Commotion will Spoil Your Appetite for Communion

In my college days I loved to cook dinner parties for my friends. I’ll never forget the time a coed arrived announcing she had just eaten a can of Spaghetti-O’s and was not very hungry. When she was a child I guess her mother never told her that eating before dinner would “spoil your appetite!”

I think one of the consequences of our fast-paced, commotion-filled, life-styles is how it spoils our appetite for communion with God—“If you [can] hear my voice [over the din] and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends” (Rev 3:20). I think if you took a survey on Sunday morning at almost any church, you would be surprised at the number of people who show up spent from a week of activities. And church becomes just one more—not a place of refreshing communion as it should be.

After one time of great commotion (John the Baptist had just been beheaded), the Disciples came to Jesus, reporting everything that had happened. Everything was so chaotic they hadn’t even taken time to eat. So Jesus said, “Come away to a secluded place and rest a while” (Mark 6:31). Sounds like a good idea, doesan’t it? I think I’ll schedule it in for next week.