Gather & Eat
1 Corinthians 11:33-34 Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry for one another. 34 And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together under condemnation. And the rest I will set in order when I come.
The purpose of gathering is so we can commune with other believers, examine and strengthen ourselves, pray to and praise God for his works and provision, and to share with others the journey of our faith. Gathering is to be done often, and God being a God of order, had specificities on how these gatherings were to be handled and conducted. It had gotten back to Paul that the church at Corinth was misusing the holy sacrament and was filled with scandal and debauchery. Their gatherings had begun to fill with gluttony and drunkenness. The secondary need for the gatherings, the feeding and caring of those who had no food or sacrifice of their own to bring, was completely forgotten. The people would eat and drink to their fleshly content and would leave those who had not, hungry and wanting for more than just the physical sustenance that food and drink bring. Imagine, setting up a charity that would bring about hope, healing, and a common bond among the people only for a select group to come in, bleed your charity dry and make a mockery out of the cause.
We cannot live without consuming food to eat. The purpose of eating is to provide the energy needed to keep the body breathing and alive, for movement and warmth, and for the growth and repair of tissues. In the same way, the Lord’s sacrament was meant for a purpose. This was to remind the church of Jesus’ sacrifice and it was to be a reminder that came about often. Just as a human cannot receive sustenance from food without eating it, so a believer cannot nourish their soul without receiving Christ. And to eat all of this nourishment and leave none for other believers to partake is shameful. To come to the gathering with the intention of filling up your worldly and fleshly hunger meant to demean the importance of the sacrament.
1 Corinthians 11:33 says when you gather, tarry for one another. Tarry means to wait for or look forward to. There should be a desire to wait for our brothers and sisters in Christ to arrive so that they may share in the joy of being able to acknowledge the sacrifice that gives us our hope. He then goes on to say, “And if any man hunger, let him eat at home…” Paul wanted it to be clear that eating to satiate hunger and eating for pleasure is not what these gatherings are for. They are not to eat until you pass out. They are not to drink to drunkenness. They are not a social event to see and be seen. These gatherings were for a specific purpose and to misconstrue that purpose is to provoke God. You had to check yourself before partaking and participating. You had to be honest about your walk and your sin, and once you had thoroughly examined yourself and sought forgiveness, only then were you worthy to be included in the Lord’s feast.
So, we are going to gather with purpose ladies. We are going to wait for our like-minded sisters in Christ who are Presenting Reasonable Endeavors That Thrive Yielded to God. We will check ourselves before we get to the door and understand the seriousness and severity of such meetings. Then, we will feast, reminding ourselves not to be gluttonous, for there are others who need their nourishment as well. We are going to eat choice foods and we are going to see that our spirit is fed. At the table, Jesus is present because it is truly His gathering to begin with. He sits at the head of the table. We have set this table in a most beautiful way, and it is there that we will exchange ideas. We will encourage one another, we will build one another up, and we will strengthen one another because we are here to go, do, and be pretty in and on purpose.
Prepare to feast the P.R.E.T.T.Y way!
