1 Cor. 11:17-34 7.14.19
It was a community meal, a tradition in Greek culture, very familiar across much of the Roman empire in the first days of the Christian church. So the church in Corinth, made up of Greeks and not Jews, included the Lord’s Supper when they gathered for a community meal. It reminds me of the way we have been celebrating the Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples on Maundy Thursday for the last several years, gathered around tables, with a shared dinner that includes the breaking of the symbolic bread and the drinking of the symbolic cup as a part of the community meal.
It also reminds me of our pot-luck dinners, where all come together to gather around a common table, each one offering some part of the meal. But then it doesn’t. Because this practice in Corinth did not make room for all at the table. Continue reading “Communion: The Backstory—Early Church Roots”
