Why an open table???
I recently was visited at Gethsemane by a young woman who was studying religious denominations other than her own, which was Lutheran. She called and asked if it would be OK to attend two services for her class. I said of course and she arrived to study us! At the end of her time she emailed me one question that caused me to stop an think, why do you invite everyone to the table at Eucharist was essentially what she asked. My response, which I hope to flesh out a bit more as time goes by was as follows:
I say, each Sunday, "This is Christ's table, open to all people of every race, class, gender, faith, belief or today no belief at all, come and be fed by the gifts of God for all of us, the people of God." (Thank you Howard Anderson). The key phrase there is "This is Christ's table." If we are to model the life of Christ as disciples of Christ, then we are called also to have the same table fellowship patterns that Jesus followed in the Bible. Jesus ate with everyone he was not supposed to eat with, he never excluded anyone from table fellowship with him, save borderline rejection of those in authority. Today, for the most part, Church is seen as an artifact, irrelevant, out of date, a relic that many admire, (what a gorgeous building), but rarely engage. I believe it is time to blow open the dogmatic and traditional ways of doing Church and capture again the open table that Jesus clearly celebrated with no remorse. In the Episcopal Church, this is very controversial for the most part, we have rules that state you must be baptized in order to receive Eucharist.
Again, in this age of Post-Christendom, when the Church holds little authority similar to what it once held up to the 50's, it is time to do as Jesus did by calling people, no matter where they are to the table to feast and celebrate as part of a faith community that lives according to the life of a man who welcomed all people to feast with him. The table, especially the one we gather around on Sunday's or at any other point of the week, needs to be the first step in discovering the love of God and the call of Christ to be disciples. LeeAnne Watkins, one of my mentors, preached at my ordination service, and though I do not remember much from the sermon or the service for that matter, I do remember her emphatic encouragement to guard the table from those who would make it a club, or those who would choose who was in and who was out and those who knew who God had chosen. We are guests at the table, it is not our own, and therefore we have little right or obligation, if any, to say who cannot be fed.
Fun stuff, that, anyway, as we grow at Gethsemane, I am finding more and more that people appreciated the openness of the table and find it a healing opportunity to delve deeper into their relationship with God!
I say, each Sunday, "This is Christ's table, open to all people of every race, class, gender, faith, belief or today no belief at all, come and be fed by the gifts of God for all of us, the people of God." (Thank you Howard Anderson). The key phrase there is "This is Christ's table." If we are to model the life of Christ as disciples of Christ, then we are called also to have the same table fellowship patterns that Jesus followed in the Bible. Jesus ate with everyone he was not supposed to eat with, he never excluded anyone from table fellowship with him, save borderline rejection of those in authority. Today, for the most part, Church is seen as an artifact, irrelevant, out of date, a relic that many admire, (what a gorgeous building), but rarely engage. I believe it is time to blow open the dogmatic and traditional ways of doing Church and capture again the open table that Jesus clearly celebrated with no remorse. In the Episcopal Church, this is very controversial for the most part, we have rules that state you must be baptized in order to receive Eucharist.
Again, in this age of Post-Christendom, when the Church holds little authority similar to what it once held up to the 50's, it is time to do as Jesus did by calling people, no matter where they are to the table to feast and celebrate as part of a faith community that lives according to the life of a man who welcomed all people to feast with him. The table, especially the one we gather around on Sunday's or at any other point of the week, needs to be the first step in discovering the love of God and the call of Christ to be disciples. LeeAnne Watkins, one of my mentors, preached at my ordination service, and though I do not remember much from the sermon or the service for that matter, I do remember her emphatic encouragement to guard the table from those who would make it a club, or those who would choose who was in and who was out and those who knew who God had chosen. We are guests at the table, it is not our own, and therefore we have little right or obligation, if any, to say who cannot be fed.
Fun stuff, that, anyway, as we grow at Gethsemane, I am finding more and more that people appreciated the openness of the table and find it a healing opportunity to delve deeper into their relationship with God!
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