“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)
Food and Drink #6
“When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper. For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken” (1 Cor. 11:20-21)
We learn how to eat at the Lord’s Supper, and we are learning to eat wisely when we focus on our table companions, and not on the contents there on the plate. We should learn to eat in a way that nourishes, not just our own bodies, but to eat in a way that is a strength and joy to everyone who eats with us.
The early church used to have what they called an agape meal together with the Lord’s Supper, meaning that there was bread and wine, but taken in the context of a larger church potluck. And at that larger potluck, it appears that some of the saints were misbehaving—taking too much wine, for example, or crowding to the head of the line and not leaving anything for those who came behind. People cared more about what food went into them, or how much of it, than they cared about those who were there to share table fellowship with them.
When people have the kind of food issues that they ought not to have, one of the first things that happens is a disruption of fellowship, and particularly table fellowship. But the oneness of the eating is far more important than the oneness of the food. If you are invited to a Christian’s house for dinner, the Lord’s Supper (that you share together) should be the governor of what happens when you sit down together. This means (among other things), you should not take all the dessert, you should not bring your own specialty dish to eat instead of what the hostess prepared, and you should not quarrel with those who are at the table.
There really are food fads that are no good for you. But to simply ban those fads would be to be guilty of the same offense—dividing over food. All that is necessary is to ban a sectarian attitude when it comes to food, and this takes care of all the problems—because if there is a problem, sectarianism is the point. A right approach to the Lord’s Table makes us food catholics at every other meal.