Table Trouble

Now in giving these instructions I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse. For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you. Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper. For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you.

1 Corinthians 11:17-22

In just a could of hours we will be headed out to church. Every week we start our day with an observance and remembrance of the Lord's Table. To me this is such a precious time as we join with our brothers and sister in Christ all around the world and over the last tow thousand years. The Table unites the church. Or it should. 

Paul was writing to a church that had table problems. They came together to the Table with divisions. When they came to the Table it was not really to partake of the Table. They came to fulfill their own desires and to promote their own agenda. They had changed the Table into a feast where everyone jaunt brought their own food and some had plenty and others had nothing. 

Paul is tactful and kind in the way he phrases his response - 'shall I praise you in this? I don't praise you.' 

But despite those words what they were doing was wrong. They has corrupted the table. They were mocking Christ's sacrifice by their selfish actions. 

We may no longer literally have the feasts the Corinthians have. We can however despise the church and shame othes by our wrong attitudes at the Table. It is not praiseworthy.