Tables
Modern life has not been kind to the table. We eat food packaged in sterile containers, packed in far away places. We eat on the move, in the car and while talking on the phone. It’s as if we are living in a world where eating, gathering and living in community is no longer seen as a place of nourishment to body and soul. Instead, we treat it as a brief but necessary pause on our way to the next stop of an overloaded life.
The church has wandered from the table.
The weekly worship service is highly structured and tightly choreographed. We sway in unison and clap to the rhythm of a moving song or encouragement of the speaker. People from every walk of life file in and out of church buildings around the world each week. Many carry a tightly veiled fatigue and a weariness of life hidden by tired smiles. We are surrounded by the masses but are lonelier than ever before.
Throughout the Bible, there are monumental stories of lives touched by God and his people. These are stories of shared meals, broken bread, and cups held by work-worn hands and gripped by desperate women around tables and in fields. Wedding water was turned to sweet wine and shared with guests as they celebrated life and new beginnings.
How do we begin the process of building community and reclaiming the table?
The very first Last Supper shared by Jesus and his followers will forever be linked to a tangible breaking of Christ’s body and the shedding of his blood for the wholeness and healing of the world.
Gathering together, reclaiming the table, sharing life in the church and with our families and those we love. It still matters.
[Tweet “Gathering together, sharing life in the church and with our families and those we love. It still matters.
- What does “table” mean to you?
- How can you bring more inclusion to those who may stand at the outskirts of your life?
- What can you do THIS week to gather around a table in your community?
Thank you, my friend, for spending a few moments around this little table! If you found grace and something of value in these words- please share them with those in your world. Let the change we wish for begin in our corner of the world.
Blessings over you as you seek community among those you share life with.
Wise words, my friend. I’m trying to figure out what that kind of deep connection might look like in our new setting. But I have to tell you a cute happening. Our kids had come to see our new place and a bunch of us were gathered around the new table that came with the house. Six-year-old grand-daughter looked around and said “I can’t believe you got a table big enough for us to all sit at.” I loved that! After living in small spaces for a few years, yes, I’m happy to have a bigger table again. Seems like a great place to start. And I might just have to write about that…
Love it Kaye! Keep gathering my friend.
Wonderful post. We have a loneliness epidemic in our society. This a great reminder to gather together. It can be over peanut butter sandwiches, but we need to just do it. Our souls are just as hungry for the connections as our tummies are for the food.
Wondering if you would like to be a guest on my blog…
Nancy,
This is such a wonderful post. Especially since this weekend there were many gatherings of people breaking bread for the close of the summer and the beginning of several seasons such as academic, empty nest season, upcoming man made holidays season etc. We used to invite a different family from church over to our home monthly when our children were small. We have not done that in quite some time. Maybe we can start to do that again but instead invite one of our neighbors over once a month. Something to consider. Thanks for the reminder my dear sister in the Lord.
Great Post! Each time I am able to sit down and break bread with my parents, husband and children it is such a thrill for me. I know that as time goes on some of us will not be at that table. So each time we gather together I am so grateful to God for that!!!
Helena- so true… the faces around the table. Sometimes I sit back and watch and try and tuck into the deepest places the memories and treasure those I love are to me. I don’t want to forget.. what it felt like to enjoy these precious ones.
Blessings- Nancy
I liked this post even though it was sad. Sad that we have wandered away from the whole idea which nourished us both our bodies and our souls. Sad that our churches are becoming carbon copies of what they think the people want, while some leave as lonely as they were when they came. May God shake things up to get us back to the early church’s model.
Amen.. and let it begin with us and our corner of the world.
Blessings my friend !
Nancy
Great post, Nancy. We are definitely in a season in our culture when we are more ‘connected’ than ever, and yet so isolated. We are free to partake in technology to make life easier, and yet we feel more burdened than we ever have before. Thanks for the reminder for our need to gather at ‘the table,’ slow down, and connect with each other, and our God.
Jelica
Jelica – connecting one at a time .. gathering those around who can enrich our lives through laughter , tears and relationships.. and where we in turn can then enrich theirs.. priceless
Thanks for visiting.. now.. let’s go gather a table 🙂
Nancy