6 Subversive Acts: Revolutionary Feast
Week #3
Opening Reflections.
Where have you seen God at work in your life this week?
Share any brief examples and encouragements.
Was there anything from Sunday’s message (from Jill Weber) which resonated with you or that you felt resistance to? Anything else you particularly noticed?
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 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, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Acts 2:42-47
Read Acts 2:42-47.
Today our focus is on, ‘They devoted themselves… to the breaking of bread… They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.’
1. The final Passover meal which Jesus ate with his disciples, and which we know as ‘The Last Supper’, was also the first Communion meal. Jesus took the story of Israel’s liberation from slavery in Egypt and re-purposed it for thr church. It is ‘the feast of God for the people of God.’ 2000 years of church traditions (and there are many of them all with subtly divergent theologies) have turned a meal eaten amongst friends into a religious ritual which often divides as much as it unites.
- Where have you experienced taking Communion (Holy Communion / Eucharist / the Lord’s Supper / Mass) which has felt particularly meaningful or significant?
- Have you ever been in a situation where you were prevented or discouraged from celebrating communion? How did it make you feel?
2. Jill said that the meal tells us ‘who we are and whose we are’. She adds, Jesus ‘made friends with all the wrong people.’ and goes on to say that ‘those who you share your table with says a lot about who you are.’
- Who do you share your table with? (Obviously things are a bit different now and you may just be eating pot noodles in your pyjamas as you binge-watch Netflix). But apart from family, how many of the wrong type share your table?
- As lockdown eases and we can again start to cautiously meet people in gardens, how do we begin to expand our practice of hospitality?
3. At the Last Supper, Jesus expanded the Passover tradition and introduced the ‘New Covenant in his blood’. [See Jeremiah 31:31-34]. Jesus had said some quite outrageous things to his disciples about eating his flesh and drinking his blood [John 6:51-58].
- Why do you think it important that we have such embodied symbols at the heart of Christian faith and practice? Why do you think it was so central to the early church practice in Acts?
4. Jesus said he wouldn’t drink wine again until he drank it ‘In the Kingdom’. Just as Communion reminds us of the cross and the new covenant, so it also points forward to the consummation of all things and the time when the Kingdom of God becomes fully present. It is a pointer to the future and to hope.
- What does communion mean to you? How does it make you feel? I know it makes some people feel guilty, unworthy, and judged; but that is the last thing Jesus intended. The whole point is that it is a sign that we are united with Christ, that he is in us and we are in him.
- What else does it mean to you?
So welcome to the table.
Welcome to the story. Your story and mine,
We know who we are and whose we are.
We eat. We drink. We remember.
Welcome to the feast of God for the people of God.
Closing Reflections.
Is there anything you will take away from this study and discussion?What has stood out that you can take into your week ahead?
Pray together (in pairs or small groups) for each other, in response to your answers.
