Daily Worship

There’s room at the table

Jock Stein December 06, 2025 0 0
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1 Corinthians 11: 23-26 (NIVUK)

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

This may or may not be a familiar passage – it is normally read or referred to when the Lord’s Supper is celebrated. The Lord’s table is very special (as Paul indicates in verses 27 on), but it is not reserved for those and such as those – there is room for all of us, and no one has any business putting a fence around it.

Some folk say they want ‘a New Testament church’. The context of this passage warns us that the New Testament churches were full of issues and not to be copied – though we can learn a lot from them. Paul simply sets the Lord’s table in the middle of our muddle, for churches full of problems and problem people, and says to us, ‘Here there is a place for you all!’

 

Pray:

 

Lord Jesus Christ, you came to wear our human nature, to bear our sins of body and soul, to repair our flaws and failings. With you we have room to breathe, space to grow and discover your good purpose for us.

Work out, live out in us all you discovered and achieved in your life as a man with dark skin in a country ruled by an alien Empire. And with all your family we pray:  Our Father in heaven, may your name be holy, your kingdom come, your will be done here as in heaven. Give us the food we need today, forgive us our sins as we forgive others, hold us in hard times. And yours be all the glory, now and for ever, Amen.