⁴² They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ⁴³ Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. ⁴⁴ All the believers were together and had everything in common. ⁴⁵ They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. ⁴⁶ Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, ⁴⁷ praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Acts 2:42-27

When the first followers of Jesus baptized many after Peter’s first big sermon, they organized themselves by gathering in homes to eat together and to worship God as they did.

We are not the first followers of Jesus, nor are we those who can gather in the temple courts every day (living halfway around the world does make that difficult.) But we can still gather regularly to eat together and to worship God as we do.

One way we are trying to follow in the footsteps of those who have gone before us is to set side one Sunday a month and worship God, not through a typical Sunday Church Service, but through gathering for a Supper and reading a liturgy to remind us that the very act of eating together is a way that we can worship God. We are calling these events our Second Sunday Suppers.

Everyone is welcome to come and join in, you don’t need to be a regular attender at Grafted or even a follower of Jesus to come eat food with us. The goal will be that Grafted will provide some kind of main dish, and we encourage everyone to bring something to share if they are able! If it is 4:00 PM on the second Sunday of the month, you won’t find Grafted meeting at All Nations Baptist Church in Minneapolis, but rather around tables in homes eating together with glad and sincere hearts.

The hosts will be on a rotating schedule each month, so if you would like to know where to gather, contact Pastor Dave at dave@graftedcc.com to find our more!

This response was created May 14, 2021.

While the call from Jesus, our King, to both love God and love others and make disciples as we go doesn’t change, the world around us does. And so the way we go about completing the Greatest Commandment and Great Commission must adapt to be effective while remaining true to the way God has called us to live. As the situation created by the SARS-COV-2 virus and the disease caused by it, COVID-19, continues to evolve, we will do our best to adapt how we interact with the world to help us be the best followers of Jesus that we can be.

We have been through a year of encouraged physical isolation, and now it is difficult to consider how close to the end of all of this we may be! Throughout the process we have tried our best to give deference to those in our government that are making incredibly difficult decisions that effect not only us, but so many of our neighbors as well. We have tried to act in such a way that anyone could feel safe entering our public gatherings so that they could be reminded about the love of God without being distracted by the worry about their physical health. We have each tried to Love God and Love our neighbor as we love ourselves as best as we could with the information that we had at the time.

As of this week, the Governor of the State of Minnesota has said that the statewide mandate asking people to wear masks indoors is no longer in effect over the entire state. (The caveat is the state is still asking Minnesotans politely to continue to wear their masks indoors if they have not yet been vaccinated. See this press briefing if you have further questions: https://youtu.be/RsD1aAjtvE8). The Mayor of the City of Minneapolis said that the citywide mandate asking people to wear masks indoors will remain in place while the officials look over the vaccination rates in the community. (This time, I had a harder time finding a primary source, but here is a secondary one: https://kstp.com/coronavirus/minneapolis-mayor-jacob-frey-keeps-mask-mandate-in-place/6107323/)

I cannot wait for all of us, those of us who currently call Grafted “Home” and those of us who may be visiting for the first time, to feel comfortable walking into a building or a crowded outdoor space and not feel anxiety without wearing a mask. I cannot wait to see people’s faces react when I say something funny (or only funny to me) while I am preaching. I am looking forward to the end of the confusion about who is supposed to wear a mask by law, executive order, or city ordinance and who doesn’t need to. But for now, Grafted is going to ask those who are attending our Sunday Services in person to continue to wear a face covering. We will continue to offer our online option for those of you who would prefer to pod at home or with a smaller group through our private Facebook group. (Email dave@graftedcc.com if you have any questions about how to engage with this online platform.)

I assume this will not be the last of the COVID-19 updates I will be posting. But until I don’t need to post another one again, I miss and love you all!

When we gathered during the summer and fall of 2020 to take communion in the Harrington’s back yard, we took a look at 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 from three different angles: Unity, Taking Communion in a Worthy Manner, and Remembrance. This series of blog posts are an attempt to allow those who missed the service to still interact with the teaching, just like they would if we were posting an audio file online at a later date. If you would like to read the passage for yourself, it is available at the bottom of this post.

The first month we gathered for Communion we talked through how this symbolic meal should be done in and bring about a greater spirit of unity for those who partake in it. The second month we discussed how communion should not be entered into lightly, but rather we should enter into some examination of our relation to Christ and His body. In this final month we focused on the words of Jesus that Paul quotes in this passage: “do this in remembrance of me.”

At least that was the plan… we planned on talking about how Jesus calls us to remember what God has done in the past, what God will do in the future, and what you are doing be partaking in this meal. But this service was VERY COLD!!! I mean… holy cats. This was a cold service. (Hats off to Pat Harrington for being willing to lead us in worship while having to touch the metal strings on his guitar…)

Instead of fully discussing these ideas, I pretty much just put out an outline in hopes that the ideas would fill in themselves.

Considering what God has done in the past, I threw out the idea that the first communion took place at a Passover meal. This meal was designed to help the people of God remember that Israel had been saved from Death (either at the hands of the Egyptians or the final plague designed to encourage Pharaoh to set the Israelites free), and saved through Death (specifically the death of an animal in the place of the death of a person). This corresponds wonderfully to the thing that Christians are called to remember in the communion ceremony: the face that we have been saved from our own death, earned by us because of our sins, through the death of someone else in our place: Jesus the Christ.

