For a while now, every 4:00pm Renovation Community service has been a Dinner Church Service. And we always end every service with Communion. So lately I’ve pondered the connections between church and meals.
Ancient Christians often included meals with worship. And the Bible uses “banquet” or “dinner party” language to describe reunion with God, God’s Kingdom, Heaven, etc.
Imagine viewing every church service like a banquet or dinner party…
Like a weekly Thanksgiving feast, we gather in gratitude for Christ our Redeemer. Like an Easter luncheon, each week we celebrate Christ’s Resurrection that brings us life.
Like the prophets invited to eat the scroll and book containing God’s words (Ezekiel; John the ‘Revelator’) and remembering His words are “sweeter than honey” (Psalm 119:103), we meet to feed on God’s Holy Scriptures.
In Communion, Christ invites us to feast on the “Bread of Life.” And as we drink from the Communion cup, which Christ famously said contained His “blood,” we drink with solemn joy. For Scripture reminds us “it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life” (Leviticus 17:11).
And just as banquet attendees drink their fill of delicious drinks, we’re invited to “be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).
If our final union with Christ looks like a ‘marriage supper of the Lamb’ (Revelation 19), then church services are a foretaste of a blessed eternal Banquet in God’s unimpeded presence.
Yes, I think “banquet” or “dinner party” is an apt analogy for any church service regardless of denomination, style, or size.
And, you know, there’s one rule that’s ALWAYS true with dinner parties…
The guest list makes all the difference.
So Christian friends,
I hope you’re inviting the right kind of people.
“Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”” (Luke 14:12-14)
