A Deeper Look at The Foundations and
Implications of Our
Weekly Meal
Communion is at the heart of who God is. After
all, God
himself is a fellowship, a community. Out of the loving fellowship of
God came
humanity—created in God’s Image. From the very first pages of scripture
we see
God’s motive and purpose in creating us: Communion, Fellowship,
Relationship. Humans were created out
of communion, for communion and
were invited to experience this great loving relationship with God and
with one
another, all based on God’s loving and graceful act. That’s the
beginning of
the Story.
As we look a bit closer, though, we see one very important mode through which God intended this fellowship to be expressed. It is at the center of God’s creation both literally and theologically. What is that means of communion? Food!
We might find
ourselves
occasionally being tricked into thinking that food is just something
that fuels
our body and keeps us alive, that food is almost a byproduct of a
sin-laden
world where death’s whisper is heard between meals . Maybe we think
that if it
weren’t for the effects of sin—which is dying body—we wouldn’t really
need
food. But look at the garden before sin
entered the picture. There is food! And lots of it!
The point? Food, by
design, is
a part of God’s plan for communion.
Unfortunately,
however, what
was intended for good ultimately went wrong and sin entered the world,
ironically, because Adam and Eve ate in disobedience. And when that
happens
community is lost, and animosity and broken relationships abound. It
comes as
no surprise, then, that as God embarks on a mission to restore the
community
that was lost in
God’s redemptive
purpose is
for communion to be restored—a redemptive fellowship which finds its
fulfillment at the Table.
Over the next few
weeks we
will be going into greater depth in both areas of food and
communion—which you
may have already picked up on as going hand in hand.
We will look at
God’s purpose
for
All of this will
ultimately
serve as an enrichment of the weekly practice of our own communal meal,
the
Lord’s Supper, in at least three ways: 1) a deeper understanding of
what this
multifaceted meal can and should be about; 2) a challenge to think about the table in ways that
stretch and grow us; 3) a challenge to practice
a richer meal filled full of God’s meaning and intent.
As we journey
through God’s
Redemptive Story, as we sit as tables past, tables present, and tables
future,
my prayer is that this study will help all of us to come to a deeper
understanding of what being Created for Communion is all about.