Community and the Christian have something of a love-hate relationship. Most of us long to be part of a vibrant, immersive, community of love built around Jesus and the gospel. We also, however, want to be left alone. We don’t want to be bothered with the needs of others, nor do we want our failures to be known. Believers want relationship, and to save face. We want vulnerability and invulnerability. Christians complain about loneliness then commit ourselves to a church where we are unknown. We have a hunger that needs to be satisfied inexorably tied to a fear that needs to be exorcised.
Casting Out Fear
Which means we need to get over it. Once we acknowledge the reality of our fears, and look them in the eye, equipped with the gospel, we can move past them. After that, well, that’s when it gets complicated. Whether you embrace an understanding of the Bible that drives a wedge between the Old and New Testaments or affirm the organic unity of the whole, one tool that God has given us to bring us together as a people is… now don’t freak out on me, remember we truly have nothing to fear in Christ… shared meals.
Old Covenant Meals
In the Old Covenant, the great bulk of the ceremonial law is devoted to two things- the sacrificial system and God’s mandated holy days. What do they have in common? Shared meals. Sacrifices did not end with the death of the animal. They did not end with the burning of the animal on the altar. They ended with the priest sitting down with the family to eat. The holy days were called neither holy days nor holidays. Rather they were called feasts. God’s people were commanded to come together to feast several times each year.
New Covenant Meals
In the New Covenant Jesus gave us as a sacred memorial of His death for us, a meal. Nothing complex or elaborate. Bread, and wine. He called us to eat together. Consider as well how many of the parables of Jesus had to do with feasting, and those who would refuse to come. Even the climax of human history is, ironically, not merely the glorious wedding of the Groom and His bride, the church. No, it is the wedding FEAST that we look forward to, that we receive a foretaste of at the Lord’s Table.
Finally, in the New Covenant, the sign of being cut off from the community was to be excommunicated, to be removed from that table. Remember as well that a man not given to hospitality is not a man who should be an elder.
Shared Meals, Shared Lives
Do you think maybe there might be something powerful, important, fruitful, unifying, edifying about sharing a meal together? Do you think we’ve lost much in first relegating the Lord’s Supper to a few times a year, and growing churches beyond our capacity to know each other?
We don’t need another program, another para-church ministry with a mission to create community. We need to invite people into our homes and to our tables and to joyfully accept such invitations from others. Shared lives mean sharing the stuff of live, the meals He sets before us. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a lunch with a new brother to get to. Community, friends, isn’t something you find. It’s something you build, and invite others to.
This is the forty-fifth installment of an ongoing series of pieces here on the nature and calling of the church. Stay tuned for more. Remember also that we at Sovereign Grace Fellowship meet this Sunday May 18 at 10:30 AM at our new location, our beautiful farm at 11281 Garman Road, Spencerville, IN. Please come join us. Also note that tonight we conclude our Bible study on issues dividing the church, tonight considering dispensationalism and covenant theology.