PENTECOST IX
August 7, 2022
“Gathered Around the Table”
One of the most welcoming, hospitable gestures we can make is to invite someone to sit at a table with us. It might be suggesting they join you at a little coffee shop table, making room for a person who’s alone at a big banquet, or simply pulling out a chair at the table in your home. We often do this without really thinking, as it’s something of a reflexive gesture. But when you’re on the other side of the gesture, you immediately feel included and welcomed.
For years, my own family has gathered around a round oak table purchased by my dad at a farm auction over 40 years ago. It was dark and grimy, but was also solid and sturdy, so he refinished it and brought it to us, and it’s been the center of our family life ever since. Besides everyday meals, over the years we’ve sat at the table for homework sessions, game times, messy, glittery art projects, and a number of pretty serious conversations.
The image of people coming together around tables is timeless, and none is more meaningful than the accounts of the Last Supper, as the disciples gathered with Jesus for the Passover meal. He blessed the bread, broke it, and gave it to them, then gave thanks for the wine and gave it to them as well. Jesus took the simple act of sitting together for a meal, and through his words and actions instituted the Lord’s Supper.
Following his resurrection, our Lord appeared to various groups of disciples, including two who were walking to the village of Emmaus. They didn’t recognize him until they invited him to stay with them for the night. Luke 24:30 tells us: “When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; . . . “
Over the centuries, around the globe, the Lord’s Supper has bound Christians to one another and to our Lord as well. Details and practices may change somewhat, languages differ, but the message and the blessing is there. Some years ago, I saw a TV feature from a Florida town that had received serious damage from a hurricane. A church was unusable, but Sunday morning in the parking lot, the congregation came together, blessed bread someone had brought, drank wine poured from a bottle into paper cups, and were “strengthened and preserved” through the powerful presence of Christ in their midst.
As a church family, we are invited to gather at our Lord’s table, and, kneeling, we hear, “given for you . . . shed for you.” Every time we partake of this meal, we receive the gift of redemption and forgiveness through Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. We come together not only within our congregation, but to Christians around the world, our brothers and sisters sharing the bread, the wine, and the promise from Jesus himself. We are always welcomed, with love and forgiveness, at our Lord’s table. When we are here, we are always home.
Come to the table!
Your friend in Christ,
Mary Rogers