I can categorically state that the central act of Christian fellowship and worship is the Shared Meal. Christians worshipped by coming together to eat and drink. There is no way that a christian could remain famished after leaving church. It is nourishment that they devoted themselves too. I quote -

Acts2:42
And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Acts2:46
And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts,

Paul makes direct reference to this practice when he reproaches the corinthians, and we can learn a lot about this christian practice from the text.

Cor11:21
For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal, and one is hungry and another is drunk.

It seems obvious and clear to me that there was enough wine going around for some people to actually be getting drunk. He also berates the fact that at the end of the service there should still remain people who are hungry. Let us, however, take a closer look at the whole text in context.

Cor11:20-22
When you meet together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal, and one is hungry and another is drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No. I will not.

They asserted, however, that the sum and substance of their fault or error had been that they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do so. When this was over, it was their custom to depart and to assemble again to partake of food--but ordinary and innocent food.

SeanT21:

What denomination are U?? Everyone takes it in my church.

TuCow:

Believe me SeanT21, in my church(Pentecostal) not everyone does. To qualify, you must have passed so many "tests" of "holiness".

Why all these rules? Jesus did not set any conditions after all. In fact, I believe the disciples were still sinners when they ate the passover with Jesus. So why are our Pastors being so Holier than thou?

SeanT21:

Very wrong indeed. It should be a personal choice. You need to tell that pastor that he's wrong.

harakiri:

We eat Agege bread with agoyin beans as holy communion every sunday service.What isn't right about that?

Pastor AIO:

Another interesting observation is that not that many church gatherings share this eucharistic meal. And those that do give you a sip of wine and a tiny wafer at most.

Yet we know that it was a full meal when Christ instituted it and the early church practiced it. Are the pastor afraid of the cost of wining and dining their entire congregations. I can bet if they were actually practicing the proper eucharistic meal they wouldn't be so keen for so many converts. That will just be shortening their ration.
Pliny to Emperor Trajan about the christians he encountered in the 2nd century.

Now all this ties in very neatly with the whole idea of tithes. Because that too is a feast that is shared in order to worship God. Those who have are supposed to provide for those that do not have, the widows, the orphans, and the levites who do not have an inheritance amongst the people. In fact we find that sharing a meal is a common form of worship in all traditional religions around the world. Why is it that it is only in these new fangled churches that people do not eat? Why? And they are paying tithes, but nobody is eating inside the tithe. The pastor is just using it to buy expensive suits. What a farce!

JeSoul:


My dude was talking to me about this very point few days ago. You're 100% right and[b] I wonder how "communion" shrunk from its original form into what we have today.[/b] The early Catholic church?

KunleOshob:

Cost cutting strategies which leads to short changing the congregation and the poor/needy whichs leads to profit maximization

KunleOshob:

Cost cutting strategies which leads to short changing the congregation and the poor/needy whichs leads to profit maximization

Zikkyy:

I agree with the current practice. Considering the size of the congregation, you will need to triple the tithe & other takings to serve a full meal