A Kindly Caution for Now I Corinthians 11:

A Kindly Caution for Now

In Corinth, the early Christians began having common meals together before the Lord's Supper, and they began to confuse eating and Communion and Christian fellowship with gluttony.

In I Corinthians 11: 17-35 (The Lord's Supper), Paul attempts to caution his beloved church against such spiritual carelessness and error.  Confusing physical and spiritual was not pleasing to the Lord:

"When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat, for as you eat, each of you 
goes ahead without waiting for anybody else.  One remains hungry; another gets drunk.  
Don't you have homes to eat and drink in?  Or do you despise the church of God and 
humiliate those who have nothing?  What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this?
Certainly not!"  I Corinthians 11: 20-22 NIV
 
After a careful description of the Holy Communion, a sacrament, that Jesus began at the Last Supper as a remembrance of Him, Paul admonishes:  "Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord."
 
Paul urges self-examination, discipline, and reverence in the taking of Communion and concludes:  "So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other.  If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment."
I Corinthians 11: 33-34
 
As one prepares one's physical body for worship, the common needs should be cared for at home or in advance so that the worshipper is prepared to focus on the spiritual aspects of worship at church or elsewhere.  We strive to worship in "spirit and truth."

Today, as so many churches begin to install cafes and have eating and drinking amenities before church, Paul's cautions become urgently compelling again.  Dragging drinks and donuts into the sanctuary or leftovers into worship is not pleasing in the sight of the Lord.  Confusion of physical and spiritual activities is still an error!

If the twenty-first century Christian church begins to accommodate too much from secular or pop culture into worship services, there is a high probability that the churches of our Lord Jesus Christ will become weak, ineffective, and sickly.

…..Mary-Ellen Grisham (meginrose@gmail.com) by way of “Christian Voices” (ChristianVoices@att.net)