The Table | Week 3, Day 1

by

Lisa Scheffler, author

A new student walks into the cafeteria, lunch tray in hand. His or her eyes dart back and forth across the room searching for a seat. Most everyone averts their eyes. A few stare back in disdain. There’s no welcome from any direction, so finally the student finds an empty seat at a mostly empty table and eats alone.

If you’ve ever watched a teen drama set in a high school, you’re probably familiar with this scene. Even if it’s become a cliché, it still delivers a gut punch to the audience because it’s a fear we all share — rejection. You may have even lived out a scene like that. No one wants to feel isolated and alone because there is no seat offered to them at the table.

Of course, Christians should be the first people to wave a solitary person over to their table and pull out a chair. When we do, we’re demonstrating Jesus’ welcoming acceptance of all people, because there is always room at the table of God.

We’re in Week 3 of our series, The Table, where we are considering how we might live out Christ’s call to form loving communities who are continually reaching out to embrace others. In Week 1 we briefly traced the theme of tables through the Bible. In feeding his people and setting a place for them, God offers his presence, provision, and peace. Last week we looked at one special meal that Jesus spent with his disciples before his arrest and crucifixion. He poured out his love for his disciples while sitting around a table.

This week, we’re considering the meal that Christ introduced at the Last Supper, what we call the Lord’s Supper or Communion. While we often think of this meal as part of our worship services, it gives us a picture of something that we take with us into everyday life — a table open to all.

    Day 1

    After his resurrection and ascension, the Holy Spirit comes, just as Jesus had promised. The arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost empowered those who were gathered to carry out Christ’s mission to share the good news to people in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the outermost parts of the earth.

    Because of the harvest festival, Jews from all over the region, from North Africa to Rome to Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) were in Jerusalem. These pilgrims would take what they learned about the saving power of Jesus Christ back to their homelands. They would tell their friends and families, and the gospel would spread. God was uniting people from different nations and cultures into one kingdom — with Christ as its head. The body of Christ would be multi-ethnic, multi-national, multi-cultural, and multi-lingual. People from every corner of the globe — united as the family of God and filled with his Spirit. From the very start of the Christian movement God’s intention was clear, everyone was welcome.

    Communities of believers formed all over the Roman world. Acts 2:42–47 describes what one of these early Christian communities was like.

    Read

    Acts 2:42-47

    42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

    Imagine what it would be like to be a part of one of a community like this one? What would you enjoy about it?

    Reflect

    In the passage we read above, Luke describes a community born out of a supernatural event — the arrival of the Holy Spirit. These believers devoted themselves to practices that solidify and grow their community. First of all, they sat under the Apostles’ teaching. Next comes the mention of fellowship. The Greek word koinonia (translated here as “fellowship”) means “sharing in common,” and as we see in the verses that follow, that’s precisely what these people did. They were family. They learned and worshipped together, spent time together, and took care of one another.

    Fellowship may not a word you hear used much outside of church circles, but it is something people long for. The way people live and work in the modern world can make it challenging for them to form the kind of deep kinship and community bonds that are being described here. So many are lonely, anxious, and trapped in addictions.

    Fellowship can happen around tables, where everyone joins together. We all need to be known and loved. These early Christian communities broke bread and prayed. Scholars believe this passage is describing the Lord’s Supper, which was much more of a communal meal than what we often experience in our worship services today. It was a time where people from all walks of life came together as a family to unite around a table, share a meal, remember the Lord’s sacrifice, and experience his presence.

    A close-knit family of believers will help fill our need for love, acceptance, and support in good times and bad. And when Christ is at the center of a faith community, it will take on his personality. Power, love, and generosity characterized the life of the Jerusalem congregation. Acts portrays this group as a community where people were happy to share what they had with each other. Obligation isn’t implied here, just pure generosity. Imagine living in a community where, if a need arose, you could rely on other believers. As a member of such a group, you would feel a deep sense of security. You could rest easy that come what may, you wouldn’t be left alone to weather life’s storms.

    It’s not surprising that “God added to their number daily those who were being saved” (verse 47). This group would have attracted people. They were joyful, sincere, and grateful to God for what they’d been given. Not that they would have been perfect, but people empowered by the Spirit can find unity in Christ, despite their differences.

    It wasn’t always smooth sailing for the early church. Eventually Paul would receive his mission to take the gospel to the Gentiles. Bringing together Jews and Gentiles, who were so culturally different was a serious challenge. They had to be convinced that it was God’s will for them to be unified in Christ and that everyone should be welcomed at God’s table.

    Here at Christ Fellowship we’re launching a fresh new vision, to reduce loneliness, anxiety and addiction by having meaningful conversations where people experience Christ through us. We’re welcoming people to our tables, both literally and figuratively. From one on one conversations with a new friend over a lunch table, to a reunion with an old friend around your coffee table, we want to reach out to all kinds of people. Like those in the community that Acts describes, we want to experience real fellowship with one another.

    Respond

    • Prayerfully reflect on your relationships with fellow Christians. Do you experience real fellowship with other believers regularly?
    • Think about people in your life. Who do you know in your neighborhood, school, or workplace who might be in need of real, authentic community? Pray about the names that come to mind.