Considering what God will do in the future, I threw out that Paul reminds those in Corinth, “26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” Remembering that Jesus is coming back to set up a Kingdom where there is no sin, sickness or death is vital for every Christian. And communion should remind us that there will be a day that we can feast in the presence of the True King!

And lastly, we considered what we are doing… We are declaring the Lord’s Death and how it is saving us from and through death. We are declaring our trust in Jesus’s personal and glorious return.

Unity, Examination, and Remembrance… three huge tasks that are accomplished by such a simple meal of bread and juice.

As we take communion today, after we each have the some bread and some juice, we are going to spend a little bit of time examining and discerning our relationships to the Body of Christ. remembering all that Jesus has done for us, and then we will once again take communion all together.

Does anyone need either of the elements? Please send up a representative from your family unit if you do one at a time… Everyone ready?

Here we go. I will give you a few moments between each question for your own reflection.

First: Examine yourself. What did YOU do to the Body of Christ?
Second: Discern the Body of Christ. What did the Body of Christ do for you?
Third: Discern Ourselves. What interactions with other people have you had that perpetuate the need for the Body of Christ to be broken for you?

The body of Christ broken for you. Everyone please eat some of your bread.

The Blood of Christ, shed for the forgiveness of your sins. Everyone please drink some of your juice.

Please pray with me and I will invite Pat to please come up and lead us in a song of response…

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

17 In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. 18 In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19 No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval. 20 So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, 21 for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. 22 Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter!
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.
27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. 32 Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.
33 So then, my brothers and sisters, when you gather to eat, you should all eat together. 34 Anyone who is hungry should eat something at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment.
And when I come I will give further directions.

When we gathered during the summer and fall of 2020 to take communion in the Harrington’s back yard, we took a look at 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 from three different angles: Unity, Taking Communion in a Worthy Manner, and Remembrance. This series of blog posts are an attempt to allow those who missed the service to still interact with the teaching, just like they would if we were posting an audio file online at a later date. If you would like to read the passage for yourself, it is available at the bottom of this post.

The second way that we looked at this passage was to look at it through the lens of Taking Communion in a Worthy Manner.

Last month we looked at this passage through the lens of Unity, how communion was supposed to be an action that reminded the followers of Jesus of the unity that they share with each other because of their union with Christ. I think that this lens was the predominant one that was needed for the church in Corinth at the time Paul wrote his letter to them.

But by focusing on unity, we ended up skipping over some other ideas in this text! This month we are going to focus on verses 27-31 of this passage.

This section begins with the verse, “²⁷ So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.” While this verse may be a bit confusing at first glance, I think that the following verses explain how a person taking communion can avoid sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.

Verse 28 encourages the individuals in Corinth to examine themselves. And so, I supposed we should do the same. What have we done to the physical body of Christ? While I may not have been alive, I know that it was to forgive my sins that Christ’s body was broken. My sinful actions have earned the consequence of the death of the Son of God. The wages of my sin was the death of Jesus Christ, my Lord. Grafted Community Church: what sins have you individually committed that sent Jesus to the cross?

Verse 29 warn that discerning the Body of Christ is of incredibly high value for those who are taking communion. I think we have the chance to consider not only what we did to the body of Christ, but what that body did for us. While Christ’s death did cover over my sins, it also brings me into the family of God. While my wages have been paid by Jesus, the gift of eternal life also came to me through that same death. While we sinned against God, He demonstrated His love for us by dying for us! Grafted Community Church: what have you received from God through the Body of Jesus, crucified on a cross?

Verse 31 encourages the church at Corinth to discern themselves… not as individuals, but as a whole community. A relationship with God cannot be separated from a relationship with His image bearers. My actions towards you, towards my co-workers, towards my family effect, reflect, and often damage the way we interact with God. Our relationships with God are only ever half perfect for sure… and that half doesn’t come from you and me… But, Grafted Community Church: What are some of the ways that your interactions with other people perpetuate the need for the Body of Christ to have been broken for you?

As we take communion today, after we each have the some bread and some juice, we are going to spend a little bit of time examining and discerning our relationships to the Body of Christ. and then we will once again take communion all together.

Does anyone need either of the elements? Please send up a representative from your family unit if you do one at a time. Everyone ready?

Here we go. I will give you a few moments between each question for your own reflection.

First: Examine yourself. What did YOU do to the Body of Christ?
Second: Discern the Body of Christ. What did the Body of Christ do for you?
Third: Discern Ourselves. What interactions with other people have you had that perpetuate the need for the Body of Christ to be broken for you?

The body of Christ broken for you. Everyone please eat some of your bread.

The Blood of Christ, shed for the forgiveness of your sins. Everyone please drink some of your juice.

Please pray with me and I will invite Pat to please come up and lead us in a song of response…

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

¹⁷ In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. ¹⁸ In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. ¹⁹ No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval. ²⁰ So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, ²¹ for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. ²² Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter!

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.

²⁷ So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. ²⁸ Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. ²⁹ For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. ³⁰ That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. ³¹ But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. ³² Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.

³³ So then, my brothers and sisters, when you gather to eat, you should all eat together. ³⁴ Anyone who is hungry should eat something at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment.

And when I come I will give further directions.