Around the Table

     Something you may not know about me is that I love to host. Getting to plan socials with friends or making dinners and snacks and inviting people over is something that really excites me. I love company, and it is one of my dreams to one day own a house that many people call their second home. The image of having a group of close friends gathered around a table, talking, laughing, and of course eating together brings me great joy.

      I think this excitement isn't just a random passion, but is rather deeply rooted in scripture. In the early church, we find the believers were "...attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts" (Acts 2:46). Just as the early believers met in their homes, I think there is significance in meeting in our own spaces. There is something about inviting somebody into our own space, into our own lives, that creates an atmosphere of intimacy. I also think there is significance in sharing food together. As the early believers broke bread together, they were reminded of Christ, and were filled with thankfulness at the provision they had with the food placed before them.

      It is through the fellowship of eating together that we can be reminded of how blessed we are. Tish Warren talks about how food can remind us of Christ when he says"Christ is our bread and gives us bread. He is the gift and the giver. God gives us every meal we eat, and every meal we eat is ultimately partial and inadequate, pointing to our true food, our eternal nourishment" (Warren, 4). It is when we spend time together around the table that we are able to build authentic community. Although we can certainly be thankful for God's provision on our own, and while there is nothing wrong with enjoying a meal by ourselves, we were created for relationship, and what better place to do that than in our own dining rooms?

      I think our culture today is missing out on huge opportunities to connect and dig deeper into our relationships by the trend of going out to eat with others. We miss the opportunity to serve one another in making others a meal, and we miss the opportunity to invite our fellow brothers and sisters into our own personal space. It might be easy for me to say this, considering I absolutely love hosting, but I would encourage you all to try inviting someone over for a meal. If you are already doing this, then I challenge you a step further, to try inviting someone over that you never have. I believe you will experience greater intimacy and fellowship as you are in the comfort of your own home, and who knows, you just might make it a home for someone else too.

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Warren, Tish Harrison. 2016. Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life. Downers Grove: IVP.