I sometimes think about corporate worship as a family meal. If Jesus is the Bread of Life, getting together as a church on Sundays is, in a very real sense, a family getting together to feast on this Bread. 

Of course, Sunday services aren’t the only times that we partake of the Bread of Life. We do that as we read the Bible, pray, meditate on who God is, live in communion with him, and hear his voice. But there is something special about feasting as a church family. Most of us eat at least some of our meals by ourselves or with various groupings of coworkers, classmates, etc. But family dinner is different, isn't it? Life and love are experienced differently when a family sits down to dinner together. Sure, in a fallen world, sometimes family dinner ends in chaos or conflict, but you at least see my point: we experience life and love, and become more rooted in life and love, when we spend meaningful time at the table as family. 

The same is true of the church. Gathered worship is a time where we experience the life and love of God through and with his people -  not just any people, but specific people to whom we are so connected that we can be called a family. We feast together on Jesus, the spiritual Bread who saves us, fills us, sustains us, and gives us true life. 

The feast that is worshiping together points us forward, too. If we’re going to stay with the analogy of a family, maybe it’s like dinner a few days before Christmas. All the grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins are coming, but a few are already in town. Dinner on December 23 will be awesome, but it also leaves you excited for Christmas dinner two days later, when the whole family is together in one place for the first time since last December. Community Bible Church is one part of God’s beautiful, diverse family that spans centuries and ethnicities. Sundays are a beautiful expression of his love and his work, and they give us a little taste of what’s waiting for us after Jesus comes again. All of his people, the whole family, from every tribe and tongue and nation, will be together, worshiping and feasting with no sin, no pain, no sickness, no fear, no darkness. That doesn’t diminish our joy in gathering now; it ignites joy and hope today and forever. 

To prepare for Sunday read John 6:35-40.