Table Manners

Pastor Ken Werlein opens 1 Corinthians 11:17–34, where Paul confronts a church that had turned communion into a class system—the wealthy eating well while the poor arrived late to find nothing left. The ground was supposed to be level at the foot of the cross, but Corinth had quietly started building the old hierarchies back up. From there Ken draws out three things: make room at the table for everyone, because when you get here by grace you don’t get to act like you deserve a better seat; remember how this all began, because communion isn’t just a ritual—it’s a marker that carries us back to the cross and forward to the day everything Jesus accomplished there is fully realized; and take an honest look at yourself, asking whether the way you treat people is consistent with the grace you’re about to celebrate. Nobody earned a place here. We’re all at the same table, by the same amazing grace.