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Holy Meal Day 72
In the Early Church, Holy Communion with bread and wine has its beginning as part of an "agape" or love meal in a household church. The family, friends and relatives gathered to eat a meal together, then at the end to celebrate the Lord's Supper. In the very early Christian document called "The Didache" the words, "And after you have had your fill, give thanks thus:"1 are thought to have been the introduction to the Eucharistic part of the fellowship meeting. Another urges, "On the Lord's day, come together, break bread, and give thanks..."2 In the second century account of Justin there is no survival of the meal as the sacrament had been separated from eating and drinking because of abuses that had arisen.
In Paul's writings, we find that there is already a problem in combining a love meal with Holy Communion. He writes, "When you come together, it is not really the Lord's Supper you eat, for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk."3 To restore order to the sacrament, the meal portion was phased out. If Holy Communion had not broken away from the "agape" meal, the Christian community might still be a household rather than a church based one.
1C. J. D. Jasper and G.J. Cuming, "Prayers of the Eucharist", Pueblo Publishing, New York, 1987, page 24. 2The Didache Chapter 14. 31 Corinthians 11.20,21.
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