EATING – A Missional Habit
A few years ago, Michael Frost wrote a short e-book called The Five Habits of Highly Missional People: Taking the BELLS Challenge to Fulfill the Mission of God. It’ s been read by thousands of people around the globe and created the impetus for the transformation of many Christians, and in turn, their friends who have since been introduced to Jesus. It challenges us to adopt five practices that“ unite us together as believers, while also propelling us into the lives of others.” These are; Blessing, Eating, Listening, Learning and Sending.
If this edited excerpt from the ' Eat ' chapter whets your appetite to find out more head to www. crossover. org. au / surprise-the-world
In fourth-century Rome, cranky old Emperor Julian was peeved with the Christians for practicing such an amazing form of hospitality that they were taking over the empire. He complained to his officials that one of the Christians’ methods for“ perverting” the empire was their socalled love-feast or service of tables. He appears to be uncertain of the name of their gathering because he says,“… they have many ways of carrying it out and hence call it by many names.”
We know the Corinthians were practicing a communal meal as part of their weekly habit because Paul rebukes them for conducting it so poorly. i
He is outraged that their so-called love feast doesn’ t express love at all, with certain people being left out and others appearing to eat in cliques rather than as a whole body of believers. He then goes on to offer them a form of words they should use when eating the Eucharist, which indicates that the Corinthian love feast included the Lord’ s Supper at its heart.
In other documents of the time, there appear to be various references to the separation of the Eucharist from the love feast, as though they were seen as two very distinct gatherings. This might be why Emperor Julian had trouble keeping track. In any case, a rhythm eventually developed where it was standard practice for the early Christians to celebrate the Eucharist in the morning and the love feast in the evening.
My point is that eating has been a central Christian practice since the beginning of our movement. And not only eating sacramentally, as in the Eucharist, but eating missionally as a way to express love to all.
The invitation to share a table is a profoundly meaningful one in every culture. I’ m calling you to foster the habit of eating with three people each week. You won’ t need to add a great deal into your often already busy schedule. You already eat three times a day. That’ s 21 meals a week. I’ m simply asking that you bring another person to your table for three of those. Or if you want to cut corners, you could bring three people to your table for one of them. resonate · issue 29 · page 12