#95of365 #FaithBites #FaithJourney

Today’s lesson is about hunger and food. I like to eat. You name it, except for seafood because of allergies, I’ll probably eat it. I like spicy food, Chinese, Mexican, Korean, Middle Eastern, English, and beyond. Food is awesome. At the same, I try to remain humble of my many choices of food. I have a pantry, fridge, and freezer full of food. I have cash in my wallet to decide to buy something else. I don’t have to eat the food that is ready for me. I also can, and unfortunately often do, chose food that is bad for me. I try not to laugh when my kids want junk food and not healthy food. I try to direct them to make good food choices even if I have to bribe them with something. It’s not easy, but every parent knows how hard it is to get a 3-year-old to eat.

Thinking about all of these food options, but good and bad, led me to think about the food God provides for us. He gives us nourishment through his word and eternal salvation through Jesus’ death upon the cross. I don’t know about you, but that’s pretty good eats. He also, during the last supper, told his disciples to drink the wine as it was his blood, and eat the bread as it was his body. He commands them to do this when they think of him. That’s a pretty amazing gift. But it got me thinking….

“When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.” – 1 Corinthians 11:20-22

“For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.” – 1 Corinthians 11:29-32

“So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another— if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment.” – 1 Corinthians 11:33-34

…. We are eating flesh and drinking blood. Isn’t that barbaric? Regardless if you believe the bread and wine are 1) symbols, 2) bread and wine while also being flesh and blood (like Jesus was fully man and fully God), or 3) transmuted into flesh and blood; these are not things we normally eat and drink. It took me a long time before I took communion. Part of me felt I wasn’t worthy, the other part though of the vampiric or cannibalistic nature of this act. Then after listening to Pastor Brad about us being Fools for Christ and digging into history, it’s faith that matters. Faith that Jesus gave us these gifts to bring us closer to him to remember him and how he lived. It doesn’t matter what we are eating and drinking to me. It could be a Cheetos and a soda that when blessed brings us closer to Him.

That leads me back to being hungry and food choices. We can choose to just eat when we are hungry in our house, becoming weak and ill eventually dying of the flesh and spirit. Or we can come together in HIS house, not to fill our bellies but to fill our spirit.

Are you willing to feed your spirit as readily as you feed your body? Are you willing to see yourself as part of a faith or part of a community of faith? Are you ready to accept that this meal, strengthens us and enables us to live like Christ?

I am willing and ready (with the help of God)