May 6 / I Cor. 11:17-34

I Corinthians 11:17-34

I can remember vividly the first time I read verses 23 to 26 in today’s reading. I had been raised in the Catholic Church and was born again at age 26. Somewhere along the line I started reading the Bible – I can’t remember any pattern that I followed, but it surely was not long into my born-again life that I read this passage for the first time and it jumped off the page at me. This was the Consecration portion spoken at every Catholic Mass – the elevation of the host and the chalice and for Catholics, the Transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus. At that point it dawned on me that the Catholic Church was Scripture-based and that I should not completely abandon my roots in favor of this new Protestantism that I was beginning to embrace. So I spent a great deal of my first born-again year doing what I could to reconcile my Catholic roots with my newly energized faith. I left the Catholic Church in the late 1970s, but I still cherish much that I gained in my youth from that upbringing.

The contrast between the Corinthian church and our St. Andrew’s potluck gatherings is striking! I don’t see any rich vs. poor at our potluck dinners, and I don’t see anyone going hungry. I see a lot of people mixing with people they haven’t met before and a real positive spirit about the entire gathering. And when we’ve hosted gatherings of St. Andrew’s folks and when we’ve been to other peoples’ homes, I never see any gluttony or drunkenness. Sure, it’s a small sample and I always remind myself from a couple of day ago, Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. (I Cor. 10:12) And, …whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (I Cor. 10:31)

Slava Bohu!