It was at a fortieth...
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It was at a fortieth birthday party that the group started. Three other couples who had never met each other before agreed to join my spouse and me monthly for dinner. We would pick a country and cook food native to that nation. We rotated houses so we each were the host three times a year. What a joy to welcome others into our homes. For five years we met faithfully each month to share a meal together.
Our little dinner group was a form of koinonia or a community fellowship of people. Pauline theology educates us that in the first century church, when folks gathered together to celebrate the Lord's Supper (or Eucharist), the Holy Spirit was also there. Paul is telling us about a joyous fellowship dinner where Christians remembered Christ with communion. Then the covenant community gossiped a little, exchanged mail, and talked about their children. They also took up an offering for orphans and widows in the Corinth community.
Modern Christians still come together in the homes of their friends to break bread and have fellowship. Like the first century church, these meals are not solitary. They are a time for many people to come together and talk about their lives. Christians draw together to encourage one another and have hearty fellowship.
-- Becker 1
Our little dinner group was a form of koinonia or a community fellowship of people. Pauline theology educates us that in the first century church, when folks gathered together to celebrate the Lord's Supper (or Eucharist), the Holy Spirit was also there. Paul is telling us about a joyous fellowship dinner where Christians remembered Christ with communion. Then the covenant community gossiped a little, exchanged mail, and talked about their children. They also took up an offering for orphans and widows in the Corinth community.
Modern Christians still come together in the homes of their friends to break bread and have fellowship. Like the first century church, these meals are not solitary. They are a time for many people to come together and talk about their lives. Christians draw together to encourage one another and have hearty fellowship.
-- Becker 1
