A long time ago, a friend of mine once told me what a miracle it was we were friends.  My initial reaction to his statement was something like, "Well, thanks a lot!" as if I was that hard to get along with.  He laughed and explained that's not what he meant.  What he did mean went something like this: Out of the billions of people God had created in both the past and present, out of the billions of people currently alive, the chances for any one person to meet another had to be in the odds of somewhere in the millions to one.  Thus, for him, given such odds, every relationship he had was indeed a miracle given the chances for it never to have occurred.  In fact, we were different ages, had gone to different schools and had grown up in different parts of a city of some hundreds of thousands of residents.  The odds were indeed against our having ever met.  And though we would and did meet others in our lives, with such odds it was in fact a miracle we two had met each other.

What a beautiful and profound way to look at all our relationships: as miracles defying the odds of ever happening.  We are all only alive just so long and we will only meet just so many people and those relationships will then each be unique, individual to us and incredibly precious-at least, in principle.  God has given each of us specific and particular individuals' lives to be a part of.  They must certainly have something to offer us and vice versa or we probably wouldn't have met them.  Our relationships are blessings, gifts we've been given for only a short time to take care of.  Will we treat our relationships with others like the miracles they are? When it comes to the word "stewardship," we tend to think it has to do with just money, but this is the farthest thing from the truth.  What kind of a job are we doing being stewards of our relationships?

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 judgement 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. About the other things I will give instructions when I come.