christ.”