“Think global, act local,” is fine, but I’d like to tweak it, and not just to avoid the environmentalist toxins its picked up. How about we” think universal, eat local. What I mean is, eat the Lord’s Supper with your local body, and think about the universal church, those believers who are part of Christ’s Body living around the world today, along with those who have already run and finished their race on earth.
The reason we often focus on ourselves as individuals around the Table isn’t mono-causal; a lot of factors are at play. Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthians is part of it: “let a man examine himself, then…” (1 Corinthians 11:28). Of course the problem in Corinth was that people were thinking of themselves and their satisfaction apart from sharing with the rest of the church body (1 Corinthians 11:21-22). It is possible that Christians have been taught that it’s more “spiritual” to think about themselves and their sin and still end up not sharing.
The discipline of the Lord’s Table liturgy is to rejoice in our redemption by the Lamb. This is personal, and bigger.
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain,
and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation
(Revelation 5:9 ESV)
I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:9–10 ESV)
So, remember Jesus Christ, crucified, buried, risen from the dead. Your sins were buried with Him, and You have been united with Him and with His whole Body. Rejoice in the Lord, always, and again I say, rejoice (Philippians 4:4).