『February 6, 2026: I Corinthians 11』のカバーアート

February 6, 2026: I Corinthians 11

February 6, 2026: I Corinthians 11

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 Daily Dose of Hope February 6, 2026 Scripture: I Corinthians 11 Prayer: Dear Holy God, Your love is amazing. Thank you for the way you care for us. In these next few moments of silence, Lord, help us focus on you...Lord Jesus, help us set aside every distraction and take this time to lean on you. We want to hear your voice. Amen. Welcome back, everyone, to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that goes along with the daily Bible reading plan at New Hope Church in Brandon, Florida. We have been walking through Paul's letters and it has been challenging! We've made it through Galatians, I and II Thessalonians, and we are now in I Corinthians. Our reading for today is I Corinthians 11. The first part of the chapter has to do with head coverings. I didn't choose that for our main focus today but I do think it is worth a brief mention. Paul implores the women to cover their heads and the men not to cover their heads. This is confusing to us in a time and place in which head coverings serve an entirely different purpose (typically shade from the sun, warmth, or an accessory). But in ancient Greek and Roman culture, the main difference between a man and woman's attire was that women covered their head with a scarf-like material. The only women who did not do this were high class mistresses, slaves, prostitutes, and pagan prophetesses. Thus, when the women didn't wear their head covering or it fell off in the movement of worship, it was a significant distraction. In a highly patriarchal culture, it definitely sent the wrong signal, one that Paul really didn't want these women to send. Then, there is this whole issue with the Lord's Supper, or Holy Communion. Remember, they didn't have church buildings and they met in people's homes. In fact, they met in some of the wealthier members' homes, because they had bigger homes that could accommodate a larger group. Makes sense. But the wealthier church members, who probably knew each other fairly well because they all ran in the same circles, were meeting ahead of time for a grand meal, that they would pair with communion, and they were eating and drinking and eating and drinking. You can see where this is going. By the time the poorer church members got off work and arrived, the wealthier people had been eating and drinking for quite a while. All the food was eaten and they were drunk. There were also no seats in the main room. So, the poor people were basically sitting in a different area, hungry, without what they needed to receive communion together with the rest of the church. It was like two separate churches, one for the rich and one for the poor. And, not surprisingly, resentment was growing. This is totally patronizing for the poor people. Paul is appalled. You can hear it in the letter, "Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? Why are you bringing this mess to church???" Paul was basically saying that the Corinthians could not call what they were doing the Lord's Supper. Keep in mind, the Corinthian society was very segregated. Rich people didn't associate with poor people. Classes stayed separate. It isn't surprising that the rich in the church didn't want to hang out with the poor people. They were dirty and hard to make conversation with. And the poor people probably were really intimidated by the rich people. Yet, Jesus had set up his church to be different from culture and that is what Paul is getting at here. The Gospel turns things upside down. We can look at Christians throughout the ages – the huge disparity of rich and poor, the way people of color were often turned away at the church door. We had that in our own denomination. I just got done reading White Trash (by Nancy Isenberg), which attempts to tell the story of class in America. And it talks about how the wealthy classes totally discarded the poor. They called the poor "waste people." It was like their lives had totally no value to them. And this is what got me: The wealthy aristocracy, who called the poor whites and blacks around them waste people, they attended church every Sunday. They believed in God, they professed faith in Jesus. And Jesus walked closely with the poor. The Gospel was good news to the poor. So, what happened? As a church, I'm not sure we have really wanted the Gospel message. We like it, as long as it gets us into heaven but we don't like it when it means we have to change our lives and our prejudices and our perspectives. We like wearing a cross but not carrying one. In Corinth, they were basically showing that their belief wasn't genuine. They were demonstrating a value system, it just wasn't Jesus'. I think through the ages, the church has demonstrated a value system, it just often has not been Jesus' value system. What about New Hope? What ...
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