29 June. A young man falls out of an upstairs window as Paul speaks
"On the first day of the week [Sunday], we all met together to break bread, and Paul spoke to the group [at Troas]. Because he was planning to leave the next day, he kept on talking until midnight."
"We were all together in a room upstairs, and there were many [oil] lamps in the room. A young man named Eutychus was sitting in the window. As Paul continued talking, Eutychus was falling into a deep sleep. Finally, he went sound asleep and fell to the ground from the third floor."
"When they picked him up he was dead. Paul went down to Eutychus, knelt down [in prayer] and put his arms around him. He said, 'Don't worry, he is alive now.' Then Paul went upstairs again, broke bread and ate."
"He spoke to them for a long time, until it was early morning, and then he left. They took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted."
(Acts 20:7-12)
Does the beginning of this story sound like your church? Have you dozed off during a long sermon? (Be honest!) Have you ever been at a service where the preacher went on until midnight?
Paul spent a week in Troas after he caught up with his companions. On his final evening, he spoke for so long that Eutychus (a young man sitting on a window ledge on the third floor) sank into a deep sleep and fell out of the window to the ground.
The disciples rushed down and pronounced him dead, but Paul prayed earnestly for him and brought him back to life.
Then (after midnight?) the believers "broke bread and ate". What we now call the 'Eucharist' (the 'thanksgiving' in Greek) or the 'Holy Communion' wasn't a church service in Paul's day; it was a fellowship meal during which the believers remembered Jesus's words at his 'last supper' as they broke the bread, and then shared their meal together.
Every month, after our church family service, we have a 'family lunch' where the church family gets together to share a meal. We all take something to share with everyone else (and you can enjoy a little bit of lots of different things!). We all have a good chat, share the ups and downs of our lives, offer prayers and assistance, and go home refreshed and invigorated, ready to serve God in the week ahead.
To us, this is the closest we get to doing what the early believers did when they "broke bread and ate".
The photo shows some early Roman images of Peter and Paul on a 4th century dish at the Vatican Museum, Rome.
You can read more about Paul in Troas @ https://www.thebiblejourney.org/…/eutychus-falls-from-a-wi…/