Find your places around our family tables

Around the family table

Jesus said to them, “I am the Bread of Life” (John 6:35).
With deliberate intention I have entitled my regular contributions to this newspaper: “Around the family table.” I believe the table is at the heart of family life.
This summer your family may have gathered around a picnic table, a restaurant table or a kitchen table. Yet whatever table physically occupied the center of your gathering, it represented symbolically your affection for and celebration of one another.
It is at such a table that your joys and concerns, dreams and disappointments are shared. It is at such a table that you are not only nutritionally fed but also emotionally nourished.
The table provides the means of real communion for your family.
So it is with the church’s table!
In many of our McAllen District churches, the Lord’s Table rises in the center of the chancel. It is around that table that we share with God and one another our joys and concerns, dreams and disappointments. It is at that table that we feast upon Christ, the Bread of Life. That table provides the means of real communion for God’s family.
Yet there are other tables in our church facilities that serve as communion tables. The Fellowship Hall tables that welcome us at our potluck dinners with homemade dishes and downhome conversation draw us closer together.
The cookie tables that entice and excite children—and adults alike—each Sunday morning in our hospitality areas give us all terrific enjoyment for our life together.
The study tables in our classrooms join new seekers with seasoned learners in feasting on Jesus, the Bread of Heaven.
So I urge you, as the new program year in our district churches begins, to discover your place “around the family table.” Join the earnest seekers after Christ’s grace at the chancel table.
Add your contribution to the fellowship meal at the potluck table. Welcome timid visitors at the hospitality table. Discover a new in-filling of Christ’s spirit at the study table.
At whatever table in the church that you find yourself, feast on Jesus as the Bread of Life.