The Virtue in the Vice: Communion, not Gluttony

Robin McGonigle
University Congregational Church
April 3, 2022

I Cor. 11:17-34
One of the lost things I missed most during Covid was a delightful, fine meal, eaten slowly with beloved friends at a nice restaurant. An evening out in the company of good friends lingering over a glass of wine at a table is one of life’s great blessing. In the Bible, one of the great metaphors for the kindom of God is a banquet – and many of us can imagine why. When we dine with others we love and enjoy tasty food – well, it is delightful.
Food is a good thing… a necessity for life itself. But too much of a good thing is not good for us. Gluttony is listed as one of the seven deadly sins. It is sad to note that while much of the world is starving, Americans eat ourselves (literally) to death. 60% or more of us are overweight. Gluttony is not only about eating too much – it is about eating for the wrong reasons. Gluttony is about a deeper hunger in the soul itself. Gluttony can include trying to fill that hunger in the soul with alcohol and other drugs. In fact, gluttony is often closely related to lust and to sloth.
I will also point out that gluttony is self-indulgent and contributes to the societal problem of others not having enough. As Robin Meyers’ notes in his book, The Virtue in the Vice, “We walk down city streets on our way to the newest restaurant, making sure that we step over or around the homeless. We are offended if they ask for spare change, but we spend more on a bottle of wine than it would cost to feed and clothe them for a month. Gluttony is not just irrational. It is immoral.”
As we have in this sermon series, we are not focusing on the vice – instead, we are looking at the virtue in the vice. For this week, the virtue in gluttony is communion! While many of us in this congregation may think that the highest and most sacramental form of eating in the church is fellowship time or potluck
dinners, it is not! Unlike gluttony, communion satisfies the hungry heart. It is obvious that the small portion of food and drink we receive from the communion table is not enough to fill the stomach, but somehow, there is always enough for everyone at the table.
The difference is between quality and quantity. With communion, we eat to live – not live to eat. As Robin Meyers’ writes, “Communion… connects us to the earth, to thankfulness, and to the author of every good and perfect gift… the opposite of a glutton is not (someone) who counts out beans on his (or her) plate and drinks water without ice. The opposite of a glutton is a (person) for whom food is a means to an end, not an end unto itself. It is (a person) who uses food and loves people.”
Food brings us together. As a parent, I thought that one of the most important places in our family home was the dining table. At the table, I encouraged my children how to eat a healthy, well-balanced diet. I also taught them how to set a table with silverware and good dishes. I taught them how to have conversation with others, including adults, about important things –
• the events of their day food
• things happening in the community
• world events
• ideas
• subjects of interest to them and others
• questions of moral and ethical importance
• express gratitude
A number of people have commented that my children were able to converse with adults at an early age. I believe they learned these things at the dinner table. Having a theology of food is important. The Bible spells out, in many locations, teachings about how and what to eat and the theological significance of food. One such place there is a specific teaching about food is our traditional word for today: Now in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. For, to begin with, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you; and to some
extent I believe it. Indeed, there have to be factions among you, for only so will it become clear who among you are genuine. When you come together, it is not really to eat the Lord’s supper. For when the time comes to eat, each of you goes ahead with your own supper, and one goes hungry and another becomes drunk. What! Do you not have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you show contempt for the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I commend you? In this matter I do not commend you! For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord. Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves. For this reason many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. So then, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If you are hungry, eat at home, so that when you come together, it will not be for your condemnation. I Cor. 11:17-34 The apostle Paul was offering in this writing a theology of communion and of eating together. When Christians eat together – whether it is at communion (a symbolic meal) or just at a dining table in someone’s home – we share mutuality and respect. We do not belly up to a trough and gulp or slobber. We look one another in the eyes, share words of hope and encouragement and share nourishment for the soul. The purpose is to share what we eat, but it bonds us as friends. My New Testament professor and mentor Dennis Smith authored books about this and always claimed that those who shared in a common meal had a social obligation to one another. If I share a meal with you, I have an obligation to you… I am bound to you. He is echoing the apostle Paul’s warnings in I Cor.
Even eating alone can be a sacramental experience. The food is still a blessing, and the spirit of God is the unnamed table guest. We are grateful because we have available food. We are among the privileged of the world. Food is not morally neutral; it is precious because it sustains what is precious – the creation of God. Millions of people do not have enough food. The virtue of communion is the antidote to gluttony. Associated with communion are community and thankfulness. These qualities turn all eating into a communion of sorts. Communion is what turns every table from a trough into an altar. As Meyers’ writes, “Gluttony teaches us to devour, while communion teaches us to savor.” Let me end with a story. It was 1991 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 9,000 people had gathered from all over the world to elect a new General Minister for my denomination. The candidate who was nominated was Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, one of the most prominent and influential ecumenical leaders and educators of our time. He later served as the General Secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ. He was a seminary and university professor and served as Dean of Lexington Theological Seminary. But there was one problem. He was accepting of LGBTQ people. The vote on Dr. Kinnamon was divisive at the assembly and required 67% approval. Some congregations bussed people in from across the country to sway the vote. Out of the nearly 9,000 in attendance, the vote was not approved by about sixty votes. The sting and disillusionment I felt with the vote went to my very soul. I did not know if I could stay with the church or in ministry after the cruel things that were said. It was a crushing defeat for many of us who thought Dr. Kinnamon was the right person to lead our denomination into a bright new future of ecumenicism and unity. The next morning, 9,000 people dispersed to the many congregations in Tulsa to worship – as is the custom at these assemblies. Dr. Kinnamon had been invited to preach at a small church and it overflowed with people 2 hours before the worship service began. People were sitting on the floor in the aisles and on the chancel. People were standing in the foyer and Sunday School classroom, where the sound was piped in. There were people standing outside and the windows were open. The church was packed to overflowing. It just so happened that I was standing in an aisle near Dr. Kinnamon’s wife, whom I had never met. She was also a minister. When the communion plates came to her – it was obvious that this small congregation had not prepared for the overwhelming numbers of
people who came that morning. A few small communion chips were left in the plate and only 5-6 cups on juice were left and many rows of people were remaining. This faithful woman took quick inventory and did something shocking. She took a small communion chip in her palm and crushed it and shared it with many around her (at least twenty of us), offering us a crumble and said, “This is the bread of heaven.” And then she dipped her finger in the cup and touched our lips and said, “This is the cup of life.” It was a moment I will always remember. My parched and empty soul was filled to overflowing. I went home from the assembly renewed and ready to work even harder for my values! A simple shared meal is the principal sacrament of human existence. We live around the table, and in sharing our lives – not just our bread – we are satisfied. The tiny bits of bread and wine at the table we share during communion are not quantified as much. But if you find that quality and add the community to it – it is more than enough to fill our souls to overflowing.
Resources Used:
Meyers, Robin R. “The Virtue in the Vice”. Deerfield Beech, Florida: Health Communications, Inc. 2004.