Eating & Drinking
Week 5
Microchurch Essentials is a seven-week curriculum meant to orient (and reorient) a microchurch community to our mission as the scattered church and sent people of God. It answers the question, why microchurch? Each week, we will utilize the prayer liturgy with a few additional elements to guide the conversation. The additional elements will introduce the main idea and practice of enacting the Gospel daily.
Learn more about practicing the liturgy.
Leader prays. Group Prays.
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Let us share in the joys and sorrows of one another's life.
What has been the highlight of your week?
What has been the low of your week? -
Let's consider what we discussed last week.
WHow did the practice of Discovery Bible Story go this week?
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Let’s prepare our hearts in worship.
Welcome to a time of wonder
and prayer that calls us home
Welcome to hear God’s words that inspire and challenge
and to reminders that we are offered holy hospitality -
Hospitality that teaches us how to open our lives to others
leading us to fully live open minds, open hearts, open doors.*Written by Cynthia Langston Kirk.
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We will take a moment in quiet to reflect on our actions this past week. Then, together, we will confess and be reminded that we are the forgiven community.
Most merciful God,
We confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart; We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent, for the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name.
Amen.
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Let us pray with the Psalmist.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
–Psalm 23 (NIV) -
Let us affirm our faith with the words of the Apostles’ Creed.
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day, he rose again.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the global Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen. -
An Introduction to eating and drink.
Throughout the Gospels, much of Jesus’ ministry is spent at meals. In Luke’s retelling, in particular, Jesus is either on his way to a meal, at a meal or leaving a meal. Jesus turned an ordinary, everyday occurrence into a profoundly life-changing encounter. A wedding feast in Cana (John 2), a water break in Samaria (John 4), a dinner with an extorting tax collector (Luke 19), and a beach brunch with a resigned disciple are just a few examples of Jesus’ uncanny ability to transform a necessity into a sacred moment.
With Jesus’ ministry habit in mind, it is not surprising that in his final moments before the cross, he sat down for a meal with his disciples. And taking the most ordinary of elements, bread, and cup, Jesus gives to his disciples a new practice: One that proclaims his death (1 Corinthians 11:26), displays his new covenant (John 6:54-57), and anticipates the feast he is preparing (Revelation 19:6-9). The Lord’s Supper, the eucharist, communion– whatever you call it, this meal is at the core of the Way of Jesus and was at the center of the early church’s worship (Acts 2, 1 Cor. 11). For the first followers of the risen Jesus, the highlight of the church gathering was not a song or a sermon, but a meal.
Combined, all these details reveal a peculiar pattern and display a profound truth: the beauty of the Kingdom of Jesus is put on display in the simple act of sharing a meal—the first thing we did tonight.
Thus, the Kingdom of Jesus stays busy with scandalous banquets of sinners and saints–this is Kingdom come.
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Let us open the scriptures and learn the story of Christ.
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
– Luke 19:1-10 (ESV) -
In a simple act of initiating friendship and a conversation over dinner, Zacchaeus turned away from his crooked ways. He followed up this turn with repentance, returning fourfold everything he had stolen from his neighbor. Thus, meals seem central to the transformative work of Jesus and loving our neighbor.
What keeps us from regularly having meals with other people?
How can we have meals not just with people we love but with people who are very different from us?
Tell the story of a life-changing meal you had.
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Let us consider how to practice the Way of Jesus in our everyday life.
A few weeks back, we brainstormed a list of people to pray for. What would it look like to share a meal with them this month? Who could you share a meal with this month? This week, schedule a meal with someone.
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At this time, if you have a prayer request, we’ll hear those and conclude with the Lord’s prayer. What would you like to lift up in prayer?
As our Savior taught us, so we pray;
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours now and for ever.
Amen. -
Let us confess the Mystery of our Faith.
Christ has died.
Christ is risen.
Christ will come again. -
We’ve spent the last seven weeks imagining how we might be the church here and out there. As I pray, the commissioning over us may we go into our world prepared to reveal the Kingdom of Jesus.
Living God, draw us deeper into your love;
Jesus our Lord, send us to care and serve;
Holy Spirit, make us heralds of good news.Stir us, strengthen us,
teach and inspire us to live your love
with generosity and joy, imagination and courage;
for the sake of your world and in the name of Jesus,Amen.
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