Interwoven Around Christ’s Table

Devotional Reflection, Tuesday, October 5, 2021

Proper 22, the week of the nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.

Key phrases for reflection from today’s reading:

17 Now in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. 18For, to begin with, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you; and to some extent I believe it.

Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 986)

AM Psalm [120], 121, 122, 123; PM Psalm 124, 125, 126, [127]

2 Kings 22:1-13; 1 Cor. 11:2,17-22; Matt. 9:1-8

Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer

Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer

Compline (Night Prayer), Page 127, Book of Common Prayer

Daily Office Epistle, 1 Corinthians 11:2,17-22

2 I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions just as I handed them on to you.

17 Now in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. 18For, to begin with, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you; and to some extent I believe it. 19Indeed, there have to be factions among you, for only so will it become clear who among you are genuine. 20When you come together, it is not really to eat the Lord’s supper. 21For when the time comes to eat, each of you goes ahead with your own supper, and one goes hungry and another becomes drunk. 22What! Do you not have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you show contempt for the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I commend you? In this matter I do not commend you!

David's Reflections

Today's Epistle reflects the worship practices of the earliest faith communities in Corinth in the 50's CE (Common Era, another way of expressing AD). Those earliest communities were not allowed to own property nor to build buildings in the Roman Empire until the third century. Christians commonly gathered in larger homes or villas or shops for worship, worship that began with a common meal and continued around the table.

In the Corinthian church, issues of social class were creating problems of fellowship and unity. The wealthier members of the faith communities would host those gatherings not in smaller shops and would provide the food. Following social custom, those of elevated social class would be served the better food and the poorer, a less elaborate meal. And, the wealthier may have arrived earlier and begun their feast before the poor and the slaves were free to attend. Paul's solution was that the wealthier could have a private meal in their homes before arriving at the gathering, and that the food served at the church gathering should be the same for everyone.

Paul regarded the Eucharist as a means of unifying the church. That becomes obvious in any reading of chapters 10 and 11 of First Corinthians. As they broke from one loaf to share Christ's body and drank from one cup to share in Christ's blood, so they were one loaf. The celebration of Holy Eucharist was to bind them together as one and to deepen that unity.

As Anglicans, we emulate the worship form of those early faith communities, a service of the Word united with a service of Holy Communion. We believe that our fundamental unity finds expression in Holy Communion, hence we are not a "confessional" church with a formal statement of faith. We do have a catechism, which can be found in the Book of Common Prayer, but theological uniformity does not form the foundation of our unity. Rather, that unity comes from the presence of the living Christ among us and within each of us and finds expression in shared communion and shared mission.

The one moment when Christ’s presence and our absolute dependence on his presence and on one another can be seen most graphically is at Holy Communion. We desperately need God and one another. Eating and drinking this sacred meal together binds us together with one another and with God.

As Frederick Buechner has said:

"To eat any meal together is to meet at the level of our most basic need. It is hard to preserve your dignity with butter on your chin or to keep your distance when asking for the tomato ketchup.

"To eat this particular meal together is to meet at the level of our most basic humanness, which involves our need not just for food but for each other. . . . I need you to help fill my emptiness just as you need me to help fill yours. As for the emptiness that's still left over, well we're in it together, or it in us. Maybe it's most of what makes us human and makes us brothers (and sisters)." *

*Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC (New York: Harper, 1973), pp. 52-53.

Collect of the Day, Proper 22 The nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 234)

A Collect for Peace

Most holy God, the source of all good desires, all right judgments, and all just works: Give to us, your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, so that our minds may be fixed on the doing of your will, and that we, being delivered from the fear of all enemies, may live in peace and quietness; through the mercies of Christ Jesus our Savior. Amen. (BCP, 123)

For the Unity of the Church

Almighty Father, whose blessed Son before his passion prayed for his disciples that they might be one, as you and he are one: Grant that your Church, being bound together in love and obedience to you, may be united in one body by the one Spirit,

that the world may believe in him whom you have sent, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 255)

A Prayer for Light

Almighty God, we give you thanks for surrounding us, as daylight fades, with the brightness of the vesper light; and we implore you of your great mercy that, as you enfold us with the radiance of this light, so you would shine into our hearts the brightness of your Holy Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 110)

A Collect for Mission

Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified: Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of your holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. (BCP, 100)