Cup Full of Thanksgiving
I Corinthians 10:16, 17
Have you ever eaten your Thanksgiving meal alone?
Mary Pierce shared this insight in Focus on the Family Magazine:
The locusts — as my husband affectionately calls our extended family — were on their way to our house for Thanksgiving. We host Thanksgiving every year, gathering together for a time of love and bonding. Every year another culinary disaster looms, threatening to distract us from what really matters.
That year, 22 locusts were headed our way, and the turkey refused to thaw. I spent the morning giving it cold-water baths. (OK, I cheated just a little and gave it a spritz or two of warm water.) Then, trying the nuclear thawing option, I realized it’s impossible to wedge a 20-pound turkey into an 8-pound microwave.
"Why don’t we just eat later?" my rational mate proposed. I shuddered to think of 22 hungry locusts having to wait for dinner, so I hustled to prepare the side dishes: sweet potatoes with marshmallows, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, scalloped corn — and Jell-O, of course.
The ability to make Jell-O is a gift. I’m not good at Jell-O. I envy women who effortlessly concoct crystalline mounds of jiggling glory. After measuring, heating, stirring and chilling as directed, I held my breath as I turned the plastic mold upside down onto a plate. I gave it a gentle shake, straining to hear, just this once, the satisfying plop of a well-turned Jell-O.
I lifted the mold, and — slurp! shoop! — a shimmering mound landed on the plate. Perfect! For a moment. Then it began to flatten. And flatten. And flatten.
"It’s a Jell-O Frisbee," my husband said.
Shortly thereafter, the last of the locusts arrived as I was basting the buzzard. But a miscalculation shot hot grease all over the oven. The smoke alarm blasted, the teakettle screamed and the potatoes boiled over at the same time. I swished a dish towel under the smoke detector, trying to clear the air while hollering for my husband to find the stepstool and disconnect the battery until the smoke cleared.
In that moment of noise and laughter — the wonderful chaos of family and life — I realized once again what was important. Thanksgiving is not about perfection; it’s about people — people who share the ups and downs of life and still love you.
For 15 Thanksgivings in a row, we’ve been blessed as we’ve gathered to eat, laugh and talk — young, old and in-between, family, friends and foreigners. One year my niece told her then-fiance that part of their marriage "deal" would be coming to our house every Thanksgiving.
Last year they couldn’t come, spending Thanksgiving in neonatal intensive care with their premature son. This year they’ll bring Jonah, robust and healthy, for his first Thanksgiving with the clan.
And we’ll reminisce about past culinary disasters, like the time the stuffing had mystery bits in it. "Are they walnuts? Almonds?" After dinner I noticed a chunk of my rubber scraper was missing. Oops.
Grandma, who remembers yesteryear better than yesterday, will tell us about the time she baked a turkey with the bag of innards still inside.
Jell-O Frisbees. Lumpy gravy. Blackened turkey. No matter — they’re the stuff of laughter and memories. What matters is that we gather together, with gratitude to God for His love and for the blessing of each other.
Thanksgiving is a shared meal!
1 Corinthians 10:16-17
16 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?
17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.
(NIV)
Roman Catholic word for communion =
Eucharist = Thanksgiving
Communion is a shared meal.
When I first became a Christian and began to partake of communion, we would celebrate it in a private way, coming to the altar alone, praying alone, partaking alone with no real thought of the rest of the congregation. It was a quiet, introspective, reflective time. Yet as we read God’s Word, there is no time in Scripture when Communion was taken privately! Communion is not just about your private walk with God, all by your lonesome. It is about connecting, before God, with other believers. If we are in fellowship with the Lord, we are in fellowship with one another at the same time.
Real Communion requires Community!
The Cup of Thanksgiving cannot be celebrated in confusion!
At the last meal Jesus would share with His best friends, they had no finished swallowing the bread and juice before there was confusion!
Luke 22:19-27
19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me."
20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
21 But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table.
22 The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed, but woe to that man who betrays him."
23 They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this.
24 Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest.
25 Jesus said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors.
26 But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.
27 For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.
(NIV)
If I come to this Table and think I can achieve reconciliation with God, but have no interest in reconciling with my brother whom I have wronged, or with my sister, who has wronged me, or even in interacting with those who simply share this place, then I leave this Table judged. I leave unblessed and unforgiven if I do not discern my need for others and their need for me.
Communion = “Koinonia” = Fellowship
Agnes Green became a Christian in the Church of God in Flint, Michigan. She married Vern and moved all around the country wherever his work took him. And wherever they lived she found other Christians with whom to fellowship. Ronda and I met Vern and Agnes when we moved to Farmington, New Mexico to launch a Church of God congregation. Agnes was one of two ladies who started with us. When Agnes was asked what “fellowship” meant, her response was
“Fellowship” means all the fellows are in the ship together!
-Agnes Green-
Jesus told us not to come to Him if we couldn’t come together:
Matthew 5:23-24
23 "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,
24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
(NIV)
Do you like Iced Animal Cookies? I was talking with a lady the other day who said that she was walking through the store and noticed a bag of Iced Animal Cookies. Bringing up precious memories of childhood relishing of those cookies, she thought she would buy a bag so that her children could enjoy them as well. Only problem was that she enjoyed too many of them before she got them to the kids!
We can view communion with the same kind of attitude. When the Apostle Paul is reminding the Christians in Corinth about the Lord’s Supper, he has to remind them that there are no “Big “I’s”, “Little “You’s”, or “Solitary Saints” in the Body of Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:28-29
28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.
29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.
(NIV)
Why did Jesus give a meal instead of just meditation?
Because of what our fellowship displays!
Communion means that we are not alone! So the Bible says that when we come to the Table, we are to “recognize the body”, and that, in fact, if we do not, we are eating and drinking judgment to ourselves! Suppose I come to this Table, and I don’t really care about what is happening with my brother or my sister. Suppose I come, wanting just to have a good time in the Lord. I have never really seen, nor ever truly understood who it is that is sitting on the pew with me. If I do that, I am not discerning the body, and I am in trouble. I am eating and drinking judgment on myself.
Communion is to be a celebration of Thanksgiving for our Unity with Christ and with Each Other!
As you partake today of these tokens, representing the blood which makes us one in Christ and the Body of Christ, would you take a moment to make sure that you are in proper relationship with your brothers and sisters in the Lord?
In order to have communion,
we have to be able to commune!
Are you truly one with other believers? Is there someone you have slighted, someone you have judged, someone you have pushed aside? Do you truly fellowship? Or would you rather some individuals were not a part of your Christian community?
